Is the addition of the phrase (and His forgiveness) correct?

The questioner : The addition of: when saying the greeting.

The Shaykh: How?

The questioner : The addition of: in the response to the greeting, and upon you be peace, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings and His forgiveness.

The Shaykh : Yes, you say it in the response, and you mean what you say. This is the text of the Noble Qur'an along with the authentic Sunnah. We all know the saying of Allah, Mighty and Majestic: So if a Muslim greets you first by saying: Peace be upon you, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings; and you want to apply the Noble Verse: How is the response with something better than it? Give me the answer?

The questioner : I said with the same or with the better... If the one who greets me gives the complete greeting, I am content to respond completely with the same; but if his greeting is incomplete, I add to it, and this is better.

The Shaykh : This is what I thought of you, and I wished that my thought was wrong. Where did you go with His saying, Exalted is He: ? In this case, did you apply the first part of the verse, which is better, or did you apply the last part, which is preferred but not the best? Inform me with knowledge?
No, my question is very clear, but I admit that I made a mistake with you when I said to you: Inform me with knowledge. Never mind, with knowledge?
Al-Halabi : The important thing is the answer of our Shaykh?

The Shaykh : Yes, the important thing is the answer, why? Before you is a verse that every Arab understands, there is no difference between a scholar, a student of knowledge, and an illiterate Arab: My question to you was: Did you apply this first part of the verse when you said what you said?

The questioner : Of course not.

The Shaykh : This is the answer. So another question returns to complete the topic and remove the doubts in the topic: Why do we not apply the verse? What prevents us from doing so?

The questioner : That the verse is absolute, so the word...

The Shaykh : Slow down, slow down, do not rush. There is no absoluteness and restriction here: It is an explicit command. What prevents us from doing so? I want you not to fall into the error again, and that is why I told you to slow down, meaning think about the answer so that you do not fall into the error again, and What prevents us from applying the verse?

The questioner : If we know the meaning of: we can answer.

The Shaykh : So I made a mistake just now when I said that this verse is understood by every Arab, whether he is a scholar, a student of knowledge, or an illiterate Arab. I think, based on your answer, I was wrong in this; how do you say "if we understand," meaning we have not understood yet?

The questioner : What I mean... Do we add, for example: and His forgiveness; or do we add other words, and why, for example, do we specify and His forgiveness?

The Shaykh : That is another thing. The important thing is that you have now agreed with us that the addition is prescribed?

The questioner: Yes.

The Shaykh : Good, fine; and if the addition is prescribed, then we do not differ, whether it is: and His forgiveness; or it is something else; the important thing is that we agree on the legitimacy of the addition; as for whether we say: And upon you be peace, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings and His pleasure; or we say: and His forgiveness; or we say: and His salutations; this is another matter; the important thing is that we do not deny the addition to: and His blessings; as long as we have the explicit Qur'anic text: .
As for what you leaned toward recently, patching up your statement, I mean such and such, its answer is: It came in the hadith that I mentioned in some parts of the Sahih al-Jami' (the authentic collection), and it came in some authentic reports that were transmitted from Ibn 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him), where two important narrations came from him. The matter became difficult for some students of knowledge in Saudi Arabia because of one of them, so he wrote to me a long letter. The difficulty came to him from the fact that the matter of initiating the greeting and responding to the greeting became mixed up for him. It came with the authentic chain from Ibn 'Umar that a man rushed to greet him by saying: Peace be upon you, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings and His blessings and His pleasure. He said: The greeting ended at: and His blessings. So our man took the word "the greeting ended" at "and His blessings." This is correct speech in initiating the greeting; and therefore we warn some of our brothers who did not understand the matter correctly, so they initiate the greeting to us with the addition: and His forgiveness. We say to him: The greeting ended at and His blessings. This was the Sunnah, and this is what Ibn 'Umar, the most eager of people to follow the Sunnah, says. But this same man, when he responded to the greeting, added and His forgiveness. So he distinguishes between initiating the greeting and responding to the greeting. In initiating, it is not permissible to add to and His blessings; but in responding to the greeting, it is permissible to add to and His blessings. And what came in the hadith that I referred to just now and the report of Ibn 'Umar is: and His forgiveness. So adhering to this addition is more preferable to me than another addition; but whether it is this or that, it is permissible for whoever wants to apply the first part of the previous verse: And it is not permissible for us to nullify an explicit Qur'anic text that does not accept figurative interpretation because people do not know this addition and have become accustomed to the greeting ending at and His blessings. This is what I have regarding this matter.