A lengthy address by the Shaykh on how to greet and respond to the greeting of one who is in worship, or who is in the bathroom.

Abu Layla : Brothers in faith, a wordThe Shaykh : regarding greeting the one who is praying.

The Shaykh : ... What the Lord of the Worlds said is that greeting holds a great importance in Islam. Among the signs of the importance of greeting in Islam is that no state of a Muslim is exempt from it, except when it is not appropriate to offer the greeting, such as when one is relieving himself. However, if one is praying, reciting the Qur'an, or remembering Allah, or in similar states where the Muslim is directing his heart, body, and speech toward Allah, these good states do not prevent the one entering from greeting these people who are engaged in worship. This includes the one who is praying. It is obligatory for the one entering to greet a person or people who are praying, whether they are in the mosque or outside the mosque. The one entering should offer the greeting, but not in a loud voice that might disturb the worshippers. And, unfortunately, I say that most of the worshippers are of those about whom the Lord of the Worlds said: They will be disturbed by the greeting. Therefore, the one entering the mosque while people are praying behind the imam or praying individually should offer the greeting in a voice that is heard by the person next to him, or by whoever is near him. This is because offering the greeting is an obligatory duty that must be fulfilled. As for responding to the greeting, it is sufficient for it to be done by one of the people sitting or standing in the mosque. Therefore, it is not necessary for the one entering to raise his voice with "Peace be upon you" in order to combine bringing about the benefit, which is offering the greeting, and repelling the harm, which is disturbing the worshippers.
As for the evidence for this greeting of the one who is praying, some of it is from his (peace and blessings be upon him) general legislation for the people of Islam, and some of it is explicit regarding the permissibility of greeting the one who is praying. As for the first type I mentioned, which is from his (peace be upon him) saying, there are hadiths, among them the hadith narrated by Imam Muslim in his Sahih from Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: The command in this authentic hadith to spread the greeting includes every place or situation where the Wise Lawgiver has not forbidden offering the greeting, such as one who is in the place of relief, for example, or in the middle of relieving himself. One does not greet such a person. There are known texts on this matter among the scholars.
Also, his (peace and blessings be upon him) saying, and the hadith is in al-Adab al-Mufrad of Imam al-Bukhari, with the wording: So the word: here is like the word: in the first hadith.
Then comes the actual hadith that cuts off the root of those who might interpret the two previous hadiths by saying: This does not include the one who is praying, nor the one who is reciting, nor the one who is remembering Allah. This statement has been made, but it is a rejected and refuted statement, due to what Imam Abu Dawud narrated in his Sunan and others, with an authentic chain, from Ibn 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) visited the Ansar in their mosque—Masjid Quba—and began to pray. Whenever a group came to him, they would greet him (peace and blessings be upon him) while he was praying, and he would respond to the greeting with a gesture of his hand. It was said to the narrator: How did he (peace and blessings be upon him) gesture? He said: He would place the palm of his hand toward the ground and the back of his hand toward the sky. The Messenger of Allah was praying like this, for example—and there is no likening, it is only an approximation. The one entering would come in and say: Peace be upon you, O Messenger of Allah... and then return to what he was doing. A second and third person would enter, and so on. This is an application of a part of that general text:
If that is the case, then greeting the one reciting the Qur'an and the one remembering Allah the Exalted and Majestic is even more obligatory. This is because the rights and conditions of prayer are much more important than reciting the Qur'an outside of prayer, and remembering Allah outside of prayer. If it is permissible, indeed prescribed, indeed obligatory to greet the one who is praying, then it is even more obligatory to greet the one remembering and the one reciting, as we said, it is even more obligatory. Nevertheless, there is a hadith in the Musnad of Imam Ahmad with a strong chain that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) came to a group who were reciting the Qur'an and said: They said: We are sitting for the recitation of the Qur'an. So this is also a text that confirms what we mentioned from the analogy of priority, that the people sitting for the recitation of the Qur'an should also be greeted. And unfortunately, greeting the one who is praying, greeting the one reciting, greeting the one remembering Allah the Exalted and Majestic, these are matters that have been abandoned completely. And whoever revives any of them in an environment where the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah have not reached their ears: there will be a rising against those who revive this Sunnah with their words and their actions. Therefore, we advise our brothers, the people of the Sunnah, in all lands of Islam to proceed gradually in teaching people these abandoned Sunnahs, by starting first with themselves, then with those who depend on them and follow them, and then this circle continues like a stone thrown into water, creating a circle, then a second circle, a third, and so on, until the circles disappear from sight due to distance; but the effect of that stone remains to a far extent that the human mind cannot grasp. So the one who revives the Sunnah should proceed gradually in spreading it and not surprise people suddenly like this, so that they rise up against him and reject what he calls them to. So if the one entering comes upon the one who is praying, he must greet, as we said, based on the previous hadiths.
There is another hadith that I am adding to my own point, which is in Sahih Muslim from the hadith of Jabir ibn 'Abd Allah al-Ansari (may Allah be pleased with them both) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) sent him for a need. When he returned, he found the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) praying, so he greeted him, and he responded to the greeting with a gesture of his head, a nod of his head. This is another form, different from the first form which is the gesture with the hand. And here I say, be well-versed in the religion and: If the variety of response from the one who is praying is established—sometimes he (peace be upon him) responded with his hand and sometimes with his head—this means that the one being greeted while praying should be wise, and should perform the movement in responding to the greeting with the minimum that achieves the response. Suppose a person comes to the one who is praying from the qiblah, not from behind, and says to him: Peace be upon you. Here, it is sufficient to respond to the greeting with a nod of the head, and there is no need to break the posture in which he was standing in humility to his Lord by raising his hand as in the first hadith. And the opposite is the case. These are matters we observe, so we must be aware of them. The one entering the mosque, for example, from the door behind the mosque, from the northern door, says: Peace be upon you. If you do this, he will not feel your nod of the head, and if you do this, he will not see your hand raised. So you must exaggerate in raising the hand so that it is apparent to that Muslim that the one who greeted him has accepted his greeting and responded to it with a gesture of his hand, because he is unable to respond to the greeting with his speech. This is among the etiquettes related to his (peace and blessings be upon him) saying:
Abu Layla: Peace be upon you.

The Shaykh: And upon you peace.

The questioner : May Allah give you health. Our brothers are not going to leave you to eat, I know them.