Explaining the ruling on standing for a person entering, and distinguishing it from standing for the sake of the person entering, and mentioning the evidence for this with some examples.

The Shaykh: And secondly: It is known that a person is strong through his brother, and this is taken from the like of His saying - Blessed and Exalted is He - : , so first of all, you are a Muslim brother to all Muslims, but it is not hidden from you that the Muslims, since a long time ago, have differed and split into sects and parties, every party rejoicing in what is with them. So if Islam has gathered us with all the Muslims, and you and I and all those present are brothers among the Muslims, then we praise Allah with a new praise for having gathered us with a Muslim brother upon the methodology of the Book and the Sunnah, which we refer to as the methodology of the righteous predecessors. This is secondly. So we feel that we have increased in strength upon strength with you, O Abu al-Abbas.
The student : I seek forgiveness from Allah.

The Shaykh: This is secondly. And thirdly: As I began my speech just now when I said, "Is the reward for goodness anything but goodness?" I wanted to draw your attention to a matter that the heedless have long been negligent of and the inattentive have overlooked, even though many of them are inattentive while possessing correct Islamic emotions, a large part of which is based on a solid principle or a strong rule from the Islamic rules that was supported and strengthened by the like of his saying - peace and blessings be upon him - : . For the general Muslims to know the special Muslims, who are the scholars, and to know their right, this is part of the etiquette of Islam and part of the rules of Islam. But applying this rule should not be based on unlimited emotions, because emotion may sometimes be in accordance with the Shari'ah, and sometimes it may be contrary to the Shari'ah. And since we have praised Allah - Mighty and Majestic - for what He has gathered us upon, which is following the Book and the Sunnah, I saw it obligatory upon me to remind you, for the reminder benefits the believers, that when you greeted me, you greeted me with reverence, realizing a part of the meaning of the previous hadith: . And when I say "a part," I mean exactly what I am saying; you did not apply this completely, but only a part of it. And this part is related to the purity of your heart, not to what came from you in terms of your action. And now I will narrate to you the hadith of Mu'adh ibn Jabal, because in my opinion it applies to you perfectly, and happy for you if you are compared to Mu'adh ibn Jabal. That is: "Mu'adh - may Allah be pleased with him - traveled once from Madinah, where he was residing as an emigrant from Makkah to Madinah with the Messenger of Allah - peace and blessings be upon him - , and it required him to travel from Madinah to Damascus. Then when he returned and his eyes fell upon the Messenger of Allah - peace and blessings be upon him - , he intended to prostrate to him." And I understand that the intended meaning of prostration here is not actually placing his forehead on the ground, but rather bowing to him in reverence and honor for his Prophet - peace be upon him - . And there is no doubt or hesitation whatsoever that the most deserving of people, the most deserving of all humans, of reverence, honor, and prescribed exaltation is our Prophet - may the prayers and peace of Allah be upon him - . And when I mention prescribed reverence, it is because I am in the process of explaining this reverence. "So when he intended to prostrate to his Prophet - peace and blessings be upon him - after he had been absent from him for as many days as Allah willed, he said to him - peace be upon him - : ; as if he was disapproving of what came from him, even if the restraint for him was his exaltation of the Messenger - peace be upon him - . He expressed his excuse, saying: "I came to Sham and found the Christians prostrating to their priests and monks, and I found you more deserving of prostration than them." He said: . And in another hadith: . And in another story that meets this first story in one aspect, it is: "The Prophet - peace and blessings be upon him - was sitting among his companions when a stray camel came from its owner, so it knelt beside the Prophet - peace and blessings be upon him - and snorted with its voice and bent its head in a way that those sitting around the Prophet - peace and blessings be upon him - felt that this animal was prostrating to the Messenger of Allah - peace and blessings be upon him - . They said: O Messenger of Allah, we are more deserving of prostration to you." So he mentioned the same hadith that he mentioned to Mu'adh: , then he mentioned the story of the camel that it complained to the Prophet - peace and blessings be upon him - and that its owner had worked it for many long years until when he saw that it was exhausted and tired and had grown old, he wanted to slaughter it. So he asked who its owner was? So its owner appeared, and he ordered him to be gentle with it.
The point is his saying - peace and blessings be upon him - : . From here, the scholars of the Muslims, all of them, agreed without any disagreement among them that it is not permissible for a Muslim to prostrate to anyone except to Allah - Blessed and Exalted is He - . But the matter is not limited to prostration only, for similar to it is bowing, which is bending in exaltation. And it came in the authentic hadith: That a man asked the Prophet - peace and blessings be upon him - and said to him: O Messenger, when one of us meets his brother, should he bow to him? He said: . He said: Should he kiss him? He said: . He said: Should he shake hands with him? He said: . Also, the matter does not stop at the bending that resembles bowing. Just as it is not permissible to prostrate, which is actually placing the forehead on the ground, to anyone except to Allah, so it is not permissible to bow to anyone except to Allah. The common jurisprudential point between the two matters is that both bowing and prostration are pillars of the pillars of prayer, the pillars without which the prayer is not valid. If we know this reasoning, then a third pillar will be joined to the two pillars mentioned just now, which are bowing and prostration, and that is standing. Just as it is not permissible to prostrate to other than Allah and not permissible to bow to other than Allah, so it is not permissible to stand for other than Allah.
The student: What Allah willed, Blessed is Allah, may Allah open for you, O Shaykh.

