Greeting by gesture.

The questioner : Question, O Shaykh. The noble brother asks about greeting in a car. One person is speeding in his car and sees one of his brothers, so he greets him with a gesture because he cannot hear him. What is your comment on that?

The Shaykh : I think the question concerns the person in the car who is a Muslim, or the person outside the car who is a Muslim. The answer is that the greeting is obligatory. However, if the situation is as you described, that this greeting will not be heard, whether it comes from the person in the car to the person outside, or the reverse, then the gesture is necessary. But it is not permissible to rely on the gesture alone without the words. One must combine both: say "As-salamu alaykum" and raise his hand pointing to him. What is the benefit of this speech or this gesture? In truth, we must remind people of something they are heedless of. We must consider the Muslim's greeting to his Muslim brother, even if it is not heard, as a remembrance of Allah (Mighty and Majestic). This is a remembrance that the people of remembrance do not know. This is authentic, but your guidance is not authentic. We must remember that when a Muslim offers the greeting to his Muslim brother, it is a remembrance of Allah, unlike the remembrance of the known remembrance groups who dance in their remembrance, because they do not know the remembrance of Allah except within the limits of their traditions. So when a Muslim says "As-salamu alaykum" and you did not hear the greeting, he has remembered Allah (Mighty and Majestic), based on the saying of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him): So the greeting is one of the names of Allah. These groups say "Allah, Allah, Allah," which is meaningless in the Arabic language because it is a subject without a predicate. What is the matter with Allah, my brother? "Allah is generous, Allah is merciful," and so on. Ahmad, Muhammad, Khalid, Shabou? My brother, generous, knowledgeable, and so on. That is how an Arabic sentence is completed. Yet they are satisfied that they are remembering Allah. But the one who remembers Allah is the one who follows the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) in all his states and times. This includes the situation about which the question was asked. I am in the car and I pass by, driving a hundred, a hundred and twenty kilometers, and so on. Who is going to hear that man? But I say: "As-salamu alaykum," because I have remembered Allah, and I convey this greeting to the one who does not hear me with my hand, or the reverse: he greets me and points with his hand. As for relying on the gesture or replacing the greeting with the gesture, this is of the nature of exchanging that which is lower for that which is better. This is not permissible, and it is the custom of the disbelievers. The jaw did not move at all.