Showing soles of feet - disrespectful?
 

As-salamu alaykum.

In the culture of my parents' home country and in those of many Muslim-majority countries, showing or placing the soles of one's feet in the direction of someone else is considered disrespectful. I do not know of any Islamic source which also deems this disrespectful, although I hear many Muslims from Muslim-majority countries claim that this is considered to be disrespectful and sinful in Islam. Does anyone know of an Islamic source that would suggest that showing or placing the soles of one's feet in the direction of someone else is disrespectful and/or sinful? Please note that I am not suggesting that, even if there is no Islamic basis for this act's being disrespectful, one should do in the presence of those who would take offense to it. I am simply wanting to know if this view of its being disrespectful and/or sinful is one derived from Islamic sources.

JazakAllah Khayran for all of your help.

Wassalaam

As you said, out of adab, we shouldn't do it - especially if people take offense. But from what I understand, it's extremism to say that a person will incur sin if he does it.

Shaykh Salih discusses pointing feet towards the ka'bah in the following fatwa (islamqa):
http://*************/en/ref/12871
"There is nothing to say that this is not allowed, but some of the scholars regarded it as makrooh (disliked) to stretch the feet out towards the Ka’bah if one is close to it; they regarded this as makrooh but not emphatically so. But if there is a mosque somewhere else and there is a Muslim there who points his feet towards the qiblah, there is no harm in that and he is not doing anything forbidden in sha Allaah, as the scholars stated."

From askimam:
http://www.askimam.org/public/question_detail/16131
"The Qibla (direction of the Ka'bah) is considered to be one of the Sha'air (symbols) of Allah Ta'ala. Therefore, the Qibla should be respected. Stretching one's legs and spreading one's feet before others is considered a sign of disrespect"

So if pointing feet towards the ka'bah is makrooh at worst and permissible at best - I don't see why people say it's sinful to point towards a person. Allahu a'lam.

^Thank you for your reply. Does anyone else have any other insights to contribute to this discussion?

If there is no Nass, it is offensive (makruh) based on the culture/custom ('urf) at best. And this is the case in at least some Muslim dominated cultures, but not all. Wa Allahu a'lam

I think there's a narration in hayatus sahabah where one sahabi http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...ilies/anhu.gif mentioned something to the effect of Rasulullah http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...ilies/pbuh.gif not stretching his legs towards someone.

Forgot which volume it was in.

Actually, if I'm not mistaken, what you are referring to is a hadith in Tirmidhi wherein it was stated, when speaking of the good manners and character of the Rasul (peace be upon him), that he never withdrew his hand first from a handshake nor ever outstretched his feet in the direction of another.

Perhaps someone else can get the exact reference for us or, even better, an online link to the hadith in question?

Jazak Allah Khair. We can all learn from the best of creation sallallaahu alayhi wasallam. Do you have the arabic as well inshaAllah?

I think no one disputes that it's bad manners and disrespectful in certain cultures. It's the "sin" element which is often overplayed. For example, people would have no issues listening to music etc. but stuff like this, they would raise a racket.

You've just refreshed my memory.http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...nnah_smile.gif Those words from the Sahabi makes things a little clearer now. The akhlaq of Nabi http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...ilies/pbuh.gif is of a tremendous nature.

و إنك لعلى خلق عظيم


Yeah it would be good if someone can post that narration.

^I believe I have found the Hadith you are thinking of:

Al-Tirmidhi Hadith - 1532

Narrated Anas ibn Malik

When Allah's Messenger (peace be upon him) shook hands with a man he did not withdraw his hand till the other did so, he did not turn his face away till the other did so, and he was not seen to put forward his knees in front of one with whom he was sitting.

Tirmidhi transmitted it. http://www.alim.org/library/hadith/TIR/1532

200. Anas told that when Allah's messenger (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) shook hands with a man, he did not withdraw his hand till the other did so, and he was not seen to put forward his knees in front of one with whom he was sitting.
(Tirmidhi).
(Sayings of Muhammad. by Prof. Ghazi Ahmad). http://foreninger.uio.no/mss/tr/hadith/hadith1.html

Can anyone speak to the authenticity of this particular Hadith? I know that Tirmidhi's Hadiths are generally regarded as authentic, but the reason I ask is because a similar narration appears in a different collection but lacks the last part about the knees of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him):
He sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah exalt his mention ) was always the first to greet another and would not withdraw his hand from a handshake till the other man withdrew his. If one wanted to say something in his ears, he would not turn away till one had finished as reported in the books of Abu Daawood and At-Tirmithi may Allaah have mercy upon them. He did not like people to get up for him and used to say: "Let him, who likes people to stand up in his honor, he should seek a place in hell." [Abu Daawood]. http://www.islamweb.net/emainpage/in...cles&id=136184

Is the aforementioned Hadith from Tirmidhi among the authentic Hadiths?

