Reminding the Shaykh of the marfu' hadith of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him): "By Myself in Whose Hand is your soul, you will not enter Paradise until you believe, and you will not believe until you love one another. Shall I not inform you of what will make you do that? Spread the greeting of peace among yourselves."

The Shaykh : Praise is to Allah; we praise Him, seek His help, and seek His forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our own souls and from the evil of our deeds. Whomsoever Allah guides, none can misguide, and whomsoever He leaves to misguide, none can guide. I bear witness that there is no god but Allah alone, with no partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His slave and His Messenger. It has been placed in my heart to open this session with a word that, although it is not related to a matter unknown to the general public or to many of them, may not be devoid of either providing more knowledge that most people need, or being a reminder, for the reminder benefits the believers. Allah (Mighty and Majestic) has, by His wisdom, made a cause for every thing. The causes that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) has established to bring about their effects are divided into two categories: material, natural causes, and other religious, legal causes. As for the first category, the righteous and the wicked, the believers and the disbelievers, all share in knowing it, namely the material causes. For example, food and drink: everyone knows that they are among the causes of life. The air that a person inhales is likewise. Then these causes begin to rise and become less obvious and more hidden, until only the specialists know them. This is the case with material causes. The same is exactly true of the spiritual, legal causes. Among these causes known to everyone is that entering Paradise and entering the Fire each have their legal cause, which is and so on. The Fire is not entered by anyone but the disbelievers or the open sinners, with the difference between the first group, who will abide in the Fire forever, and the other group, who will be saved from abiding in the Fire because of their faith and their oneness of Allah. I do not wish to lengthen this matter, but I wish to remind you of a hadith narrated by Imam Muslim in his Sahih from the hadith of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him). He said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said: Here is the crux of the matter, as they say, in clarifying that there are legal causes that many people do not know. So, spreading the greeting of peace from a Muslim to Muslims is a legal cause for the existence of love among Muslims and for eliminating turning away from one another and hatred. Today, you find many people in some Arab countries, which are supposed to be the closest people to the Book and the Sunnah, first in understanding and second in practice, who do not care, not about spreading the greeting of peace, but even about delivering the greeting. I think you are following me in the difference between delivering the greeting and spreading the greeting. Here there is generality and specificity: every spreading of the greeting is a delivery, but not every delivery of the greeting is a spreading. Spreading means frequent use, frequent delivery of the greeting, whereas delivering the greeting does not mean spreading it. For example, delivering the greeting is something you are legally required to do, and you would be sinful, may Allah forbid it, if you did not deliver the greeting. According to the most correct of the scholars' opinions, if you meet a Muslim, as he (peace be upon him) said, "Greet him." If you meet him and do not greet him, you have committed a sin, because delivering the greeting, as I mentioned earlier, is obligatory according to the most correct of the scholars' opinions, just as returning it is. Many people meet one another and do not deliver the greeting commanded in Islam, but instead say "Good morning," "Good evening," or "Welcome." This is from that speech, and worse than this—and this is a tested reality, unfortunately, in this country—you enter upon a person and deliver the greeting, and he says to you "Welcome" or "Hello" or something like that. And especially if you bid him farewell with the greeting, you do not hear him return the greeting. This is contrary to the Qur'an. Although this matter is not among the pillars of Islam, in reality it is among the religious obligations. If Muslims do not perform it, do you think they will be able to perform the greater jihad? They cannot. Therefore, there is no room for emotional Muslims to hope for true jihad in the path of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) except through knowledge first, and then through action accompanied by beneficial knowledge. This is from the beneficial knowledge: "If you meet him, greet him." If the majority of Muslims today neglect this obligation that costs them nothing—instead of saying "Welcome," say "Peace be upon you"—it costs them nothing. But because they were not raised with Islamic upbringing, they lived far away—I do not say from the Muhammadan Sunnah except in the legal sense, meaning from the Muhammadan methodology that the Prophet (peace be upon him) and his noble Companions lived by. I do not wish, as I have resolved in my heart, to lengthen my speech, but I wish to remind our eager brothers who, in my opinion, did not need such an introduction, except in the sense of "and remind, for the reminder benefits the believers." But they may need to learn, or at least to be reminded, all the more so, of what will be explained in a sound hadith narrated by Imam Ahmad and others, that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) was in a gathering when a man entered and said, "Peace be upon you." He (peace be upon him) said, "Ten." Then a second man entered and said, "Peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah." He said, "Twenty." Then a third man entered and said, "Peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah and His blessings." He said, "Thirty." Some of the attendees noticed and said, "O Messenger of Allah, so-and-so entered and you said ten; when so-and-so entered you said twenty; when so-and-so entered you said thirty." He said, "Yes. The first one said 'Peace be upon you,' so ten good deeds were written for him. The second added 'and the mercy of Allah,' so twenty good deeds were added for him. The third added 'and His blessings' to the two, so another ten were added, making the total thirty. I want you to be eager to earn good deeds by the easiest means, by the easiest means. One of us sits and speaks words that, if we say he will not be held accountable for them on the Day of Resurrection, at least no reward is written for him, so his life is a loss. So if you enter a gathering, seize the opportunity before sitting, and thirty good deeds will be recorded for you. Do not enter and say just "Peace be upon you," being among the group satisfied with a little reward. No. Be greedy for good. Say "Peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah and His blessings" so that thirty good deeds are recorded for you. Consequently, you will be a cause and you will be a proof, so that the one who returns it to you will return it with the same reward, or add ten more good deeds to you, because when you delivered your greeting completely with its last phrase, "and His blessings," thirty will be recorded for you. If he ends his return here as well, thirty will be written for the one who returns it. So thirty were written for you as an action, and thirty more were written for you as a proof. And the Messenger (peace be upon him) said: And the one who returns it may do so, and this is the crux of this speech, because this point, if I may express it, is neglected and not practiced. It is when the one who greets says to you, "Peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah and His blessings," and Allah (Mighty and Majestic) says to you, O Muslims:
So what is better than "Peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah and His blessings"? Many scholars say there is nothing better, so they nullify returning with what is better, whereas this is the complete application of the Qur'an: to add to the return of the complete greeting "and His forgiveness." In this state, it is written for you as a proof of forty good deeds, and the one who points to good is like the one who does it. This is what I wanted to draw attention to and remind you of. To summarize all this speech, then we will open the door for questions, if Allah wills, so that one of you may enter with the complete greeting so that thirty good deeds are written for him, and the proof of the pointing to thirty good deeds is written for him, because it is not permissible for the one who returns it to be satisfied with returning "And upon you peace." No. He said "Peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah and His blessings," so it is obligatory upon you, O one who is greeted, to say "And upon you peace and the mercy of Allah and His blessings." And the better in the return is "and His forgiveness." This is what I wanted, and we ask Allah to benefit us with what He has taught us and to make us among those who listen to the statement and then follow the best of it. Now, whoever has a question, raise his hand.