Benefits: Derived from the art of hadith of Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her)

The Shaykh : So, we take two things from this hadith: The first is that the Muslim must be gentle; he must be easy and lenient, and not be harsh, even with disbelievers, even with disbelievers in social life, meaning in the state of them being dhimmis under the system of Islam. In this case, it is not permissible for the Muslim to use harshness and severity with the Jews and the Christians. However, if the situation occurs and war is established between the Muslims and the disbelievers, then there the Muslim must be severe with them. This is part of what Allah (Mighty and Majestic) described His believing servants with, saying: Some Muslims strive and assume that this severity which Allah (Mighty and Majestic) mentioned in the last verse: must be this severity between the Muslim and the disbeliever, even in social relations. This is a mistake. If the disbeliever lives under the banner of Islam and the rule of Islam, he must be treated with all the Islamic etiquettes that Allah has permitted. And I mean what I say when I say the Islamic etiquettes that Allah has permitted, otherwise it is not permissible to equate in the Muslim's treatment of people; it is not permissible for him to equate in this treatment between the Muslim and the disbeliever in everything. For example, at the time we hear this hadith, this great reasoning that if the disbeliever throws a greeting at the Muslim and twists his tongue in it, he should not increase in severity with him, so we say: "And upon you." But from another side, he said: So it is not permissible for the Muslim, if he meets the Jewish or Christian dhimmi—we are speaking now about the dhimmi—it is not permissible if he meets him to initiate him with the greeting. And we mean by the greeting: the Islamic greeting, which is by the explicit text of the hadith where he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: This greeting is not permissible for the Muslim to initiate with the disbeliever dhimmi. Rather, if it is absolutely necessary, he initiates him by saying to him, as some say to each other: "Good morning, good evening," from this speech which is not specific to the Shari'ah of Islam. As for this Islamic greeting, you have heard the saying of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him): I say, with regret, that the second part of this hadith cannot be applied today; because the system is not an Islamic system, and because if you want to force the non-Muslim to the narrowest path, you have established enmity and abuse between you and the rulers, and this is something the Muslim today has no capacity for, with great regret.
As for the first matter—that is, the greeting—no one can intervene between you and your Shari'ah concerning your person. So if you initiate him with the greeting, no one says: Why did you not initiate him with the greeting? Especially with this lawful greeting. I want to say in this hadith that it is a lesson for us not to be severe in our treatment of the People of the Dhimma, but this severity must be governed by Islam. So it is not said, for example, "These are still People of the Dhimma, and it is still obligatory for us to be good to them, and so on," and then we initiate them with "As-salamu alaykum"? No, because the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) prohibited that. And conversely, as long as Allah said in the previous verse: ; so we treat them with severity if we make a treaty with them and we see that we are superior to them? No, this is not permissible. Indeed, Allah (Mighty and Majestic) loves those who are just, meaning those who are good in their treatment of all people, whether they are Muslim or disbeliever. So the verse must be understood as: meaning the disbelievers of war who they call the "Harbi" (war disbelievers). The second benefit that can be derived from this hadith is a very important benefit concerning all Muslims, whether male or female, which is correcting character and improving it, and that the Muslim not be severe and violent in his treatment of the disbeliever People of the Dhimma, let alone in his treatment of his Muslim brothers, let alone in his treatment of his close relatives and kin from his family and relatives. And true is the saying of Allah the Great: