What is the ruling on greeting a disbeliever and responding to his greeting?

The questioner : I say, the topic of disbelieving neighbors; that is, for example, my neighbor is a disbeliever, but I have to respond to his greeting... I say: "Peace be upon you," or what formula do I use with him?

The Shaykh : First: there is a difference between initiating the greeting to a disbeliever and responding to the greeting of a disbeliever; that is the first point. Second: the greeting intended, as you know, is the phrase containing the divine name, "Peace be upon you," and it is not intended to be any other greeting, such as "Good morning" or "Good evening" and similar expressions used by disbelievers and not by Muslims. After specifying this, particularly that the greeting is this Shari'ah greeting, comes his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): , but they say in the Syrian dialect "May Allah rain upon you," where is today ?!

Another questioner : ...at the door, Professor, standing at the door... you want to say to him, for example...

The Shaykh : No, Professor, this is an easy matter, but the path, as it came in some authentic hadiths, of course, , so the path whose width at most in that time was seven cubits, and to this day there are such paths in some neighborhoods in some districts in some villages—for example, such a path exists—by the honor of Islam at that time, the Jew and the Christian were not permitted to walk in the middle of the path; and therefore, in Syria until recently, it was reported that the Muslim would say to the Jew and the Christian: "Furq," meaning, take the side of the path. This requires that the ruling of Islam be enforced among Muslims before disbelievers, but unfortunately.
The point is, the hadith says: , we say, sorry: now the second part of the hadith cannot be applied; because the law does not distinguish between a Muslim and a disbeliever, a Jew and a Christian, a believer and an atheist, what word gathers them all?

Another questioner : National unity.

The Shaykh : Citizens, they are all equal in what? In rights, so implementing the second part today is not possible, but the first part, how easy it is! You can, without initiating with the Jew or the Christian, as I said, who is your neighbor, say to him: "Peace be upon you," no, first: instead of you initiating, let him initiate with you in the greeting, and this will be discussed later. Second: if it is necessary that you initiate, you say to him: "Good morning," you say to him: "Good evening," and this is the way out. We have finished the topic of the disbeliever initiating the greeting.
The second topic comes, which is the response; here too, there must be a distinction. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . meaning, we are going to them; they were, of course, neighbors in the city, the Banu Qurayzah, well known. So if you meet them , but he does not speak clearly, he mumbles it, as one of them did when he entered upon the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) was behind the screen, and he said: "As-sam 'alayk, O Muhammad." It is not clear, it is not a Shari'ah greeting, nor is it a Jewish enemy greeting; it is in between. The Messenger did not let it pass, he said: "Wa 'alayk." As for Aisha behind the curtain, she nearly split in two with anger; and she said: , after the Jew left, the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) admonished her, he said to her: . She said: O Messenger of Allah, did you not hear what he said? He said to her: . Meaning, I responded to him, we do not want to add, as He (the Exalted) said: , then he said to her—a general rule—: , so in responding to the greeting, there is this distinction that they will detail: if the Jewish or Christian neighbor greeted you with a clear Arabic greeting, then here comes His saying (the Exalted): at least, but if his greeting was a mumbled Jewish greeting, suffice with saying: "Wa 'alayk."

The questioner : ...it becomes a happy farewell, one says: Happy... morning or evening... Peace be upon you, happy...

The Shaykh : In any case, I have a hadith in mind that I want to mention on the occasion of the greeting. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: , and therefore, out of envy, they used to say: "As-sam 'alayk," the saying of "Ameen" in prayer and saying "Ameen" aloud.
Please proceed.

The questioner : Does greeting a disbeliever with a handshake require wudu?

The Shaykh : No, it does not require wudu... if it is for the sake of keeping up with the times and not for flattery and hypocrisy, it is permissible.