Ruling Concerning Greeting By Shaking With Both Hands On the authority of ‘Abdullah bin Yazeed al-Khutmey the noble companion radiyaAllahu ‘anhu he said: Whenever the Messenger of Allah wanted to give a farwell to the army he said I enrust onto Allah your religion your safety and your final deeds [Reported by Aboo Daawuud Kitaab al-Jihaad no. 2601 Tirmidhee Kitaab al-Daaawaat no. 3444] Shaykh al-Albaanee – may Allah have mercy upon him – said: From this authentic hadeeth a number of benefits can be derived: That it is from the Sharee’ah to bid farwell, with the wording that has been mentioned ‘I entrust onto Allah your religion your safety and your final deeds’ and then the traveller himself replies by saying ‘I entrust you onto Allah, the One who safeguards His entrustments’ Shaking only one hand at the time of al-musaafaha [greeting or bidding farwell] as this has been mentioned in numerous ahadeeth. This is also proven from a lingiustic point of view, because of the meaning the word al-musaafaha carries in the arabic language and its mushtaqaat [derivatives]. For an example: al-musaafaha implies taking hold of one hand, the same goes for at-tasaafuh. So this is when a man puts the palm of his hand into the palm of another mans [because the word for palm in arabic is safh] This is also mentioned in the hadeeth of al-musaafaha upon meeting, this is when two people shake hands and face one another. I say: [Shaykh al-Albaanee] And in some ahadeeth there are hints towards the same meaning, as the hadeeth of Huthayfah marfuu’ [the hadeeth being attributed to the Prophet] Verily when a mu’min [believer] meets another mu’min, giving him salam and taking hold of his hand doing al-musaafaha [greeting him by shaking it] then both their sins fall off, in the same way as leaves fall of a tree. So these ahadeeth show that the Sunnah of shaking hands infact is done by holding a persons hand with one hand, and as for what some elders do by shaking with two hands together is against the sunnah. So let this be known.
Posted on: Tue, 22 Jul 2014 16:21:03 +0000