The Shaykh (may Allah have mercy on him) encouraged students of knowledge to shake hands instead of kissing the hand or the head.

The Shaykh : But - also - another thought recently occurred to me, and as they used to say in the past, the matter has many threads. I mentioned earlier the virtue of shaking hands . Now, here is a linguistic, usuli, and fiqhi study all at once, which is: This is a generic term that includes every Muslim, whether he is a scholar, a distinguished and dignified Shaykh, or a young man growing in the obedience of Allah, or somewhere in between , to the end of the hadith. This virtue is often lost by the two Muslims who ought to shake hands; they lose this virtue. Who are the two Muslims who meet? Instead of shaking hands, what do they do? One of them kisses the other. We have cast this aside as something distant, but it is actually very close, and it happens constantly among people, always and forever. Especially, as I mentioned earlier, this hadith in its generality includes Muslims, as I told you earlier: the old Shaykh and the young man. These two types do not fall outside the generality of the hadith: , to the end of it. But we see in our reality a clear contradiction, and it is almost a constant practice. When a Muslim meets another who differs from him in some description or attribute, the most prominent and obvious one is: if the one being greeted is a learned, virtuous man, then this young man, or whoever may be older than him in age, usually does not dare to shake his hand, but rather kisses his hand. We do not deny the kissing of the hand, because this kissing has been established in some hadiths that the hand of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was kissed, and that was not censured in the one who kissed his hand. But we say that this kissing of the hand, and the hand of the Chosen One (peace and blessings be upon him), is a very great difference if we measure ourselves. I mean, we who receive the hand-kissing and we who kiss the hand. If these two groups are measured against the two groups who were in the time of the Messenger (peace be upon him), either you kiss the hand of the Messenger (peace be upon him), and there is no parallel to this, no likeness to it. And if we want to liken a person to the Messenger (peace be upon him) in knowledge, in virtue, in righteousness, in... to the end of it, then it is only from the category of likening blacksmiths to angels. This is a very ugly likeness. And as it was said, "Where is the Pleiades from the dust, and where is Mu'awiyah from 'Ali?" And if we descend from the Messenger (peace be upon him) to some of his noble Companions whose hands were kissed, like Zayd ibn Thabit, where are we like Zayd ibn Thabit? Likewise, there is no existence of that. So the difference is very, very great. Despite this, fiqh does not help us to deny the permissibility of kissing the hand of the learned, virtuous, righteous man. But we do not go beyond saying it is permissible; we cannot say more than that it is permissible. We do not say it is recommended, because the recommended is what was done with some frequency, but not always. I said, despite what I mentioned of the difference between the first generation and the last generation, of the very many differences, we cannot say anything but the permissibility of kissing the hand. But we do not go beyond saying it is permissible, so we do not raise the ruling of kissing to the level of recommended practices, let alone raise it to the level of confirmed sunnahs. If the matter is so, then I see that the Wise Lawgiver, when He approved the kissing of the hand at the level of permissibility, is in reality - this is an expression from me, and I hope I am correct in it - approved it from the perspective of the nature of people. I mean, a man who is eager to see the learned, virtuous Shaykh, to the end of it, and especially if he has not seen him for a long time, he rushes to him and kisses his hand. It is a human nature, no harm in it. But he does not bow to him, he does not prostrate to him, because that is prohibited. But if the human nature is permissible, we do not establish it in the place of the recommended sunnah, which is shaking hands. This is what I have finally come to, to draw attention to it - also - and to remind you of it. In other words, I am telling you regarding my person: I am an old Shaykh, I mean old in language, not in knowledge, because that would be self-praise, and Allah says: . But I cannot say that I am young; rather, I am a Shaykh against my will. I have passed eighty. I am an old Shaykh, I am an old Shaykh. So I advise you: if you meet me, apply with me the recommended sunnah, not the permissible sunnah. Perhaps you have understood me, meaning: shake hands with me and stay away from kissing the hand or the head or the forehead or anything else. And if you are able, I say this regarding me because I control myself, but I do not control others. Therefore, I can only say to you: if you are able to do with others what I advise you to do with me, then do so, and you will be successful. And you have given the legal ruling its true weight: the permissible remains permissible, and the recommended remains recommended. You have not exchanged that which is lower for that which is better. Exchanging that which is lower, the permissibility, for that which is better, the recommended, this is not permissible by the explicit text of the Noble Qur'an. This is a reminder, and the reminder benefits the believers. After this occasion, which has been long, and perhaps there is good in it, if Allah wills, and scientific benefit, it is perhaps good that we open the door for questions. If any of you has a question, and I hope, and I hope, that the question is not... I do not know if it is correct to say "mused" - meaning it is not old, meaning it is not repeated. Yes, it should contain new knowledge, that I benefit and the attendees also benefit. There is no god but Allah. Please proceed.