The Shaykh : It is customary today in most gatherings, even those attended by some people of knowledge, or those who claim to be scholars, or those who claim today to be among the Islamic preachers, that in a blessed gathering like this one, if Allah wills, when a person of knowledge and virtue enters, they stand up for him. Thus, they neglect this pillar which Allah (Mighty and Majestic) made a pillar of the prayer, for Him alone, with no partner, and He specified it in His saying (Mighty and Majestic) in the Noble Qur'an when He said: . Then the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) emphasized this meaning, which may be thrown into some hearts as a derivation, and that derivation from any scholar is subject to being right or wrong, as he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . It may be said that this last point you have reached, which concerns standing for the one who enters the gathering, may be said to be a derivation and is subject to being right or wrong. I say: No, this also has texts from the authentic Sunnah that confirm that standing for the one who enters should not be done. And before I address explaining some of those texts, I must draw your attention to the fact that the standing I am currently speaking about is not standing *toward* the one coming, but standing *for* the one coming. We must distinguish between standing toward a person and standing for a person. Standing toward a person, if he is a guest, is among the etiquettes of Islam. But standing for the one who enters out of respect and exaltation is contrary to the first standing; it is not among the Islamic etiquettes, but rather it is what the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade in more than one hadith. For example, the hadith of Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) when he entered his council or his diwan. _Your registration was successful, what Allah willed..._ When Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) entered his council, there were two men in it, each named Abdullah. One was Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr, a Companion's son of a Companion, and the other was Abdullah ibn 'Amir. It was this Abdullah ibn 'Amir who stood for him, while Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr did not stand for him. So Mu'awiyah said—and I hope all our brothers pay attention to this jurisprudence from this Companion, because he is not famous among the Companions for jurisprudence, but his citing of this hadith for such an occasion indicates that he was a person of sound understanding. When he saw Abdullah ibn 'Amir stand for him, he said to him: "Do not stand. I have heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say: ." The jurisprudence in this hadith lies in the fact that the apparent meaning of the hadith does not concern the one who stood for Mu'awiyah, but rather it concerns Mu'awiyah, because he narrated from his Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that he said: . And without a doubt, when he forbade Ibn 'Amir from standing, he did not like this standing. So why did he narrate this hadith to him? Here lies the jurisprudence. It is as if he is saying to him: "O Ibn 'Amir, if you stand for me every time you enter, I will look forward to your standing every time you enter. And in that case, you will be the cause of involving me in loving standing from others for me, and I will incur the danger I narrated to you in this hadith: ." This hadith is, in reality, among many, many proofs that confirm a jurisprudential rule in which scholars have differed since ancient times. But as they say, how is the verse of poetry, O Abu Malik: "Not every disagreement has a perspective for consideration?" A verse of poetry?
The student : I do not remember it.

The Shaykh : The point is that not every disagreement has validity and value. So the opinion settled among the scholars that adhering to the rule of sadd al-dhara'i' (blocking the means to harm) is a very important rule. So Mu'awiyah narrated this hadith to him from the perspective of sadd al-dhara'i'. Do not stand for me, my brother, because I will later love standing, and I will fall into this danger. So, to block the door of fitnah (trial, discord or temptation), do not stand. The hadith applies to the one who loves standing, and does not apply to the one who stood. But the one who stands causes the one for whom he stands to love standing one day, and this is observed in our reality today. For example, and do not blame me because I said, "Is the reward for goodness except goodness?" So you rushed to bow down to the level of ruku' (the bowing of prayer) to kiss the hand. This was with good intention, but the action is not good. This may involve me, even though I have passed the bridge, because what do I hope for after I have reached eighty? But we also, from the perspective of sadd al-dhara'i' for others, say: Beware of accustoming your youth to kiss your hands, because the soul will later look forward to this kissing. If one of the students of knowledge falls short in kissing the shaykh's hand, that shaykh will blame that student. And we narrate incidents of this kind, and also incidents concerning the standing itself. And as they say, one thing reminds of another. If I forget, I will not forget. My formal education did not exceed primary school, and the education at that time in Damascus was five years. I was a sick student with some of the teachers, and I was the class monitor. Perhaps this custom is still continuing. The class monitor stands at the door of the room or the class, and when the teacher arrives, he alerts the seated students to prepare. When they are alert and the teacher enters, they stand for him. So, by virtue of being the monitor, I used to alert them. I used to see things that attracted attention. There would be resentments between some teachers and some students, and the result of that would be that the student does not respect the teacher. I saw once when the teacher entered, and he knew that in the class there were students between whom there was what is called "what the blacksmith made" (a deep enmity), so I saw him standing on the tips of his toes, looking to see if there was any student who had not stood, and indeed there would beThe student : He bent like this and hid behind the... or what do you call it?
The student : The desk.

The Shaykh : Huh?
The student : The desk.

The Shaykh : Yes. He discovers him and says to him: "Get out, come here." He beats him with his legs and his hands, a severe beating, without any mercy or compassion. Why? Because he did not stand for the teacher. And from here, as you know, the poet of Egypt, Shawqi, what does he say? "Stand for the teacher."
The student : Hafiz Ibrahim.

The Shaykh : Hafiz Ibrahim, not Shawqi?
The student : "Stand for the teacher and pay him respect *** The teacher is almost a messenger."

The Shaykh : A prophet.
The student : Shawqi.

The Shaykh : Shawqi, yes.
The student : "Stand for the teacher and pay him respect *** The teacher is almost a messenger."

The Shaykh: Allah is the Greatest!
The student : A bank, before they used to call it a bank.

The Shaykh: How?
The student : He says... the one in front of the students is called a bank.

The Shaykh : We call it al-rahlaya in our place.
The student : ... in English, O Shaykh... the bank.

The Shaykh : So it is right for us to say, stay away from English.