Question:
Assalamualaikum,
I love you Mawlana Shaykh Nazim Shaykh Hisham, Shaykh Adnan and everybody in the tariqah.
My question is what is the explanation regarding women and kissing the hands of the Shuyukh?
If I’m not mistaken there are 3 categories of men whom women can be allowed to come in skin contact with. However I’m not too sure.
In defense, others might say that Rasulullah s.a.w. himself did not shake hands with other non-muhrim women. So how can the women now kiss the Shaykh’s hand?
Thank you for answering. May Allah bless ALL OF YOU and family more and more and more as much as the atoms in the Universe multiplied by infinity.
Answer:
wa `alaykum salam,
Allah Most High said, addressing shaytan: {You will have no power over My servants, only over the ones who go astray and follow you} (15:42).
The key words are “lets” and “allow.” There is a big difference between allowing (out of mercy) and wanting (out of lust). The contemporary Mauritanian Shaykh Abd Allah bin Bayya` was asked about this and he replied: “If it causes rancor (tabaghud) not to handshake then it is permissible, far from sexual interest in the woman.” This is why Shaykh Nazim’s da`wa in the West has towered over that of all others without exception.
Here is an excerpt from an interview with Mawlana Shaykh Nazim that took place in the nineties:
INTERVIEWER: If you were to tell your followers not to address you as the perfect one, not to kiss your hands and feet – and they say that in meetings even women come and kiss your hands, and the Prophet would never allow that… I want your comments on that?
SHAYKH NAZIM: No. They are always untrue people. They are always changing things from their real light. They are liars. They make iftira‘ [fabrications] and backbiting, because they are hasud – jealous, envious people. I never say to my followers that I am ‘a perfect one.’
But until they find a perfect one, I am only training them. I never said that I am a 100% perfect trainer but I am a good opportunity; while I am here, I only try to do my best with people. Like a doctor who is not a specialist, but still he must treat his patients. Should he say: I cannot touch you because I am not a specialist? I never said to anyone: ‘I am a 100% perfect person and I am training you: Come and kiss my hands!’ I am not so foolish as these people. They are thinking that I say to people come and kiss my hand!
INTERVIEWER: They say that it is a necessary part of your training…
SHAYKH NAZIM: No, never. My training is written in my books and the associations I hold, but they are not reading my books because shaytans are so proud. Can they find it anywhere that I say: Kiss my hand, kiss my feet? But I may enter through a crowd and without doing anything, people are completely unable to remain seated, they will stand up. I am not saying to them to do it. It is something granted to me, from the greatness of Allah, called haybat [dignity]. They can’t stop. When I pass, they stand up and rush to me. I am not telling them to. Once I was in Madina praying, facing Qibla. As I was finishing, one of these people said to me: ‘O shaykh! Why did you bring all these people behind you!’ I was surprised. My eyes were closed and I was making du`a without sound, only what I may hear. But I looked around and I saw 100 people behind me. I said I am nobody, I am an ordinary person, a visitor here. I do not know them. Why are you telling me this? Tell those people to go away! Prophets have a magnetic power called jazba [attraction]. That makes people run to that person. I have some of that which I received through our spiritual way. I am not an empty one, like those people. But they are hussad [enviers]… What happens if my followers kiss my hand? The Prophet – blessings upon him – kissed the Stone, and all Sahaba kissed the Stone. All the Hujjaj [pilgrims] kiss the Stone, and the Ka`ba. It is not haram to kiss the Ka`ba. Is the Ka`ba more honored than Man? No.
INTERVIEWER: But the Ka`ba has a special place in their hearts.
SHAYKH NAZIM: We have a special place also.
Hajj Gibril Haddad
