Assalam-o-Alaikum

Society Religion & Philosophy
1

What is your opinion on saying Assalam-o-Alaikum to nice non-muslim people?
and
your take on responding to Assalam-o-Alaikum of non-muslims or people whom you consider non-muslims?

What is this ‘Peace’ that is in vogue in this forum? why not ‘Salam’ or ‘Assalam-o-Alaikum’

kindly corroborate your views with quotes from Quran and Sunnah of the prophet (pbuh)

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Re: Assalam-o-Alaikum

Assalam o Alaikum,

Prophet Muhammad PBUH not only said Assalam o Alaikum many times to non muslims but sometimes have exceeded the reply of salam with walikum assalam warahmatullah.

Just like how Islam is a universal religion, so is the greeting of Islam. Nothing wrong in greeting non muslims with Assalam o alaikum.

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Re: Assalam-o-Alaikum

salam alaikum kchugtai

afaik it is permissable only for dawah, as generally the non muslims are people of the fire. and if you believe Peace will be upon them then that calls into question areas which i am not able to answer or comprehende

from reading your reply on LK's burma muslim persecution thread, my salam was not with you at that time. i like you as a person but your salam goes to the non believers? or you making takfir on the believers based on your own wants of a good worldly life? come to the muslims kchugtai!

...waman yatawallahum minkum fainnahu minhum...[5-51]
and whoever takes them as allies among you then indeed he is of them

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Re: Assalam-o-Alaikum

That's a messed up view.

"And servants of (Allah) the Most Gracious are those who walk on the earth in humility, and when the ignorant address them, they say, Peace." Surah Al Furqan Verse 63

If you don't wish peace upon your fellow human beings, be it Muslim or non-Muslim, what do you wish upon them then? And also, Muslim don't have a copyright protection on the Salam. Arab Christians greet themselves that way and even Jews greet themselves with Shalom Aleichem, which literally means the same in hebrew.

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Re: Assalam-o-Alaikum

well according to myself, my as-salam alaikum 'peace be upon you' is different to just 'peace', 'hello', 'hi'

my salam is not with those opposed to islam, salam alaikum is for the believers (muslims) the jews can say it as much as they want to comfort themselves

at this point in time i just want kchughtai to hear the verse 51 of surah Al-Maidah

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Re: Assalam-o-Alaikum

There is a softer and stronger opinion regarding this …

“Peace” for me is just something I say … I use it in place of :salam: … When I say it to a Muslim i say it with the intention that “Allah (SWT) increases their state of peace” and when I say it to a non-Muslim, I say it with the intention that “Allah (SWT) brings them to a state of peace” …

In a humanistic manner - “Peace” means that ‘I’ as the invocater “mean you no harm” …

Everything else … by and by … I am less likely to say :salam: to a person who does not share my beliefs, but I am quite likely to respond to salams with salams.

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Re: Assalam-o-Alaikum

the difference of an alaikum

salamun:

And if you ask them who created them, they will surely say: "Allah." How then are they turned away (from the worship of Allah, Who created them)?
(And Allah has the knowledge) of (Prophet Muhammad's) saying: "O my Lord! Verily, these are a people who believe not!"
So turn away from them (O Muhammad صلى الله عليه و سلم), and say: Salam (peace)! But they will come to know.
43:87-89

salamun AAalaykum:

When those who believe in Our Ayat (proofs, evidence, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.) come to you, say: "salamun 'Alaikum" (peace be on you); your Lord has written (prescribed) Mercy for Himself, so that if any of you does evil in ignorance, and thereafter repents and does righteous good deeds (by obeying Allah), then surely, He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.
6:54

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Re: Assalam-o-Alaikum

Ibrahim (as) said the 'complete' salam to his father/uncle despite the later being a polytheist.

قَالَ أَرَاغِبٌ أَنْتَ عَنْ آلِهَتِي يَا إِبْرَاهِيمُ ۖ لَئِنْ لَمْ تَنْتَهِ لَأَرْجُمَنَّكَ ۖ وَاهْجُرْنِي مَلِيًّا

[19:46] He said: Do you dislike my gods, O Ibrahim? If you do not desist I will certainly revile you, and leave me for a time.

قَالَ** سَلَامٌ عَلَيْكَ ۖ** سَأَسْتَغْفِرُ لَكَ رَبِّي ۖ إِنَّهُ كَانَ بِي حَفِيًّا

[19:47] He said: Peace be on you, I will pray to my Lord to forgive you; surely He is ever Affectionate to me:

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Re: Assalam-o-Alaikum

It is not (proper) for the Prophet and those who believe to ask Allah's Forgiveness for the Mushrikun (polytheists, idolaters, pagans, disbelievers in the Oneness of Allah), even though they be of kin, after it has become clear to them that they are the dwellers of the Fire (because they died in a state of disbelief).

