And prayers and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions.

The reader: In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions.
The author (may Allah have mercy on him) transmitted, in the context of the hadiths in the chapter on the virtue of the greeting and the command to spread it: "From 'Abd Allah ibn 'Amr ibn al-'As (may Allah be pleased with them both) that a man asked the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him): 'Which is the best of Islam?' He said:

That you provide food and extend greetings to one whom you know or do not know.

تطعم الطعام وتقرأ السلام على من عرفت ومن لم تعرف

Sahih Muslim 39

Agreed upon by al-Bukhari and Muslim. And from Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) who said:

When He created him, He said (to him), "Go and greet that group of angels sitting there, and listen what they will say in reply to you, for that will be your greeting and the greeting of your offspring." Adam (went and) said, 'As-Salamu alaikum (Peace be upon you).' They replied, 'AsSalamu-'Alaika wa Rahmatullah (Peace and Allah's Mercy be on you) So they increased 'Wa Rahmatullah'

لما خلق الله آدم صلى الله عليه وسلم قال: اذهب فسلم على أولئك نفر من الملائكة جلوس فاستمع ما يحيونك فإنها تحيتك وتحية ذريتك، فقال: السلام عليكم، فقالوا: السلام عليك ورحمة الله فزادوه ورحمة الله

Sahih al-Bukhari 6227

Agreed upon by al-Bukhari and Muslim".

The Shaykh : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
We have previously discussed the verses with which the author (may Allah have mercy on him) began his book *The Greeting and Its Manners* in this chapter. Then he mentioned the hadiths, among them the hadith of 'Abd Allah ibn 'Amr ibn al-'As that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) was asked: "Which is the best of Islam?" When the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) asked the Messenger such questions, they did not merely seek knowledge; rather, they sought action. So when he said, "The best of Islam is such and such," they would do it and compete to do it. Likewise, the questioner who asks a scholar and seeks his ruling should intend in his heart that if he is guided to good, he will act upon it. He should not merely want to see what the scholar has to say, but rather want that if he is guided to good, he will act upon it, just as that was the habit of the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them). So the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said: "You feed food," meaning you feed those who need it. The first people you are obligated to feed are your family, and feeding them is charity and maintaining family ties. It is better than feeding distant relatives, because feeding your family is fulfilling an obligation, while feeding distant relatives is fulfilling a recommended practice. And the obligatory is more beloved to Allah the Exalted than the recommended, as in the Holy Hadith: Some people spend on their families what they spend, but they do not realize that they are drawing near to Allah through this spending. If a poor person came to them and they gave him one riyal, they would feel that they are drawing near to Allah through this charity. However, the obligatory charity to the family is better and has a greater reward. So if you feed food to your family, that is part of the best of Islam. He said: "And you convey the greeting to those you know and those you do not know." This is the point of the hadith: Meaning: you say "Peace be upon you." This is the meaning of conveying the greeting; it is called throwing the greeting, and it is called conveying the greeting to those you know and those you do not know. Your greeting should not be a greeting of mere acquaintance, but rather a greeting of reward and affection, because the Muslim is rewarded for his greeting, and through his greeting, reconciliation is achieved, as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: As for the one who only greets those he knows, he will miss out on much good, because he passes by dozens of people and knows only one of them. But the one who greets with a greeting of reward and affection greets those he knows and those he does not know, except if the person you pass by is a disbeliever, then do not greet him, because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said: And those who are worse than them, such as the Sufis, the polytheists, the communists, and those similar to them, do not convey the greeting to them, do not greet them. Or the open sinner who is known for his sinfulness: if there is a benefit in not greeting him, do not greet him. But if there is no benefit in not greeting him, then greet him. However, if there is a benefit in not greeting him, and that benefit is that if you do not greet this open sinner, he will repent from his sin and return to Allah, then do not greet him. But if it is all the same to him, and perhaps if you do not greet him, he will hold enmity toward you in his heart and continue in his falsehood and not accept your advice, then greet him. So now people are divided into three categories: a category of open sinners who are known for their sinfulness, so greet them unless there is a benefit in boycotting them; a category of disbelievers, so do not greet them, but if they greet you, return the greeting; and the third: a Muslim about whom you do not know of any sinfulness, so greet him and strive to be the one who initiates the greeting, because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) used to initiate the greeting to whoever he met, and he was the noblest of creation. He did not say, "I am greater, so let him greet me." He initiated the greeting to whoever he met. And he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: And likewise, the hadith with us: the best of Islam is that you convey the greeting to those you know and those you do not know. And success is from Allah.