The Shaykh spoke about standing up for people and also commented on the words of Salman al-Oudah regarding this issue from a tape.

The Shaykh : They have realized that this standing up is, first of all, a means of social hypocrisy, not a means of honoring. The proof is that if a righteous Muslim with good religion enters a gathering, no one stands up for him and no one pays him any attention. On the contrary, if there is a prominent person, who may be one of the sinners of the people, you will find the people standing up for him. What is this standing up? They tell you it is a custom in the category of honoring. Why should not this custom be inclusive of every Muslim, whether he has status or not? So, this is not a means of honoring, but rather a means of showing off and hypocrisy. In any society where hypocrisy has become widespread in all its forms, types, and methods, it is in that society that such a means becomes widespread. Then it is named to smooth it over, justify it, and legitimize it; it is called a custom. For what? For honoring and respect. That is one thing. A second thing: when this custom becomes prevalent in a society, and then a situation arises—which is not an obligatory matter by consensus—if it is said to be a matter of etiquette, no one says it is obligatory, and no one says it is a confirmed Sunnah. The most that can be said is that it is a recommended Sunnah in the category of honoring the one who arrives. Now, these same people agree with us that a Muslim must distinguish between what is obligatory or fard and what is a Sunnah or recommended. The distinction is made by not paying attention to what is recommended in the same way we pay attention to what is obligatory. So, if none of the people present stand up for this one who arrives, what happens in the mind of the one who arrived? No doubt it boils, erupts, and overflows, and so on. Why? Because we have accustomed him to this standing up, which the first generation did not practice, and we have caused him to fall into contradicting the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in the first hadith: So, our habituation to this custom opens the door for those who love this custom to secure their place in the Fire, because they will disapprove of the one who did not stand up with the strongest disapproval. And this means, you must have noticed, that there are many incidents and occurrences. And I, as they say, when I forget, I will not forget when I was a student in elementary school. The class teacher, who was specialized in teaching Arabic language and Islamic history, when he entered the class—and perhaps this custom still exists in some schools today—there would be a class monitor who stands in front of the door before the teacher enters. When he sees him coming, he tells the students to be ready, and this is a signal that the teacher or professor is entering. So, when he entered, they would stand up for him. Sometimes there would be a dispute between one of the students and the teacher, either justly or unjustly. So, one of the students who had a personal enmity with the teacher would not stand up for him. But he knew that if he did not stand up for him, the teacher would insult him, and perhaps even hit him. So, what does he do? He hides like this behind the desk so that the teacher does not see him. But the teacher does not miss it, so he stretches out like this, looks like this, and exposes him, saying to him, "Come out." By Allah, I am still as if he is hitting him with his hand and his foot right now. Why? Because he did not stand up for the teacher. And what does Shawqi say? "Stand up for the teacher."

The questioner : And give him reverence.

The Shaykh : The teacher is almost a prophet.

The questioner : A messenger.

The Shaykh : This is poetry. Yes, "a messenger" is better. So, the point is that adopting this means of honoring, as they claim it is a means of honoring, has very bad effects on society. And these are some of those effects: it makes many Muslims covetous of the love of standing up. So, when they fall into this love, the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) threatened them with his saying: From here, it appears to me that there is a precise jurisprudence of Mu'awiyah ibn Abi Sufyan (may Allah be pleased with him) in this hadith. This is because the hadith, according to the majority of scholars and commentators, is used as evidence for the prohibition of the one entering loving the standing up of those sitting, and that is enough. While Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) drew attention to the fact that the hadith also indicates that those sitting should not stand up for the one entering, even though the apparent meaning of the hadith, as the majority say, is that it forbids the one entering from loving the standing up. This is as came in the Sunan of al-Tirmidhi and others, that he entered his council one day, and in it were two of the Abdullahs: one was a Companion, namely Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr, and the other was a Successor, namely Abdullah ibn 'Amir. So, one of them stood up for him, and the other did not stand up for him. So, he forbade him. What did he argue with him with? With this hadith. He said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: One who has not heard the chapter on blocking the means to harm (sadd al-dhara'i') first, and the jurisprudential rule and the previous explanation just now, might find it strange. What is the connection of Mu'awiyah's argument with this hadith against the one who stood up for him? His jurisprudence is what we mentioned just now. It is as if he is saying to him with the language of the situation: "O boy, when you stood up for me out of honoring, respect, and exalting, you will follow me with this custom of yours in my love for standing up. And a day will come when, if you do not stand up for me, you will fall into the threat mentioned in the previous hadith: So, from the perspective of blocking the means to harm, it is not permissible for people to adopt this means as a means of honoring.
And in conclusion, I say, as we began our speech: "And all good is in following those who came before, and all evil is in the innovation of those who came after." And the hadith, in truth, has a long elaboration, and there are tapes, and there is no need now to elaborate more than what has preceded. But it is sufficient for me to mention the story of Ibn Battah, the Hanbali hadith scholar, who disliked this standing up with the strongest dislike, to the point that it appears he explicitly declared it forbidden. So, one day he went down to the market with a companion of his who was a poet. He passed by a scholar who was sitting at his work. And this is from the guidance of the scholars of the Salaf that they were people of a profession by which they earned their livelihood and avoided government jobs, because they are mostly a restraint and a burden. The point is that that scholar stood up for him, knowing that he disliked this standing up. So, he preempted him with two verses of poetry, saying:
"Do not blame me for standing up, for my right when you appear is that I do not hope for standing up.
You are the most honorable of creation to me, and it is the truth that I honor the honorable."
This is the philosophy of those people who said this is a custom of honoring. Ibn Battah, like most scholars, did not compose poetry well, but his companion was a poet. First, he was a poet and a brilliant student of his, and he knew his jurisprudence. So, he said to him, "Answer for me." He said, "On the spur of the moment:"
"If you were to be absent, you would see that I have a right and I show great respect.
You have the merit in precedence and knowledge And we do not want from you restraint
So, excuse me now from this standing up of yours, first, and I will reward you with standing up.
And I am very averse to that, for in it is flattery and sins.
And if the hearts were sound," here is the very profound joke: "And if the hearts were sound, we would be content to not tire the bodies. We are all confident in the love of his brother, so why are we agitated and for what?" "We are all confident in the love of his brother, so why are we agitated and for what?" This is the lesson that we must reach and distance ourselves from the means that destroy it. In the name of Allah.

