Taking Bay‘ah Hand in Hand

Question

It is customary among the pious elders that when someone becomes a disciple they take his hand in their own hand and perform the bay‘ah in this way. What is the basis for this? Does the bay‘ah remain incomplete without it?

Answer

It was the general practice of the noble Prophet ﷺ, the Rightly-Guided Caliphs ﵃ and the elders of the religion ﵏ to take the pledging person’s hand in their own hand when accepting bay‘ah, because bay‘ah is in reality a pledge (‘ahd) for the purpose for which it is given, and hand is usually taken in hand when making a pledge.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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