Fath al-Rabbani

Benefits: … It is the habit of later-coming elders or Sufi-inclined people who desire goodness and virtue that they try to advance forward by stepping over people’s necks. In the blessed gatherings of the Noble Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and the noble Companions, this did not occur; there, whoever found a place would sit right there. Shaykh al-Albani rahimahullah writes: In this hadith, a manner of conduct from the era of the Prophet is mentioned. In the present age, most people—including the people of knowledge—have abandoned it. That etiquette is: when a person arrives at a gathering, he should sit wherever the gathering ends, even if he has to sit at the threshold of the door. He should not wait for people to stand up for him so that he may go forward, as is the habit of arrogant leaders and those who seek superiority. The Noble Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam explicitly forbade this. He sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said: ((Lā yuqīmu ar-rajulu ar-rajula min maq‘adihi thumma yajlisu fīhi, walākin tafassahū wa tawassa‘ū)) … No man should make another man stand up from his seat and then sit there himself. (However, you should) make room and expand (for others). (Muslim) And in another narration of Sahih Muslim: When someone would stand up from his seat for Sayyiduna Abdullah ibn Umar radi Allahu anhu, he would not sit there, because the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam had forbidden that a person sitting in a gathering should stand up for someone else’s sake. See Sahihah: 228. (Sahihah: 330)