The Ruling on a Judge Not Returning the Salam
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
May Allah reward you, Your Eminence, father. He says: May Allah reward you. Sometimes a judge does not return the salam. Is this a form of partiality?
Answer:
No, it is not permissible not to return the salam. Returning the salam is obligatory. So if someone greets him, he says, "And upon you be peace." But he does not make small talk and say, "How are you, Abu So-and-So? How are your children?" and the like. No, he says, "And upon you be peace," and that is sufficient.[An-Nisa 4:86] This is a general ruling for the judge and for everyone else.
May Allah reward you, Your Eminence, father. He says: May Allah reward you. Sometimes a judge does not return the salam. Is this a form of partiality?
Answer:
No, it is not permissible not to return the salam. Returning the salam is obligatory. So if someone greets him, he says, "And upon you be peace." But he does not make small talk and say, "How are you, Abu So-and-So? How are your children?" and the like. No, he says, "And upon you be peace," and that is sufficient.
And when you are greeted with a greeting, greet [in return] with one better than it or [at least] return it
وَإِذَا حُيِّيتُم بِتَحِيَّةٍ فَحَيُّوا بِأَحْسَنَ مِنْهَا أَوْ رُدُّوهَا
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، [2566 -2802] حكم عدم رد القاضي للسلام - الشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.