Chapter on the Manner of Greeting: It is recommended that the one who initiates the greeting say: “As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh” (Peace be upon you, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings), using the plural pronoun.

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.
He (may Allah have mercy on him) said: “Chapter on the Manner of Greeting: It is recommended that the one who initiates the greeting say” “As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh” (Peace be upon you, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings) “using the plural pronoun, even if the one being greeted is a single person. And the one who responds should say:” “Wa alaykum as-salam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh” (And upon you be peace, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings) “using the conjunction ‘wa’ (and) in his phrase ‘wa alaykum.’ ‘Imran ibn al-Husayn (may Allah be pleased with him) said: A man came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and said: ‘As-salamu alaykum’ (Peace be upon you). He returned the greeting to him, then sat down. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:

Ten

عشر

Then another man came and said: ‘As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullah’ (Peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah). He returned the greeting to him, then sat down. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:

Twenty

عشرون

Then another man came and said: ‘As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh’ (Peace be upon you, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings). He returned the greeting to him, then sat down. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:

Thirty

ثلاثون

Abu Dawud and al-Tirmidhi narrated it, and al-Tirmidhi said: ‘A good hadith.’ And ‘Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said to me:

This is Gabriel sending his greetings to you

هذا جبريل يقرأ عليك السلام

Sahih al-Bukhari 6249

She said: I said: ‘And upon him be peace, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.’ Agreed upon by al-Bukhari and Muslim”.

The Shaykh : He paused.
The reader: That is all.

The Shaykh : Is the chapter finished?
The reader: No.

The Shaykh : Complete it.
The reader: “And Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), when he spoke a word, would repeat it three times until it was understood from him. And when he came upon a group of people and greeted them, he would greet them three times. Al-Bukhari narrated it”.

The Shaykh : In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
The author, An-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him), mentioned in his book *Riyad as-Salihin*, in the chapter on the Manner of Greeting—meaning how one greets, what one says when greeting, and what one says when responding—that he (may Allah have mercy on him) stated it is recommended to say “As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullah” (Peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah), even if the one being greeted is a single person. Then he cited as evidence the hadith of Jabir (may Allah be pleased with him), in which a man came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) and said: “As-salamu alaykum” (Peace be upon you). He returned the greeting to him. Then another man came and said: “As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullah” (Peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah). Then the third man came and said: “As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh” (Peace be upon you, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings). The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to the first man: meaning ten good deeds, and to the second: and to the third: because each of them added more. The scholars differed on this issue: if one greets a single person, should one say “As-salamu alayka” (Peace be upon you) or “As-salamu alaykum” (Peace be upon you [plural])? The correct view is that one says “As-salamu alayka” (Peace be upon you). This is established from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), as in the hadith of the one who messed up his prayer, where he said “As-salamu alayka” (Peace be upon you). As for the evidence cited by the author from the hadith of Jabir, it does not serve as proof, because the man entered upon the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) with a group of people, so he greeted them all. If they are a group, say “As-salamu alaykum” (Peace be upon you [plural]); if it is one person, say “As-salamu alayka” (Peace be upon you). If you add “wa rahmatullah” (and the mercy of Allah), that is better. If you add “wa barakatuh” (and His blessings), that is better, because every word in it carries ten good deeds. If you shorten it to just “As-salamu alayka” (Peace be upon you), that is sufficient. This is the manner. And the one who responds says “Wa alaykum as-salam” (And upon you be peace). Then, if the one who greeted did not add anything beyond saying “As-salamu alayka” (Peace be upon you), that is sufficient. But if the one who greeted said “As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullah” (Peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah), then the one who responding should say “Wa alayka as-salam wa rahmatullah” (And upon you be peace and the mercy of Allah), based on the saying of the Exalted: meaning, return the same. He (the author) stated that it is recommended to say “Wa alaykum” (And upon you) with the addition of the letter “waw” (and), and this is good, because if one says “Wa alaykum” (And upon you), it becomes clear that it is conjoined to the phrase with which the greeter greeted. If one omits it, there is no harm, because Ibrahim (peace be upon him) did not use the “waw” in his response to the angels’ greeting: and he did not use the “waw.” If one uses the “waw,” it is good; if one omits it, there is no harm. Then, it is from the Sunnah that when one conveys a greeting from one person to another, one should say “Alayhi as-salam” (Upon him be peace). If one says “Alayka wa alayhi as-salam” (Upon you and upon him be peace) or “Alayhi wa alayka as-salam” (Upon him and upon you be peace), that is good, because the one who conveys the greeting is doing a favor, so one reciprocates by making a supplication for him. If a person says to another, “Convey my greetings to so-and-so,” and then conveys the message saying, “So-and-so sends you his greetings,” then one should say “Alayhi wa alayka as-salam” (Upon him and upon you be peace) or say “Alayhi as-salam” (Upon him be peace) and stop there. This is because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) so she said: “Alayhi as-salam” (Upon him be peace). This indicates that when someone conveys a greeting to you from another person, you say “Alayhi as-salam” (Upon him be peace). But is it obligatory for you to convey the message if someone says, “Convey my greetings to so-and-so,” or is it not obligatory? The scholars detailed this and said: if you committed to doing it for him, then it is obligatory for you, because Allah says: and you have now undertaken this. However, if he said, “Convey my greetings to so-and-so” and remained silent, or if you said to him, for example, “If I remember” or something similar, then it is not obligatory for you unless you remember and you have committed to him to greet him when you remember. But the best is not to burden anyone with this, because it may be difficult for them. Instead, one should say, “Convey my greetings to whoever asked about me,” because if one says, “Convey my greetings to whoever asked,” and they are asked, “How is so-and-so?” one says, “So-and-so is well, and he sends you his greetings.” This is good. But to burden someone with it, that is not appropriate, because they may be shy of you and say, “Yes, I will convey your greetings,” and then forget, or the time may pass, or something similar may happen. Then he mentioned the hadith of Anas ibn Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) but he speaks three times if the word is not understood from him. If it is understood, he does not repeat it. If the word is understood, there is no need. But if it is not understood because the person being addressed has heavy hearing, or because of much noise around him, or something similar, then let him repeat it twice. If that is not sufficient, then three times. Meaning, after three times, it is not obligatory for him. Just as if he asks permission to enter a house three times and is not granted permission, he leaves. So likewise here, if he speaks three times and is not spoken to or not understood, he leaves it. Likewise, if he greets and the one being greeted does not hear, he repeats it a second time, a third time. And if he greets and the one being greeted responds with a response that is not valid, such as if you say “As-salamu alayka” (Peace be upon you) and he says “Ahlan wa marhaban” (Welcome), repeat the greeting and say “As-salamu alayka” (Peace be upon you). If he says “Ahlan wa marhaban” (Welcome), repeat the greeting and say “As-salamu alayka” (Peace be upon you) three times. If that does not help, leave it. But he pointed out that the statement of the one who responds with “Ahlan wa marhaban” (Welcome) is not sufficient. One must say “Alayka as-salam” (Upon you be peace) when “As-salamu alayka” (Peace be upon you) is said. And success is from Allah.

The questioner : ...

The Shaykh : If there is no fitnah (trial, discord or temptation) in this, there is no harm in greeting. But if there is fitnah (trial, discord or temptation), do not greet.