If a Jew offers a clear greeting, should it be returned?

The questioner : If a Christian himself says: "Peace be upon you," do we reply "And upon you," or "And upon you be peace"?

The Shaykh : If we Salafis believed in the people of unveiling, I would say that you are one of the people of unveiling, because I was about to narrate it, but you got ahead of me and unveiled it, they claim.
This is actually an important question, because the hadith is explicit and this is what the Messenger applied in the story in which Aisha was mentioned, as previously explained.

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : Yes?

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : Who?

The questioner : He began his speech with severity and cited the hadith of Aisha.

Another questioner : And he cited his hadith regarding the prohibition of severity.
... .

The questioner : He said, "You should not be severe with people," and so on, and he cited the hadith of Aisha.

The Shaykh : Yes, before the food.

The questioner : Before the food.

The Shaykh : This is the important point. The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), in the story we mentioned, the summary of which is that a Jew entered upon the Messenger (peace be upon him) and said: "As-sam 'alayk" (Death be upon you). He (peace be upon him) said: And so on. Lady Aisha could not bear the Jew's treachery, so she shouted from behind the screen: "And upon you be death, curse, and wrath, brothers of the monkeys and the pigs." The Messenger later disciplined her and disciplined her well, and among what he said was: So the point is, your question is very important, because the apparent meaning of the hadiths is that if a People of the Book, especially a Jew, greets us, we should say: "And upon you," as a precaution, out of caution, and to be alert to their treachery. But in another hadith, the hadith has a continuation: Abu 'Abd al-Rahman, do not occupy me with your occupation of yourself away from me. meaning death and destruction. This phrase is an explanatory phrase, an explanatory phrase for the preceding ruling, the cause being it, namely: "If the Jews greet you, say: And upon you." It is as if a questioner asks: Why? The Qur'an says: At least, how does the Messenger say here: This is not a return in kind. Ah, here the cause is: So it is not the peace mentioned in the verse, nor the greeting mentioned in it: So there is no contradiction between the hadith and the verse. But in the hadith, as we said, there is an explanatory phrase, which is: So this is an instruction from the Messenger (peace be upon him) so that the Muslim is alert and wise, and not negligent, so that the Jewish treachery does not deceive him. Do not say: "And upon you" or "And upon you all."
It is derived from this explanatory phrase that if a Muslim, or a Jew, let alone others, offers a clear greeting that is not mumbled, and he does not twist his tongue, then he says: "Peace be upon you." And among the special cases are those afflicted in some jobs, like what Abu 'Abd al-Rahman narrated, that in a moment of mixing, it becomes clear whether they are plotting with their greeting or not.
So if the Muslim is convinced that this disbeliever does not twist his tongue, but rather speaks clearly and expresses it with the correct Arabic phrase "Peace be upon you," then at that time the saying of Allah the Exalted applies: So it is necessary to distinguish. If the Jew or Christian offers a greeting that is not understood from it, we restrict ourselves to what the Messenger commanded, which is "And upon you." And if his greeting is clear and distinct, we say "And upon you be peace," as Allah the Mighty and Majestic said in the Qur'an. That is the answer to what you asked.

The questioner : The prayer, the prayer.

The Shaykh : Oh Allah.