Buhari is free to shake hands with the opposite sex if necessary - A O Hamzat
Here is an article written Abdulrazaq O Hamzat, giving reasons why Buhari can shake women if he wants. Read below...
Scholars have given two situations when exchanging hand shake with
opposite sex is permissible.
Firstly, shaking hands between males and females who are not relative
is only permissible when there is no desire.
Secondly, handshaking between males and females who are not relatives
should be restricted to necessary situations.
Sheikh Muhammad Al-Mukhtar Al-Shinqiti, director of the Islamic Center
of South Plains, Lubbock, Texas, states the following:
There are two common hadiths concerning shaking hands with the
opposite sex. In the first hadith, the Prophet (peace and blessings be
upon him) is reported to have said, "I do not shake hands with women"
(Al-Bukhari).
The second hadith is narrated on the authority of Anas ibn Malik (may
Allah be pleased with him), he said, "The female slave from Madinah
would take hold of the hand of Allah's Messenger and lead him wherever
she wished, without withdrawing her hands from his hands until the
Prophet fulfils her need" (Ahmad).
Based on the two hadiths, we conclude that the basic rule discourages
shaking hands with members of the opposite sex, but if one were put in
an awkward situation, then there would be no harm to shake hands with
members of the opposite sex. It is permissible to do it.
Contradiction in hadiths prohibiting hand shakes.
1. It was narrated that Ma’qil ibn Yassaar said: the Messenger of
Allaah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “For one of
you to be stabbed in the head with an iron needle is better for him
than that he should touch a woman who is not permissible for him.”
Narrated by al-Tabaraani in al-Kabeer, 486.
2. It was also narrated from Ma’qal ibn Yassaar that, the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) used to shake hands with
women from beneath a garment.”
Narrated by al-Tabaraani in al-Awsat, 2855.
3.
Another narration by women who visit the prophet to take oath of
allegiance mentioned that, the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah
be upon him) did not shake hands with them, it was said that ‘Umar
(may Allaah be pleased with him) shook hands with them on his behalf.
Narrated by al-Tabaraani in al-Awsat, 2833.
I deliberately took my time before trying to respond to the
controversy generated by the hand shake of the President Elect with
Oshiomole's new wife.
The response by some Muslims to the hand shake can simply be described
as a misdirected energy, though, they have a right to their
expression.
Talking about hand shake with opposite sex, majority of scholars
concluded that, it is prohibited to shake hands with opposite sex
because of fear of temptation or desire, but if there is no fear of
temptation or desire, it is permissible.
It has been noted from the numerous contradictory narrations that, the
hadith relied upon by some scholars to completely prohibit hand shake
is not reliable.
This is why you see Muslim leaders even in the Arabic
world exchanging hand shakes with women when it is necessary to do so.
But before going into that aspect proper, let me talk about this
particular incident of Buhari.
First, Buhari has been shaking women for God's know how long, i can
bet you that his hand shake with women has gone beyond count.
When Buhari was a young soldier, he would have shake hands with
superior female officers.
Hand shake in military is a form of charge
or commendation. He might have also shake hands with female junior
officer when he was in command.
While serving as Governor, he would have shake many women in the civil
service in time of their appointment and many other occasions. When
serving as Minister of petroleum, he would have shake uncountable
female business partners from various companies and countries. As PTDF
chairman, we would have shake hands with many female workers, one of
such could be the late Dora Akunyili, which he Buhari recommended for
NAFDAC appointment.
And as head of state, he would have shake hands
with many Ambassadors, female presidents, Prime Ministers, envoys etc.
So, exchanging hand shake with women, if need be cannot be a new thing
for Buhari.
Secondly, Buhari his not the only Muslim that exchange hand shake with
women, uncountable Muslims leaders all over the world had been shaking
women for centuries. Even in Saudi Arabia, the birth place of the
noble prophet (S.A.W), the King had been shaking all sort of women for
ages. The King of Saudi is regarded as the Muslim leader all over the
world.
So we must ask, is shaking hands with opposite sex entirely prohibited in Islam?
To guide my friends here on this page, i asked a question which is yet
to get adequate response. The question was simple ''Can anybody show
me one verse in the Quran, where it is prohibited for men to shake
women''?, till this moment, nobody was able to do that.
Certainly, there is no such prohibition in the Holy Quran.
So, If the Quran did not prohibit it, where was it prohibited? Sunnah
(Hadiths)....?
Here, we must ask, what is Sunnah and how can you confirm a sunnah
when there are dispute on its authenticity as can be seen in the many
contradictions?
A Sunnah is the saying and practice of Prophet Muhammed. But we must
ask, where is Prophet Muhammed? He died about a thousand 500 years
ago.
Here we know, the prophet is no more. He can’t confirm what he said or
what he did not say. He can’t confirm what he did, or what he did not
do. All we are left with is written text, by third, fourth, fifth and
uncountable parties.
To make matter worse, we have records of fabricated hadiths (Sunnah)…….
During the period of Umar as the leader of the Muslim Ummah, a
terrorist was caught in an act against prophet Muhammed and islam. “I
have fabricated things against God and have imputed to Him words which
He has not spoken.” ~MUHAMMAD (Al-Tabari 6:111)
That was a confession by a fabricator who circulated over 23000 fake
hadith.
He made that confession after being tortured when he was
caught. With this example, it is not a surprise that we have many
contradictory hadith, this is why hadith are categorized.
Hadith Suhih (Sound Hadiths)
Hadiths Hassan (Good Hadith)
Hadith daif ( Poor Hadiths)
We also have fabricated hadith.
The measure outlined to check authenticity of hadith, was a way to try
to identify the fake hadith, but even that measure cannot be relied
upon completely because it doesn’t actually confirm the authenticity
of a hadith, it only try to establish channel of reports to determine
if those who claimed to have reported a certain hadith lived during
the period of claim.
This means that, very few hadith can entirely be relied upon on its
own merit, except we get a Quranic verse which authenticate the
hadith. Since there is no Quranic evidence to show its prohibition,and
the many contradictory hadith cannot be authenticated, it is left to
the conscience of Muslims to decide and act right as they deem fit.
I decided to take you down this lane to understand how we got here…..
In Islam, the agreement of majority of scholars is usually considered
if there is dispute. And since they said the prohibition cannot be
authenticated, so be it. Though they advised that, we should try to
avoid it unless when it is important to do so.
As a Muslim, you have a choice to go with any of the 2 positions you
deem convincing to you and Buhari has chosen his. Why the unnecessary
criticism?
But before you comment, know that there are two school of thought on
this subject in Islam. Those who said it is prohibited and those who
said it is not. Those who said it is prohibited are the minority,
those against its prohibition are in the vast majority.
Finally and Ultimately, Prophet Muhammed has stated it all.
All actions are judged according to intention.
If the intention of exchanging hand shake is to enjoy the feeling of
the hand of an opposite sex with desire, it is forbidden. If such hand
shake could lead to further sexual feeling, its prohibited. But if it
is all about duty and function as a leader. It is not prohibited.
Therefore, as president, Buhari is free to shake hands with opposite
sex in the course of his duty. QED
