The Ruling on Greeting and Sitting with the Shi'ah Based on the Ruling of Employment
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The questioner: May Allah reward you! I work in a place where there are many Shi'ah among us. Is it permissible to greet them and sit with them?The Shaykh: I see that we should treat them exactly as they treat us; because it is not just for a person to treat you in a certain way and for you to treat him worse than he treats you. Even the People of the Book, whether they are Jews or Christians, if they greet us, it is obligatory for us to return their greeting,Even if the Jew or the Christian says to you: "Peace be upon you,"Say: "Peace be upon you";Because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: (If the People of the Book greet you by saying, "As-sam 'alaykum,"Say: "And upon you") This implies that if they say, "Peace beWe say: upon you,"Because if we assume they said: "As-sam" in explicit wording,We said: "And upon you," what does "and upon you" mean? So the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) commanded us to return the greeting of the People of the Book by saying: "And upon you";Because they say: "As-sam 'alaykum,"So we said: "And upon you."
Look at the high etiquette of Islam,We do not say: "And upon you the peace,"We say: "And upon you," so that we are better in our response than they are;Because there is a difference between saying: and upon you,And to say: "And upon you peace," the second is more noble.
The questioner: We greet them.
The Shaykh: Do they initiate the greeting or not?The questioner: They initiate it.
The Shaykh: Treat them with the same treatment they give you. Then know, my brother, that not all Shi'ah are disbelievers; they differ greatly. They are many sects. Refer to the book *Al-Milal wa al-Nihal* to find the sects. Also, there are common people who know nothing of the truth; perhaps if you called them with the slightest phrase, they would respond to you, or at least they would doubt the falsehood they are upon. With much practice, they return to the truth—and praise be to Allah—now many do. And among what we have heard, many of them have left this false madhhab and returned to the truth.
Look at the high etiquette of Islam,We do not say: "And upon you the peace,"We say: "And upon you," so that we are better in our response than they are;Because there is a difference between saying: and upon you,And to say: "And upon you peace," the second is more noble.
The questioner: We greet them.
The Shaykh: Do they initiate the greeting or not?The questioner: They initiate it.
The Shaykh: Treat them with the same treatment they give you. Then know, my brother, that not all Shi'ah are disbelievers; they differ greatly. They are many sects. Refer to the book *Al-Milal wa al-Nihal* to find the sects. Also, there are common people who know nothing of the truth; perhaps if you called them with the slightest phrase, they would respond to you, or at least they would doubt the falsehood they are upon. With much practice, they return to the truth—and praise be to Allah—now many do. And among what we have heard, many of them have left this false madhhab and returned to the truth.