Is It Sunnah To Shake Hands Using Both Hands? Clasping The Right Hand Of The Other Person With Both The Hands
Islamic Rulings -
Living Shariah Verdicts
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Is it Sunnah to shake hands with only the right
hands?
what about shaking hands with the both hands (like
clasping the right hand of the other person with both
the hands)?.
Praise be to Allaah.
Shaking hands when meeting and saying salaam is
part of the etiquette of Islam and its good morals. It
is an expression of love between the two who shake
hands, as it dispels hatred, rancour and grudges among
the Muslims. There is a great hadeeth which speaks of
its virtue, in which the Prophet (peace and blessings
of Allaah be upon him) said: "There are no two Muslims
who meet and shake hands with one another, but they
will be forgiven before they part." Narrated by Abu
Dawood (5212); classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in
Saheeh Abi Dawood.
Shaking hands was a custom that was well known among
the Sahaabah (may Allaah be pleased with them).
It was narrated that Qataadah said: I said to Anas ibn
Maalik: Did the companions of the Messenger of Allaah
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) shake
hands with one another? He said: Yes. Narrated by al-Bukhaari
(6263).
Ibn Battaal said: Shaking hands is good according to
most of the scholars. Al-Nawawi said: Shaking hands
when meeting is a Sunnah on which there is consensus –
as stated in Fath al-Baari (11/55).
Secondly:
Shaking hands happens when one man places his hand in
the hand of his companion; this is what is implied by
the Arabic word musaafahah (handshaking), as stated in
Mu'jam Maqaayees al-Lughah (3/229) and elsewhere.
Based on this the apparent meaning of the ahaadeeth
quoted above about handshaking may be understood.
Hence most of the scholars are of the view that
shaking hands with one hand is the Sunnah, and this is
the usual custom among the Muslims and the Sahaabah
(may Allaah be pleased with them).
Shaykh al-Albaani said in al-Silsilah al-Saheehah
(1/22), mentioning what is to be learned from some
ahaadeeth:
Taking hold of one hand when shaking hands. This is
mentioned in many ahaadeeth, and it is what is implied
linguistically.
I say: In some of the ahaadeeth referred to this
meaning may also be understood, such as the marfoo'
hadeeth of Hudhayfah: "When the believer meets a
fellow believer and he greets him with salaam and
takes him by the hand and shakes hands with him, their
sins will fall like the leaves of a tree." Al-Mundhiri
said (3/270): It was narrated by al-Tabaraani in al-Awsat
and I do not know of anyone who is majrooh
(unacceptable) among its narrators. I say: And it has
corroborating evidence which raises it to the level of
being saheeh.
These ahaadeeth all indicate that the Sunnah in
shaking hands is to use just one hand. End quote.
As for the view of some Hanafi and Maaliki fuqaha',
that it is mustahabb to shake hands using both hands,
putting the palm of the left hand over the back of
one's brother's hand, this is not proven to be Sunnah
from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him) or from his companions. Rather the most that
can be said concerning some ahaadeeth that refer to it
is that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him) took the hand of one of his companions in
both of his hands as a sign of extra care in teaching,
guiding and so on, as it says in Saheeh al-Bukhaari
(6265) and Saheeh Muslim (402) that Ibn Mas'ood (may
Allaah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of
Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)
taught me the tashahhud, holding my hand between both
of his.
But that is not the usual habit, based on the evidence
of the previous report which says that the basic
principle is shaking hands with one hand, which is
stated clearly in some reports. This hadeeth indicates
that too, because if the custom among the Sahaabah had
been to shake hands using both hands, Ibn Mas'ood
would not have mentioned that. The fact that he
mentions it indicates that it was not the usual habit
of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him) with his companions.
Nevertheless, shaking hands using both hands should
not be described as a bid'ah (innovation), rather it
is something that is permissible, but the Sunnah,
which it is better to adhere to, is to shake hands
using just one hand.
It was narrated from Hammaad ibn Zayd that he shook
hands with ‘Abd-Allaah ibn al-Mubaarak using both
hands, as is stated in a mu'allaq report in Saheeh al-Bukhaari
(p. 1206).
It says in Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa'imah (24/125):
As for shaking hands using both hands, we do not know
anything about that, but it should not be done; it is
better to use just one hand.
End quote.
See also al-Mawsoo'ah al-Fiqhiyyah: entry on
Musaafahah (shaking hands); Tuhfat al-Ahwadhi
(7/431-433)
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