Do not precede them with the salams…

Chapter: His ﷺ Guidance In Greeting The Ahl Al Kitāb¹

It is authenticated from him ﷺ: “Do not precede them with the salams, and if you meet them in a street, ^“2.

However, it is said that he ﷺ said this in a specific matter, regarding travelling to Bani Quraydhah, he ﷺ said, “Do not precede them with the Salāms.” So what about the regular person from Ahl al-Dhimma?

Or is it specific to whomsoever is in a state such as theirs?

Verily there occurs in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim that, “Do not precede the Jews and the Christians with Salāms, and if you meet one of them in a street, then force him to the other side.”³ And it is obvious that this is general.

And there is a difference in returning it to them, and its reward, and its(the salams) answer, and the difference between them and Ahl-ul-Bidʿah. Verily we are commanded with deserting them, and it is affirmed from him ﷺ, that he walked past a gathering having in it a mixture of Muslims, and Mushriks, and he greeted them, and similarly he wrote to Hiraql,⁴ and other than him with, “May peace be upon whomever follows the guidance”(As Salām Alā Man itabaʿaa Al Hudaa). And it is mentioned from him ﷺ that he said, “And if it is given from a gathering, then you return it to one of them.”

So there comes one who says, ‘The return is Fardh Kifāyah(obligatory on a group)’, but it can only be good if it is confirmed, for verily in it is Saʿīd Ibn Khallād. Abū Zurʿah said, ‘Da’eef’, and similar to that was said by Abū Ḥātim.⁵ And there was from him(ṣallallāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) that if there reached him greetings from other than the greeter, he would return it to him, and on the one through whom it reached him. And from his(ṣallallāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) guidance is the abandonment of the inventor of innovations until he repents.

Endnotes:

[1] This short discussion was taken from ‘Mukhtasar Zaad Al Ma’aad by Ibn Al Qayyim Al Jawziyyah, and the Ikhtiṣār of the book is by Shaykh Al Islām Muḥammad Ibn ʿAbd al Wahhāb.
This short discussion was taken from ‘Mukhtasar Zaad Al Ma’aad by Ibn Al Qayyim Al Jawziyyah, and the Ikhtiṣār of the book is by Shaykh Al Islām Muḥammad Ibn ʿAbd al Wahhāb.
[2] Meaning ‘do not make their passage easy.’
[3] The Prophet(ṣallallāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) said: “Do not precede the Jews and the Christians with Salāms, and if you meet one of them on a street, then force them towards the narrow end. (meaning do not make their passage easy). [related by Abū Hurayrah] [reported by Aḥmad, Muslim, Abū Dāwūd, and Tirmidthī]
The Prophet(ṣallallāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) said: “Do not precede the Jews and the Christians with Salāms, and if you meet one of them on a street, then force them towards the narrow end. (meaning do not make their passage easy). [related by Abū Hurayrah] [reported by Aḥmad, Muslim, Abū Dāwūd, and Tirmidthī]
[It has also been mentioned by Imām Al Bayhaqee in his Sunan, and by Imām At-Tahaawee, and by the Ameer Al Mu’mineen in Ḥadīth, Muḥammad Ibn Ismāʿīl Al Bukhārī in his Adab Al Mufrad]
Shaykh Al-Albānī has included it in his Ikhtiṣār of Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim no. 1432. He has also made its takhreej in Silsilah-al-Aḥādīth as Ṣaḥīḥah no. 604, Irwá Al Ghaleel no. 1271.

He declares it Ṣaḥīḥ in Ṣaḥīḥ Al Jāmiʿ no. 6204.

NOTE: I am using the new printing of Ṣaḥīḥ Al Jāmiʿ so the numbering is different from the old one.

[4] This can be seen in the Prophet’s(ṣallallāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) letter to Hiraql reported in Bukhārī [1,54] of the Arabic. The narration, with the famous story of Abū Sufyān is to lengthy to translate here.
This can be seen in the Prophet’s(ṣallallāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) letter to Hiraql reported in Bukhārī [1,54] of the Arabic. The narration, with the famous story of Abū Sufyān is to lengthy to translate here.
[5] Also, in regards to returning greetings to the Kufaar:

Chapter: Returning(the Salāms) on the People Of The Book

From Jābir Ibn ʿAbdullāh who said: “Men from amongst the Jews greeted the messenger of Allāh(ṣallallāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam). So they said: ‘As-Saam Alay Kum (May death be upon you) o Aba-al-Qāsim.’ So he(ṣallallāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) said, ‘And unto you’ (Wa Alay Kum). So Āʿishahraḍī Allāhu ʿanhu became angry, and she said, ‘Did you not hear what they said!?!’ So he(ṣallallāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam) said, ‘Indeed, and I returned it on them, and verily we answer them, and they don’t answer us.'”

[Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 5/7 of the Arabīc] Shaykh Al-Albānī cites it in Mukhtasar Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim no. 1433, p. 672.

It is worthy to note that scholars such as Imām Muslim considered this reply to be general, and not to be specific to the situation mentioned.

Translated by Maaz Qureshi