What is the ruling on consistently using one specific form of the closing salam in prayer?

The questioner : Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) — may Allah reward you — mentions a principle, and this principle generally applies to prayer.

The Shaykh : Generally?
Al-Abil: In prayer, if a report comes from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) regarding a specific aspect of his prayer, and the majority of hadiths contradict this by not mentioning that aspect, then it should not be adopted as a permanent sunnah. Rather, it should be done occasionally. If it were a permanent sunnah, the others who described the prayer of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) would have mentioned it. I have observed this in mosques; whenever I pray behind them, they say, "Peace be upon you, and Allah's mercy and blessings." Is "Peace be upon you, and Allah's mercy" a permanent sunnah?

The Shaykh: No.

The questioner : May Allah reward you.

The Shaykh : The variation — just a moment — what is observed in other countries?

The questioner : What is observed is its absence.

The Shaykh : Okay, is it a permanent sunnah?

The questioner : Students of knowledge who have a special interest in the science of hadith.

The Shaykh : So, this is established by that.
Ali Hasan: And here, our Shaykh, may Allah honor him, is praying behind the Salafi imams!
Ibrahim Shuqra: ... No, our Shaykh, this consistency in doing it, I have observed that those of us who are consistent in doing it, and praise be to Allah, it has had an effect even on others.

The Shaykh : This is necessary...
Ibrahim Shuqra: And praise be to Allah, until many of the imams in the mosques began to say it, even though their imams used to denounce us for performing this sunnah!

The Shaykh : And more than that, in support of what you say, we hear the imam proceeding without maintaining this addition, even occasionally, and you will find the follower deviating from the imam and adding it. This is the strongest proof, and praise be to Allah, due to the spread of the sunnah. But of course, we do not support this; we do not support deviating from the imam. However, this is proof that this addition has a linguistic benefit, meaning people have started to pay attention to it. But full attention? He did not throw it to our brother Abu Abd al-Rahman. Abu Badi, I want to benefit from you, O Arabs. If his name were like my name, I would say, "My namesake said." But his kunya is like my kunya, so what do I say?
Ibrahim Shuqra: He said, "Whoever has a kunya like my kunya..."?

The Shaykh : No, that is too long.
Ali Hasan: He said, "My kuniyy."

The Shaykh : Who said that?
Ali Hasan: Abu Abd al-Rahman.

The Shaykh : What Allah willed, you agree with this.
Shuqra Ibrahim: Yes, our Shaykh.

The Shaykh : They did not agree with him on this, O Abu Abd al-Rahman.
Ali Hasan: ... He agreed with me on the kunya, our Shaykh, and the scholars have written about those whose kunya matches their father's kunya.

The Shaykh : Abu Malik said this... Slow down, may Allah reward you. I want to say, instead of "he agreed with me on my name," what do I say? I say, "My namesake." So what do I say, "he agreed with me on my kunya"? Are you recording with your blessings, everyone?
Ibrahim Shuqra: He said, "It should have been like me, in that..."
Ali Hasan: ... Is it permissible for us to say, for example, "kuniyy" as we say "samiyy," meaning approximately like this?

The Shaykh : It appears that Abu Abd al-Rahman, I do not know, I say "samiyy," he has become a mujtahid in language, and he has derived "kuniyy" on the pattern of "samiyy," is that not so?

The questioner : Yes, our Shaykh. In that session, one of the brothers said "samiyy," and he was carrying his kunya, and his kunya matched his kunya, so he said "samiyy," and I said, "This is kuniyy."

The Shaykh : Meaning, you are not saying it with certainty and...

The questioner : He says he wants to hear one name between you and him...

The Shaykh : May Allah unite us upon the Book and the Sunnah and the methodology of the righteous Salaf. What diverted us to that linguistic joke from what we were doing before?
Ali Hasan: You reminded us, our Shaykh. We are absent and you are present, what Allah willed!

The Shaykh : Excuse me, may Allah reward you. You have reached the extreme of old age.

The questioner : And blessings be upon him.

The Shaykh : Yes, the last thing, and with its blessings. Yes, I wanted to say about "samiyy" as "kuniyy" that he is now adjusting the scale. We should not remain with the old way that does not acknowledge the addition and its blessings, nor should we establish this addition and make it a consistent sunnah. He wants variation, as is the sunnah. This is actually an important point. I see in public mosques that it is almost obligatory to maintain "and its blessings" so that the impermissibility is eliminated and the statement of some of the old jurists that this addition is an innovation is eliminated. When this sunnah becomes stable in public communities, sometimes one way and sometimes another, this is a right. It is a right, just as you pronounce it.

The questioner : I like some of our brothers, an imam of a mosque in al-Zarqa, Ali Abd al-Fattah al-Shishani (may Allah preserve him). He applies the four types of salam. That is, in witr, in Ramadan, in other times, he applies it in a way, and the followers behind him, even the common people, responded to it!

The questioner : They rose against him, our Shaykh. So one time it was reported...
One person entered now and said salam: "Peace be upon you."

The Shaykh : And upon you be peace, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.

The questioner : I found it... he used it as a kunya for such a thing, as if he says, "Like my kunya," and so-and-so's kunya is his kunya, and he is confused, and he is my kuniyy, meaning his kunya is his kunya.

The Shaykh : This is proof that he has become a mujtahid in language!

The questioner : This is a benefit.

The Shaykh : This is a benefit. Do not say that Arabization is finished. A person remains a scholar as long as he does not say, "I have known." If he says, "I have known," he has become ignorant.