The Shaykh : We have a friend in Damascus on this occasion, the owners of the Arab Scientific Library: Ahmad 'Ubayd, Hamdi 'Ubayd, and Tawfiq 'Ubayd, three noble brothers who have passed away to the mercy of Allah. The point is that one of them was very close to the Salafi call; he had a treatise on it and extracted the authentic hadiths from Sahih al-Bukhari. He told me once: "We were invited to one of the gatherings of these prominent people. They seated me in the second row, and the gathering began to fill up. Before it was full, the heads started entering. Soon a rumor spread that such-and-such a prince was coming, so everyone’s attention turned to the main door. The prince entered, and we stood up and remained standing until he sat in the front of the place, then we sat down. After a while, another rumor spread that such-and-such a pasha was coming. Attention turned to the main door, the pasha entered, and we stood up. A little later, such-and-such a minister was coming. The minister entered, and we stood up. He said, 'I did not realize that I was standing and sitting as if there were a spring under me, a coil spring, I mean.' He said, 'I said to myself: By Allah, this is a long affair; nothing will give us rest except that we take the Sunnah that we heard from so-and-so.' So I sat down and did not stand up again, and we were at ease. This is the reality of all gatherings. This is all social hypocrisy. Nevertheless, in the name of politics and in the name of accommodation, it is legislated under the name of recommendation (mustahabb). These are the means. Then he is cautious and says: 'I know that this issue is a matter of scholarly disagreement. What is the legal evidence for it?' He resorts to arguing with the statement of a noble scholar and makes him his role model, while he forbids people from imitating a scholar. We do not say that we are with him; we say he is with us in forbidding blind imitation (taqlid). But we have a detail: imitation is a necessity within certain limits. But in any case: Now, it is not fitting for such a professor to revolve around this issue and follow the path of the one among the scholars of knowledge and virtue who said that this thing is permissible, or rather recommended, when he included it in the chapter of noble character. And he said, peace be upon him: It was incumbent upon him, if he had not studied the issue with its legal evidence, to study it before adopting the opinionThe Shaykh : of so-and-so. And if he had studied it, it was incumbent upon him to clarify the legal evidence that allows him to take this means as a means of honoring, and to include it in the chapter of noble character, whereas in the first era it was not so. This is necessary, but he sought to please the opinion of one of the noble scholars, and the matter proceeded from the perspective that this is one of the paths of students of knowledge. That is, the student of knowledge says, 'My brother, this differs from the Sunnah.' No, the Sunnah does not change according to time and place; that is the meaning of the statement, even if he does not state it explicitly.

The questioner : Our Shaykh, you mentioned that you cited this example under the title of ensuring that this act is a Sunnah, and then you mentioned those examples. So, as you have graciously stated, he does not consider it a Sunnah.

The Shaykh : If its sweetness reaches its sourness, then it is acceptable to me.

The questioner : I hope that is the case.

The Shaykh : As for the opposite, that is not what I want.

The questioner : I hope that is the case.

The Shaykh : Then it will be sweet from sweet, if Allah wills.

The questioner : May Allah bless you. May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : I think you are full now.

The questioner : Yes, by Allah, I mean we are not full from a scientific perspective.

The Shaykh : I mean, from this issue.

The questioner : Yes. It appears, our Shaykh, I do not know if it appears that the brother is now going to bring lunch.

The Shaykh : Then a break, but do you allow it if someone has a brief question?