The Shaykh’s remarks on one of the etiquettes of gatherings of knowledge: approaching the Shaykh and the scholar in order to listen.

The Shaykh : This reminder concerns two matters. If we are unable to reach them, they should come closer to us so that they can hear us well. In many authentic hadiths, when a man would come to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and sit far away from him, he would say: “Come closer, come closer.”

The questioner : Good.

The Shaykh: Huh?

The questioner : So that they may take from the good...

The Shaykh : Yes.
In the story of Jibril (peace be upon him), which we were discussing and then moved on to something else, the guidance of the Messenger (peace be upon him) is all good. In the hadith of Jibril (peace be upon him) that 'Umar ibn al-Khattab narrates, he said: “While we were sitting with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), a man came forward, his clothes intensely white, his hair intensely black, none of us recognizing him, until he approached the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and sat before him, placing his hands on his knees, and said to him: ‘O Muhammad, tell us about faith.’” The hadith is well known and long; he asked about Islam, about excellence in worship, about the signs of the Hour, and so on. The point of the hadith is that this visitor, whom the people did not recognize, approached the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) until he placed his hands on the knees of the Messenger, and this is an indication of the importance of listening to the Messenger (peace be upon him).
We return to what we began our discussion with.