Is it permissible to return the salam by saying "Alaykum al-salam" without the waw?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
May Allah reward you, Honorable Shaykh, and may Allah reward you with good. These are many questions; I will present to your eminence whatever of them is feasible. This questioner says: Is it permissible for a Muslim to return his brother's salam by saying "Alaykum al-salam" without the waw in "Wa alaykum"?
Answer:
You heard that it is better and more complete to say "Wa alaykum" with the waw; that is the best. And if he says "Alaykum al-salam," that suffices. Yes.
May Allah reward you, Honorable Shaykh, and may Allah reward you with good. These are many questions; I will present to your eminence whatever of them is feasible. This questioner says: Is it permissible for a Muslim to return his brother's salam by saying "Alaykum al-salam" without the waw in "Wa alaykum"?
Answer:
You heard that it is better and more complete to say "Wa alaykum" with the waw; that is the best. And if he says "Alaykum al-salam," that suffices. Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، [3436/1485] هل يجوز رد السلام بقول "عليكم السلام" دون الواو؟ - الشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.