Question : A question was asked regarding the ruling for clapping, and standing for, the teacher.

Fatwa in Brief: Clapping is highly disliked (makruh); so too, is standing for the teacher.

Shaykh Ibn Baz, al-Da‘wa Journal, no. 1325

Response:

Nowadays, clapping is not an act of worship. As such, it does not communicate the desire to get closer to God. Rather, it is a custom that allows a person to show their admiration [for someone they respect], and there can be no legal prohibition against this. [Likewise] there is no harm in standing up for a person out of respect, if s/he deserves it. Hence, one could stand up for a just Imam, one’s parents and/or scholars.

Commentary:

[In the days before Islam] The people of the Quraysh would circumambulate the Ka‘ba (tawaf) naked, clapping and whistling. They imagined such acts to be a form of worship. [Needless to say] Islam does not agree. God said:

“And their worship at the (holy) House is naught but whistling and hand-clapping”. (Q. 8: 35).

This shows that those who try to get close to God through clapping and whistling are wrong. In his interpretation [of the Qur’an], al-Qurtubi pointed to that, as he na3a on the ignorant among the Sufis, who dance and clap, and said: This is a munkar that the wise one would not do, the one who does that imitates the polytheists (mushrikin) in the rituals they used to perform around the Ka‘ba. Yet, clapping nowadays is not an act of worship, and does not signify a desire to draw closer to God by. It is [merely] a custom and form of behavior that some people choose to show their admiration for a particular subject. There is no law against this in Islam. [Though] It is better for this not to occur in mosque celebrations, so as to distinguish [modern and correct] Muslim behavior from that of the ancient polytheists.

As regards standing up for a person out of respect when they enter [a room], there is no legal objection to this, providing s/he [the person arriving] deserves this. Hence, one might stand for the arrival of a just Imam, one’s parents and/or scholars. Likewise, one could stand for the traveler [on his/her return from a journey], the elderly, a teacher or anyone else to whom we show respect. It was reported in the hadith collections of Bukari and Muslim that, when a wounded Sa‘d ibn Ma‘az arrived on his donkey, the Prophet (upon him be peace) told his Followers (Ansar) to “stand up to receive your chieftain”. This was not intended merely to help [the wounded Sa‘d]. Rather, the men of Bani al-Ashhad remarked: “we stood up for him in two rows, and each man saluted him until it was the time of the Prophet (upon him be peace); and he was the last [to salute]. Similarly, Talha (r.a.) stood up for Ka‘b ibn Malik, when God forgave him. And, according to the report in Bukhari and Muslim, the Prophet (upon him be peace) did not reject this idea.

A sound hadith, in al-Tirmidhi’s collection, reports that the Prophet (upon him be peace) once said: “he who does not show compassion to the young, respect to the elderly is not one of us”. While Ahmad [Ibn Hanbal] narrated that the Prophet (upon him be peace) also said: “he who does not respect the elderly, or have mercy upon the young, or appreciate the rights of our scholars is not one of us”. Another hadith, with a good (jayyid) chain of tradition and included in Abu Dawud’s collection, states that: “among the acts of venerating God are included: honoring the elderly Muslims, the one in authority, and any memorizer of Qur’an, who avoids extremism and laziness”.

Some scholars mention that the act of standing up [for another person] has four potential rulings:

1.  Forbidden (mahzur): it is not to be performed for a person who desires that people stand up for him, as this merely promotes snobbery and arrogance.

2.  Disliked (makruh): it may be performed for someone who is not snobbish or arrogant. The fear [and reason for its classification as disliked] is that, by doing so, a person may imitate the actions of tyrants (jabibara).

3.  Permitted (ja’iz): it may be performed to honour someone who does not wish it, and when the person who stands does not fear that his/her action is an imitation of the action of the tyrants (jababira).

4.  Permitted (mandub): it should be performed for the return of those who have traveled, as a way to show one’s happiness on their [safe] arrival. Likewise, it is recommended as a way of congratulating those who have recently received a blessing; and lastly, as a way of showing support to those who have recently suffered a crisis.[1]

This is the way in which those hadiths that forbid standing up [for a person entering the room] should be interpreted. These include the strong (Hasan) hadith, in the collections of Abu Dawud and al-Tirmidhi, in which the Prophet (upon him be peace) states: “the one who likes people to stand up in his honor seeks a place in hell”; and, from the collections of Abu Dawud and Ibn Majah, with a strong (hasan) chain, and attributed to Abu Umama al-Bahilli (r.a.). In this, the Messenger of God (upon him be peace) came out to the believers leaning on a cane, upon seeing him, they stood up. So, the Prophet said: “do not stand up like the ‘Ajim stand for each other”.[2]

Dr. Yassir ‘Abd al-‘Azim