The Ruling on Embracing on the Festivals
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
We see people embracing each other on the festivals, even if some of them are not returning from a journey, and the time between them may be short, the time of the prayer, then they embrace after the festival prayer. We ask you to clarify the truth?
Answer:
We know of no basis for embracing other than it being a custom that people have followed. What is prescribed is to supplicate for acceptance when one meets his brother and prays for his acceptance; this is from the practice of the Salaf. As for embracing for this specific occasion, I know of no basis for it; it is merely a custom of the people.
So the better option is shaking hands, and that is sufficient upon meeting. One shakes his brother's hand and says to him: May Allah bless you with this festival, may Allah bless you in this festival, or may Allah accept from us and from you, or the like of that. There is nothing wrong with it.
We see people embracing each other on the festivals, even if some of them are not returning from a journey, and the time between them may be short, the time of the prayer, then they embrace after the festival prayer. We ask you to clarify the truth?
Answer:
We know of no basis for embracing other than it being a custom that people have followed. What is prescribed is to supplicate for acceptance when one meets his brother and prays for his acceptance; this is from the practice of the Salaf. As for embracing for this specific occasion, I know of no basis for it; it is merely a custom of the people.
So the better option is shaking hands, and that is sufficient upon meeting. One shakes his brother's hand and says to him: May Allah bless you with this festival, may Allah bless you in this festival, or may Allah accept from us and from you, or the like of that. There is nothing wrong with it.
Source
binbaz.org.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.