What is the ruling on initiating the salam to disbelievers in order to win their hearts?
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Question:
May Allah reward you, Honorable Shaykh. This questioner asks: Is it permissible to initiate the salam to disbelievers for the sake of winning their hearts? And does initiating the salam to them count as being loyal to them?
Answer:
No, this is contrary to the saying of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him): "Do not initiate the salam to the Jews and the Christians. If they greet you, say, 'And to you.'" Say, "And to you." And Allah (Exalted and Majestic is He) mentioned regarding Musa and Harun (peace be upon them) that they said[Taha 20:47] They did not say, "Peace be upon you" to Pharaoh. They said, "Peace be upon you." They said [Taha 20:47] Yes.
May Allah reward you, Honorable Shaykh. This questioner asks: Is it permissible to initiate the salam to disbelievers for the sake of winning their hearts? And does initiating the salam to them count as being loyal to them?
Answer:
No, this is contrary to the saying of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him): "Do not initiate the salam to the Jews and the Christians. If they greet you, say, 'And to you.'" Say, "And to you." And Allah (Exalted and Majestic is He) mentioned regarding Musa and Harun (peace be upon them) that they said
And peace will be upon he who follows the guidance.
وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَىٰ مَنِ اتَّبَعَ الْهُدَىٰAnd peace will be upon he who follows the guidance.
وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَىٰ مَنِ اتَّبَعَ الْهُدَىٰ
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، ما حكم ابتداء الكفار بالسلام تأليفاً لقلوبهم؟ للشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.