The Meaning of Proximity and Standing Up

From 'Abd al-'Aziz ibn 'Abd Allah ibn Baz to the honorable brother, may Allah increase him in knowledge and faith, amen. Peace be upon you, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.
Your noble letter dated 9/4/1374 AH, as well as your second letter, have been received. We delayed the response in the hope that we would be able to provide you with a detailed answer. However, due to the pressure of work and the tight schedule of lessons related to the institute and other matters, it was not possible to elaborate on the answer in this letter regarding the four issues contained in your first letter. Here I mention the answer to some of them, and I defer the rest to the time of the break. I hope you will inform us of your location after the end of the studies so that we may send the rest of the answer. May Allah guide me and you to knowing the truth and following it, and protect us and all Muslims from the misleading trials. Indeed, He is the All-Hearing, the Near.
As for your question about the meaning of proximity (mu'ayyah), the answer is that Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, mentioned in His Book two types of proximity: general and specific.
The first is in His saying, Glorified and Exalted is He: [Al-Hadid: 4]
And the second is in His saying, Glorified and Exalted is He: [Al-Tawbah: 40], [Ta-Ha: 46], and similar verses.
The position of the people of the Sunnah in this matter is that Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, is described with proximity in a manner befitting His Majesty, while affirming His rising above His Throne and His elevation above all His creation, and purifying Him from mixing with creation. So He, Glorified and Exalted is He, is High in His nearness and Near in His height. His description with proximity does not contradict His description with elevation in a manner befitting Him, without resembling His creation in any of His attributes.
Since the Jahmiyyah and the Mu'tazilah use the verses of proximity to argue against the affirmation of elevation, claiming that He, Glorified and Exalted is He, is in every place, the Salaf refuted them and said: This proximity necessitates His knowledge of the states of His servants and His awareness of them, while He is above the Throne. For this reason, the verses of general proximity begin with knowledge and end with knowledge; to alert His servants that His intent in informing them of proximity is to make His servants aware that He knows their states and is aware of them. For this reason, most of the Salaf interpreted the verses of proximity as knowledge.
Some scholars have reported the consensus of the people of the Sunnah on interpreting the verses of proximity as knowledge and refuting the view of the Jahmiyyah and the Mu'tazilah that He is in every place, and their denial of elevation and rising above the Throne—may Allah fight them, how are they turned away? By this, you know that interpreting proximity as knowledge is not the view of Shaykh Taqi al-Din alone, but it is the view of the people of the Sunnah. He, may Allah have mercy on him, mentioned in al-Wasitiyyah what indicates the obligation of believing that the description of Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, with elevation and proximity is true in its reality and does not require distortion, but it is protected from false suspicions, and so on. Refer to it if you wish. His intent, may Allah have mercy on him, is that it is necessary to affirm proximity and elevation above the Throne in a manner befitting Allah, in which He does not resemble His creation.
Al-Hafiz Ibn Kathir said in his interpretation of the saying of Allah, the Exalted: [Al-Mujadilah: 7], the verse, his text is: (For this reason, more than one person has reported the consensus that the intended meaning of this verse is the proximity of His knowledge, the Exalted, and there is no doubt in the intent of that). End of quote.
This does not contradict interpreting proximity as knowledge; because that is its implication and necessary consequence. So it is true, and its implication is: Allah's knowledge of the states of His servants and His awareness of them. As for its modality, no one knows it except Allah, like the other attributes. Indeed, the people of the Sunnah believe in the names of Allah and His attributes and know their meanings, but they do not know their modality. Rather, no one knows the modality of His attributes except He, just as no one knows the modality of His Essence except He, the Exalted and Pure, far above what the deniers and the likeners say, a great elevation. For this reason, Malik, may Allah have mercy on him, and others of the people of the Sunnah said: The rising (istiwa') is known, the modality is unknown, and belief in it is obligatory.
And the same is said regarding the other attributes, and Allah knows best.
As for standing up when the professor enters, the apparent meaning of the authentic hadiths indicates its being disliked or forbidden, such as the hadith of Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) who said: Narrated by Ahmad and al-Tirmidhi, and he said: Good, authentic, and strange.
The teacher should not accept this from the students, based on the hadith of Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: It was narrated by Ahmad, Abu Dawud, and al-Tirmidhi with a good chain, and al-Tirmidhi graded it as hasan. Abu Dawud also narrated it with a chain containing weakness from Abu Umamah (may Allah be pleased with him) who said: Ahmad and Ibn Majah also narrated it. Al-Hafiz Muhammad ibn Muflih mentioned these hadiths in (Al-Adab al-Shar'iyyah), pages 464 and 465, Volume One.
Some scholars have made an exception from these hadiths for standing up for one who arrives from a journey to greet him and shake his hand or embrace him, and likewise for one whose absence has been long. Some made an exception for the son standing up for his father to honor him and take his hand, and for the father standing up for his son if he is worthy of that. The intended meaning is standing up for greeting and shaking hands. This exception is correct, and the authentic Sunnah indicates it, including what is in the two Sahihs from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that he said to the Companions when Sa'd ibn Mu'adh came to judge the Banu Qurayzah: The intended meaning is: standing up to greet him and helping him dismount from his mount. And in the two Sahihs also from Ka'b ibn Malik: And Abu Dawud, al-Tirmidhi, and al-Nasa'i narrated with a good chain from 'Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) who said: So these hadiths are explicit in the permissibility of such things and that it does not fall under the disliked standing up.
As for what some people do today of standing up for the professor and the like whenever he enters upon them to honor him, not for shaking hands or the like, but rather they stand and then sit to honor and respect him, there is no doubt in the dislike and refutation of that, and that it is not permissible for the professor and the like to accept it, as mentioned earlier in the hadith of Mu'awiyah and others. The most deserving people to implement the Sunnah and be polite with its etiquettes are the scholars, teachers, students of knowledge, and the leaders and notables of people, because people follow their example. So if they honor the Sunnah, people will honor it, and if they are negligent with it, people will be negligent with it. And our Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is the best of people and the most excellent of them, and the master of the children of Adam (peace and blessings be upon him), and he did not accept that people stand up for him, rather he disliked it and forbade the Companions from it, fearing for them excess and imitating the non-Arabs in standing up for their leaders and great ones. And Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, says: [Al-Ahzab: 21]. May Allah guide you and me to beneficial knowledge, acting upon it, and calling to it.
The rest of the answer will come to you, if Allah wills, during the break, and may Allah take care of us and you, and peace.