EDIT: Abu_Dahdah, I deleted the previous version of my post in order to write this version, but you must have quoted my previous post and responded to it before my deletion went through. Please feel free to re-edit your post with this revised version of my post. I apologize for the inconvenience.

He sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah exalt his mention ) was always the first to greet another and would not withdraw his hand from a handshake till the other man withdrew his. If one wanted to say something in his ears, he would not turn away till one had finished as reported in the books of Abu Daawood and At-Tirmithi may Allaah have mercy upon them.
I'm afraid I would not shake the hand of the Prophet (saaw) if I met him.

Rather I would hug him and not let go.....http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...s/icon_cry.gifhttp://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...cheesygrin.gif

It's this attitude that prompts me to make threads like this and others like it dealing with similar issues. We often tell non-Muslims that everyone who calls himself or herself a "Muslim" or areas of the world with predominantly "Muslim" populations are not always acting in line with Islam, but I think we often forget that ourselves when it comes to issues like this that are rooted far deeper in culture than they are in Islam.

Is anyone able to provide clarification to my previous post in this thread in which I quoted the Hadiths upon which this is supposed to be based?

There is hadith in Muntakhab Hadees book in Part of Ikrame Muslim
you read that it is mentioned is that these are ot good manners

Salaam

Could you provide the arabic for the ahadith quoted? At the moment - they seem to talk about "not putting forward knees" as opposed to "outstretching feet/showing soles of feet".

Wassalaam

The Arabic text of the hadith, as well as information regarding what the muhaditheen have said about its authenticity, would be VERY HELPFUL.

My internet connection is down so this is all typed up from a phone.


Anas http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...ilies/anhu.gif also reports, "Whenever Rasulullah http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...ilies/pbuh.gif shook hands with anyone or whenever anyone shook his hands, he would never pull away until the person pulled his own hand away first. He would also not turn away from a person he was facing (when speaking) until the person himself turned away first. He was also never to be seen stretching out his feet towards a person sitting before him."


Ya'qub bin Sufyan, Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah, as quoted in Al Bidayah wan Nihayah (volume.6 pg. 39) Ibn Sa'd (volume.1 pg. 99) has reported a similar narration.

Taken from the 2nd volume of Hayatus Sahabah, pg. 550 chapter concerning the character of the Sahabah http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...lies/anhum.gif and their noble traits


Rasulullah http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...ilies/pbuh.gif and the Sahabah's http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...lies/anhum.gif akhlaq are in one place and we're way off the mark.http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...s/icon_sad.gif

Any update on the arabic text of the hadith quoted by Sulaiman84?

EXCELLENT RESPONSE BRINGING UP THIS HADITH!

http://www.discussworldissues.com/fo...lies/jazak.gif

Yes, the Arabic text of the Hadith would be helpful to finally settle this issue.

كَانَ النَّبِيُّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ إِذَا اسْتَقْبَلَهُ الرَّجُلُ فَصَافَحَهُ لَا يَنْزِعُ يَدَهُ مِنْ يَدِهِ حَتَّى
يَكُونَ الرَّجُلُ يَنْزِعُ وَلَا يَصْرِفُ وَجْهَهُ عَنْ وَجْهِهِ حَتَّى يَكُونَ الرَّجُلُ هُوَ الَّذِي يَصْرِفُهُ وَلمَْ
يُرَ مُقَدِّمًا رُكْبَتَيْهِ بَيْنَ يَدَيْ جَلِيسٍ لَهُ

Sayyidina Anas ibn Maalik (RA) reported that when the Prophet (SAW) was greeted by a
man, and shook hands with him, he did not remove his hands from the man’s until the
man removed his. And, he did not turn his face away from the man’s until the man
turned his. And he never sat with his legs stretched when he was among people.
[Abud Dawud 7494, Ibn e Majah 3716, Tirmidhi 2496]

Perhaps someone can verify the text, I don't know arabic, I just copy-paste.

^Could someone who knows Arabic please verify the above?