And Ibrahim's (Abraham) invoking (of Allah) for his father's forgiveness was only because of a promise he [Ibrahim (Abraham)] had made to him (his father). But when it became clear to him [Ibrahim (Abraham)] that he (his father) is an enemy of Allah, he dissociated himself from him. Verily Ibrahim (Abraham) was Awwah (one who invokes Allah with humility, glorifies Him and remembers Him much) and was forbearing
9:113-114

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Re: Assalam-o-Alaikum

Here you go. Assalam-o-Alaikum is nothing but a prayer for the addressee. As psyah said

[QUOTE]

When I say it to a Muslim i say it with the intention that "Allah (SWT) increases their state of peace" and when I say it to a non-Muslim, I say it with the intention that "Allah (SWT) brings them to a state of peace" ...

[/QUOTE]

same is the case with AoA. you are not giving away anything from your side. It is just a prayer and it is upto Allah what to do about it.

Another verse:

**4:87) "When you are greeted with a greeting, greet in return with what is better than it, or (at least) return it equally”

**

I think there are two instances I can think of where above is not applicable

1) The person before you greet you in insulting way or as Jews at the time of prophet (pbuh) used to say. say 'Assam-o-Alaikum'. In that case, keep quiet or say wa-alaikum.

2) The person greet you with salam but is known to be insulting and abusive towards Islam, Allah(swt), prophet (pbuh) etc.
Once the promised messiah(as) was doing his ablution before prayer. a hindu pandit lekhraam was passing by. He said salam to promised messiah (as). He didn't respond. He repeated salam a few times but hazrat sahib didn't reply. He went away. one of the companions said. Why didn't you reply to his salam? The promised Messiah(as) said: "Hamaare aaqa(pbuh) ko to gaaliaan deta hai aur hamein salam karta hai".

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Re: Assalam-o-Alaikum

so does it mean you fake it for the sake of dawah? say something that you really don't mean

[quote]

from reading your reply on LK's burma muslim persecution thread, my salam was not with you at that time. i like you as a person but your salam goes to the non believers? or you making takfir on the believers based on your own wants of a good worldly life? come to the muslims kchugtai!

[/quote]

hmm. you like me. This is really making me worried. :D. I am already a muslim, an Ahmadi muslim.
As far as my salam is concerned, I was neither doing takfeer of anybody nor affirming anyone's faith to be true. It was just a goodwill gesture that was not returned out of 'bukhal' I think.

[quote]

...waman yatawallahum minkum fainnahu minhum...[5-51]
and whoever takes them as allies among you then indeed he is of them
[/quote]

so what do you think it is about? by returning salam one becomes friend, ally of the addressee. come on give me a break.
First of all in the above verse, people of the book at war with muslims were referred to. All the people of the book have not been criminalized. btw, if you literally think as is evident from your post then why do you guys go to their countries and benefit from them. don't you see a double standard here.

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Re: Assalam-o-Alaikum

i dont have the vocabulary to explain half the things i'd want to and other half i dont know much about myself

in simple words Allah SWT has specified a difference to us and to his Prophet SAW, explained the actions of another Prophet SA:
re Believers
SAY : "salamun 'Alaikum" (peace be on you);
Allah is Merciful

re disbelievers
SAY : Salam (peace)!
But they will come to know.

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Re: Assalam-o-Alaikum

here is a good article that gives a balanced view on the subject.

Rules of Greeting non-Muslims in Islam (Saying Salaam/Replying Salaam)

some excerpts from the concluding remarks of the above mentioned article:

“virtually all scholars seem to have no problem with responding to Salaam from non-Muslims in consideration of the instruction of Allah in Qur’an 4:86.They only differ on the format of the reply.”

"Sufyan At-Thawri also said: “If you say salaam (to the non-Muslims), then surely (some) pious people did the same, and if you don’t, indeed, (some) pious people did same.”

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Re: Assalam-o-Alaikum

Yes if those non-muslims are Arab otherwise it would sound odd saying salam to goras. lol

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Re: Assalam-o-Alaikum

ive not read the full article posted by kchughtai but from the early evidences theyve presented there is this:

And when they hear Al-Laghw (dirty, false, evil vain talk), they withdraw from it and say: "To us our deeds, and to you your deeds. Peace be to you. We seek not (the way of) the ignorant." 28:55

i dont know how much change it brings to the subject, yet, but ...