Greeting the People of the Book in the workplace and congratulating them on their festivals
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
This questioner, may Allah reward you, asks: How should a Muslim speak when he enters the workplace where the People of the Book are present, while avoiding greeting them? And what is the response to those who say that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) used to visit the sick Jewish man and his son until they embraced Islam? And if they congratulate us on our festivals, are we permitted to congratulate them on theirs?
Answer:
If you enter a gathering where there are Muslims and there are disbelievers, you greet with the intention of greeting the Muslims, with the intention of greeting the Muslims. But if you enter a gathering where there are only disbelievers, do not greet them, do not greet them. However, if you say, “How are you?” or something similar, there is nothing wrong with it. “How are you?” is fine, because you are asking about their condition, not invoking blessings upon them. As for the salam, do not greet them. Do not initiate the salam to the Jews and the Christians. This must be known. As for the Prophet’s (peace and blessings be upon him) visit to the disbelievers to call them, or his visit to the Jewish man to call him, it is not mentioned that he greeted them. This is not mentioned. He presented Islam to them, so some of them embraced Islam and some did not. Yes.
The presenter:
May Allah send blessings upon you.
This questioner, may Allah reward you, asks: How should a Muslim speak when he enters the workplace where the People of the Book are present, while avoiding greeting them? And what is the response to those who say that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) used to visit the sick Jewish man and his son until they embraced Islam? And if they congratulate us on our festivals, are we permitted to congratulate them on theirs?
Answer:
If you enter a gathering where there are Muslims and there are disbelievers, you greet with the intention of greeting the Muslims, with the intention of greeting the Muslims. But if you enter a gathering where there are only disbelievers, do not greet them, do not greet them. However, if you say, “How are you?” or something similar, there is nothing wrong with it. “How are you?” is fine, because you are asking about their condition, not invoking blessings upon them. As for the salam, do not greet them. Do not initiate the salam to the Jews and the Christians. This must be known. As for the Prophet’s (peace and blessings be upon him) visit to the disbelievers to call them, or his visit to the Jewish man to call him, it is not mentioned that he greeted them. This is not mentioned. He presented Islam to them, so some of them embraced Islam and some did not. Yes.
The presenter:
May Allah send blessings upon you.
Source
بلوغ المرام [10] — alfawzan.live (45:33)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.