The hadith of the one who performed his prayer poorly, and when he greeted the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), he said: “And upon you.” Some scholars cited this as evidence for the permissibility of responding with “And upon you” alone.

The questioner : The hadith of the one who performed his prayer poorly: when he came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and said to him, “Peace be upon you,” the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: .

The Shaykh: Yes.

The questioner : He commented on it.The Shaykh : One of the Shaykhs commented on it and said: Is there evidence in this that it is permissible to respond with “And upon you”?

The Shaykh : I do not see that. How do you reconcile this with ? The important thing is not to look at a specific text alone in a particular issue, but one must look at the group of texts related to the issue as a whole. I think this is a matter in which no two people differ, and no two camels butt heads in it, is that not so? Yes! So how do you reconcile them? You should have asked the one referred to about this question, is that not so? Yes, also. So why did you not ask him?The Shaykh : The one referred to about this question, is that not so? Yes, also. So why did you not ask him?

The questioner : By Allah, it is only because I just want to reach a point where I am convinced that the argumentation...The Shaykh : ...is not in its proper place. This is for me; I have not asked Allah by His saying, but I am asking you in the sense of...

The Shaykh: May Allah forgive you.

The questioner : In the sense of “We will strengthen your back with your brother”!

The Shaykh : Do not rush me. Why are you asking him this question...? Did you become convinced or not, as you said just now? It is sufficient for you to take his viewpoint first; you may become convinced after you were not convinced. And if you remain and stay where you were in your lack of conviction, you try to take with...The Shaykh : ...and in your respect and exaltation of him, that does not conflict with asking for his viewpoint: how is this, and the verse says so and so, what is the reconciliation? Benefit us. It may benefit you by increasing your strength in your negative stance toward his answer, or it may benefit you by compelling you to shift from a negative stance to a positive one, is that not so, Abu Badr? So your silence is not good, to put it mildly! This is first. Second... universally, if two differing texts come, they must be reconciled by one of the many ways of reconciliation that al-Hafiz Zayn al-Din al-Iraqi mentioned in his poem on the introduction to the sciences of hadith by Ibn al-Salah, to more than one hundred ways. More than one hundred ways by which two differing texts can be reconciled: number one, if its state is such; number two, like this, up to a hundred and more. Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar says: if reconciliation is not possible, then consider the abrogating and the abrogated. If that is not possible, and chronology does not help in knowing the abrogating from the abrogated, then resort to preference (tarjih), for example, a good hadith over a weak one: the good is preferred over the weak. A mass-transmitted report over a report contradicting an authentic one: the mass-transmitted is preferred over the authentic. If they are equal in strength, the matter is left to its scholar. It is not said, “I say so because I was a Hanafi and the owner of the house knows what is in it,” nor is it said, “They contradict each other, so they are both discarded.” This language is not fitting regarding the Prophetic speech, but we entrust its work to its scholar. Now, the first step is that reconciliation is necessary. The explicit Qur’anic text is that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) established two levels in responding to the greeting: a higher and a lower. The lower is , meaning there is no lower than it. The hadith appears on its surface to contradict the Qur’anic verse. So at that time, we try to reconcile them. It appears to me, and Allah knows best, that the first thing that should be said is that this is an abbreviation by the narrator. For example, instead of saying, “He returned the greeting to him,” it says, “He said: And upon you.” This should not be resorted to except for the Qur’anic text. Allah is Great, Allah is Great...