[Another Session] The Shaykh’s explanation of the third hadith in the chapter, which is the hadith of Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) that the Jews came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)

The Shaykh : Today we studied in the forty-fifth chapter after the hundred, which is the chapter “The believer is not one who curses,” and we had studied the first hadith and passed over the second, noting that its first part is authentic through a route other than this one. Now we read to you the third hadith from it, and its chain of narration is authentic, from Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her): that some Jews came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and said, “As-sam ‘alaykum (death be upon you) — may peace be upon you —.” Aisha said, “And upon you, may Allah curse you and may the anger of Allah be upon you.” The Messenger (peace be upon him) said, She said, “Did you not hear what they said?” He said, “No.”
In this hadith there are Islamic etiquettes, some relating to the Muslim’s character and some relating to the Muslim in his relationship with the disbeliever when the disbeliever greets him with a greeting distorted from what it was established for, or in the Levantine expression, a booby-trapped greeting. That is what those Jews did when they came to the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). It appears they came while he was in the house of Aisha and greeted him with a greeting, as we hinted, twisting their tongues and misleading the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) and those with him into thinking they were greeting him with the lawful greeting, but in reality they turned the greeting into a curse upon the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) in their language, saying “as-sam.” The meaning of “as-sam” is death, as came in some hadiths , and it is death. So the Jews, out of their wickedness and treachery, twisted their tongues with the greeting and said, “As-sam ‘alaykum.” That was not hidden from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), who is the master of the masters of the intelligent, and therefore he did not respond to their wicked words with a response except that he said to them, “And upon you.” As for the Lady Aisha, she did not endure their treachery and wickedness, and that appeared strongly in her response to them, as you heard from her saying, “And upon you, may Allah curse you and may the anger of Allah be upon you.” She was alert and responded with a response like that of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), but she added, “May Allah curse you and may the anger of Allah be upon you.”
So the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) did not like her response, and the reason for that goes back to two matters: one relates to an Islamic principle and the other relates to her personally and her self. As for the first, the Islamic principle, it is His saying, Blessed and Exalted is He, So if the Jews said “as-sam ‘alaykum,” we say “and upon you” and we do not increase in the severity of our response to them by saying, as the Lady Aisha said, “May Allah curse you and may the anger of Allah be upon you.” This is the first matter, and this principle is known in Islam: it is not permissible to exceed the retaliation and the taking of vengeance, but only with the equivalent. So he (peace be upon him) said to her, in a manner of educating her, She said, “Did you not hear what they said?” He said, (peace and blessings be upon him), , meaning as if the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) wanted her to be wiser than she was. He was saying to her, “I heard what you heard and I responded as you responded, and just as you said ‘and upon you,’ I said ‘and upon you.’ So why did you add to what I responded with?” Therefore, he commanded her with gentleness and forbade her from violence and obscenity in speech that is not permissible to let pass over the tongue. He said, “Did you not hear what I said? I responded to them with the equivalent. They said ‘as-sam ‘alaykum’ and I said ‘and upon you.’ My supplication against them is answered, but their supplication against me is not answered.” If the Jews supplicate against the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) with an unjust, oppressive, and harmful supplication, that is something that is not answered by Allah, Mighty and Majestic, against the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). As for the opposite, yes, if the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) supplicates against them, his supplication is answered by his Lord, Blessed and Exalted is He.
So we take from this hadith two matters: The first is that the Muslim must be gentle, easy, and lenient, and not be severe, even with disbelievers in social life, meaning in the state of them living as dhimmis under the Islamic system. In this case, it is not permissible for the Muslim to use harshness and severity with the Jews and Christians. However, if the situation occurs and war is established between the Muslims and the disbelievers, then there the Muslim must be severe against them, and this is what Allah, Mighty and Majestic, described His believing servants with in His saying, Some Muslims mix things up and assume that this severity mentioned by Allah, Mighty and Majestic, in the aforementioned verse must be 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 for the Muslim to equate the treatment of people; it is not permissible for him to equate this treatment between the Muslim and the disbeliever in everything. For example, at the time we hear in this hadith this noble teaching that if the disbeliever throws a greeting at the Muslim and twists his tongue in it, we do not increase in severity against him by saying “and upon you.” But from another angle, he said, , so it is not permissible for the Muslim, if he meets a Jew or a Christian, i.e., the dhimmis, it is not permissible if he meets them to initiate them with the greeting. And we mean by the greeting the Islamic greeting, which is by the text of the authentic hadith where he (peace be upon him) said, .
This greeting is not permissible for the Muslim to initiate with the disbeliever dhimmi, but if it is necessary, he initiates him by saying to him, as some say to each other, “Good morning” or “Good evening,” from this speech that is not specific to the Islamic Shari'ah. As for this Islamic greeting, you have heard the saying of the Messenger (peace 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 discord and enmity between you and the rulers, and this is something the Muslim today cannot bear, with great regret. As for the first matter, the greeting, no one can intervene between you and your Shari'ah relating to your person, so if you initiate him with the greeting, no one will say to you, “Why did you not initiate him with the greeting?” especially with this lawful greeting.
Then we say in this hadith that it is a teaching for us not to be severe in our treatment of the People of the Dhimmah, but this severity must be governed by Islam, so it is not said, for example, “Since these are People of the Dhimmah and since it is permissible to be kind to them and so on, then we initiate them with the greeting?” No, because the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade that. And on the contrary, since Allah said in the previous verse, , then we treat them with severity? If we deal with them in buying and selling, do we cheat them and plot against them? No, this is not permissible, because Allah, Mighty and Majestic, loves those who are just, meaning those who are kind in their treatment of all people, whether they are Muslim or disbeliever. So the verse “severe against the disbelievers” means the disbelievers of war who are called “harbiyyun” (those in a state of war).
The second benefit that can be derived from this hadith is a very important matter relating to 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 Dhimmah, let alone in his treatment of his Muslim brothers, let alone in his treatment of his close relatives and kin. And true is the saying of Allah, the Mighty, .