A Response to Those Who Permit Standing for the One Who Enters and Argue with the General Hadiths That Command Reverence for the Elderly and Scholars

The student: Two weak hadiths.

The Shaykh: The first hadith: "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) commanded us to give people their due status." Its chain of narration is weak, but the other hadith: This one is authentic. So now, using the Syrian expression, we make it extreme: the Shaykh enters and the young man prostrates to him. Is that permissible? Everyone will say no, no, this is not permissible. Why? Because it is known, even to the ignorant, that prostration is not permissible except to Allah.
The student: Yes.

The Shaykh: Now, we made it extreme so that people would understand in their minds that there is no disagreement on this. Now let us make it a bit smaller: a scholar enters and they bow to him. Again, they will not say this is permissible, right? Bowing? I think at this moment the Shaykh has illustrated how in some non-Arab countries they do this for him. So the first image is not permissible by the consensus of scholars and the ignorant, and the second image is likewise, although perhaps some people may doubt it depending on the environment, because now there is no environment in the entire Muslim world that approves of prostration to a scholar except these extreme Sufis who actually prostrate to the Shaykhs of their path. These people have no standing in knowledge. But this bowing, this bending, exists in some Islamic countries, unfortunately, as you heard in the previous example. And I have seen people like me, from the professors of the Islamic University, do this when we were there, from the good Pakistani and Indian Muslims.
In truth, I say that this people respect the scholars completely, but in what way? Excess and exaggeration. So one of them, if he met the teacher, would bow to him. And it is very difficult for a person to abolish a custom that fathers, sons, and grandfathers have lived by, and so on, except through pursuit and follow-up. So prostration is not a form of honoring the scholar, because it contradicts the Shari'ah. As for bowing, which is the bending mentioned in the hadith of Anas ibn Malik in al-Tirmidhi, in Sunan al-Tirmidhi and others as well: "When one of us meets his brother, does he bow to him?" He said: . He said: "Does he shake his hand?" He said: . So bending, likewise, is not permissible, because it is prohibited.
Now we come to the issue of standing. The honorable Shaykh enters and the people stand up. Why is this? Honor, my master, there is no problem with that, exaltation. But let us return to the rule: "Give people their due status" within the limits of the Shari'ah, and "know the right of our scholar" within the limits of the Shari'ah. Now we say: We agree that prostration to a scholar, even for honor, is not permissible. Nor is bowing or bending permissible. Now we come to the prevalent matter today in most Islamic countries. We are speaking now about the scholar, but I wish the matter would stop at the scholar. A wicked, sinful man enters and the people stand for him. But we... for the scholar, for this righteous man, for this gray-haired man, and so on. Was this from revering the elder and knowing the right of the scholar in the earliest, brightest, purest time? The answer is no. If this standing were a lawful means to achieve: "Give people their due status," or: "Know the right of our scholar," is there anyone among the people and anyone among the scholars who deserves honor by any of the lawful means of honor like the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)? The answer is no. Now, let us look, and opposite this question is a second question: Is there any nation, group, or generation that knew Islam and practiced it in all its aspects like the first generation, who were the Companions of the Messenger (peace be upon him)? The answer is likewise no. How did this generation treat the master of the generation and all generations, who is our Messenger (peace be upon him), when he entered upon them? In our current custom, they must stand for him. That generation did not know that at all, absolutely not. And the proof of that is the hadith of Anas ibn Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) in "Al-Adab al-Mufrad" of al-Bukhari.