The Muslim’s Greeting to a Disbeliever in Learning a Sport
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
Honorable Shaykh, the questioner says: A Muslim is learning one of the sports that strengthen the body from a disbeliever. When he meets this disbeliever, this Muslim student is required to perform a greeting in a certain way. Is it permissible to greet this disbeliever, and is this greeting part of the rules of the game?
Answer:
No, it is not permissible for a Muslim to initiate the salam to a disbeliever. The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said:Jami` at-Tirmidhi 1602Sahih (Darussalam). If doing so involves imitating the disbelievers by performing the greeting in their manner, this is not permissible, also due to the prohibition of imitation. The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Sunan Abi Dawud 4031Hasan Sahih (Al-Albani). One should not commit forbidden acts in order to obtain a game that is permissible, or perhaps not permissible; he should leave it, for he has no need of it.
Honorable Shaykh, the questioner says: A Muslim is learning one of the sports that strengthen the body from a disbeliever. When he meets this disbeliever, this Muslim student is required to perform a greeting in a certain way. Is it permissible to greet this disbeliever, and is this greeting part of the rules of the game?
Answer:
No, it is not permissible for a Muslim to initiate the salam to a disbeliever. The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
Do not precede the Jews and the Christians with the Salam. And if
لا تبدؤوا اليهود والنصارى بالسلام وإذاHe who copies any people is one of them.
من تشبه بقوم فهو منهم
Source
شرح عمدة الأحكام، باب الحيض — islamhouse.com (1:22:22)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.