A group of teachers who meet at school every morning: Is it obligatory for them to shake hands with one another every morning, or is it sufficient to offer the greeting to the group generally?

The questioner : The questioner mentions that they are a group of teachers. She says, "We meet at school every morning. Is it obligatory for us to shake hands with one another every morning, or is it sufficient to offer the greeting to the group generally when entering the administration office or the teachers' room?"

The Shaykh : Yes. When a person enters the gathering of a group of people, he offers the greeting to them generally and does not shake hands with them, because up to this moment I have not known that it came in the Sunnah that when a man enters a gathering, he starts with the first person he encounters upon entering and shakes his hand, continuing until he goes around all the people in the gathering. And the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), when he entered or came to the gathering of a group of people, would sit where the gathering ended for him, and it was not mentioned that he would go around the people and shake their hands. I have not known this custom except recently. Our scholars and shaykhs, when they entered a gathering, if a specific seat had been left for them, they would go to it and sit in it; otherwise, they would sit where the people of the gathering honored them in a place befitting them, without passing by the people and shaking their hands. Whoever wants to shake hands with the newcomer should approach him when he has settled in his place and shake his hand. What I see is that a person should suffice with the general greeting and then sit where the gathering ends for him. Yes.