Giving Salaam to One Person (As-Salaamu Alayk)

Giving Salaam to One Person (As-Salaamu Alayk)

By Shaykh AL-Uthaymeen(may Allah rest him in Jannah)

Shaykh Al-Uthaymeen was asked about the description of Salaam.

He (may Allah have mercy upon him)answered by saying,” Say As-salaamu Alayk if you are greeting one person and As-Salaamu- Alaykum if you are greeting a group of people. The proof for this is found in the hadeeth about the man who came to the masjid and didn’t pray correctly. After finishing he went to Allah’s messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) and said, “As-Salaamu Alayk ya Rasulallah”- Peace be on to you oh Messenger of Allah. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) returned the greetings. Then he(peace and blessings be upon him)said,” Redo your prayer; as you didn’t pray correctly.”[1]

Now if you are giving the greetings to two people then say,” As-salaamu Alaykum. It is permissible to greet two people using the plural tense. And if you are greeting your mother how would you greet her? Say As-salaamu Alaykee ya ummi-peace be on you mommy. Why? Because whenever you talk to a female the Kaf(كِ )takes a kasra.

If you entered in a room and greeted your aunts and there were four or five of them, how would you greet them? You would say,” As-salaamu Alaykunna wa Rahmahtullahi wa barakatahu.”  The Kaf (ك )follows suit to the person being addressed .i.e (ك, كم, كن  (

How does a Muslim reply to someone who says to him “ As-salaamu Alaykum  wa Rahmahtullahi wa barakatahu, or Salaamu Alayk. The person responds by saying,” As-salaamu Alayk  wa Rahmahtullahi wa barakatahu.” as well. There is no harm in doing this. It is important to say As-Salaamu Alayk. Is it wrong to say,” Alaykumus Salaam wa rahmahtullahi wa barakatahu? Does a person say it with the wa ( و ) or without it? To say it either way is fine, but it is better to say “Wa alaykum As-salaam.”

What do we say about the person who replies to our greeting with greetings like; “Welcome, May Allah preserve you come in, Today is a happy day, This is one of the best days, or May Allah grant you success, increase your knowledge, piety and guidance etc. Are these legitimate replies to the greeting-As-salaamu alaykum? Even though he extended a reply; I say (Shaykh Uthaymeen) if a person filled up the earth with every reply possible it could never take the place of “Alaykus salaam”. And while replying without this word he is a sinner. To reply with Salaam or one better is an obligation for the Muslim. This is taken from Allah’s verse,

وَإِذَا حُيِّيتُمْ بِتَحِيَّةٍ فَحَيُّوا بِأَحْسَنَ مِنْهَا أَوْ رُدُّوهَا  

“When you are greeted with a greeting, greet in return with what is better than it, or (at least) return it equally.” [ an-Nisa’I 86 ]

Taken from Darus wa Fatawa Al-Haram Al- Madanee by Uthaymeen (1/81)

Translated by Abu Aaliayh Abdullah ibn Dwight Lamont Battle

Doha, Qatar

Ibn Qayyim (Useful advice on raising children which will have good consequen‏ce

This is from an excerpt from a famous book of Imam Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah (d. 751 AH)called Tuhfat al-Mawdood bi Ahkaam al-Mawlood. One of the most important chapters of his book is the sixteenth chapter, which is entitled Fi fusool naafi’ah fi Tarbiyat al-Atfaal tuhmad ‘awaaqibuha ‘ind al-Kabr (Useful advice on raising children which will have good consequences when the child grows up). What follows is a summary of what Ibn Qayyim says:

1. The child should be breastfed by someone other than his mother, two or three days after birth. That is better because her milk after that time will be thick and contain different ingredients, unlike the milk of one who has been breastfeeding for a while. All the Arabs pay attention to that, and they give their children to desert women to breastfeed, as the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) was given to Banu Sa’d to be breastfed among them.

2. They should not be picked up and carried around until they are three months old or more, because they have only recently emerged from their mother’s wombs and their bodies are still weak.

3. They should be given only milk until their teeth appear, because their stomachs are weak and unable to digest food. When the baby’s teeth appear, his stomach has grown strong and is able to be nourished by food. Food should be introduced gradually.

4. When they approach the age where they will begin to speak and one wants to make it easy for them to speak, a little honey and salt should be placed on the infant’s tongue, because they contain substances that will reduce the excessive moisture that prevents speech. When the child begins to speak, one should prompt him to say Laa ilaaha ill-Allaah Muhammad Rasool Allaah.

5. When the time for the teeth to appear comes, the gums should be rubbed every day with butter and ghee.

6. Parents should not get upset when the child cries and yells, because he benefits greatly from that crying. It exercises his limbs, opens his intestines and chest, keeps his brain warm, warms his moods, provokes his energy, creates suitable conditions for expelling waste matter, and helps rid the brain of mucus and other waste.

7. The child should be protected against everything that may scare him of harsh and terrifying noises, frightening scenes and disturbing movements.

8. Complete breastfeeding lasts for two years. This is the right of the child if he needs it and cannot do without it. The Qur’aan confirmed that by adding the word kaamilayn (meaning complete or whole, in the verse
"The mothers shall give suck to their children for two whole years" [al-Baqarah 2:233]). If the one who is breastfeeding the child wants to wean him, she should wean him gradually, and not wean him suddenly in one go; rather she should get him used to it slowly because of the harm that may be done by changing the child’s food and habit in one go.

9. It is mistreatment of children to allow them to eat their fill of food, and to eat and drink a lot.
One of the most beneficial ways of training them is to give them less than their fill, so that they may digest well and be in good health, there will be less waste in their bodies and their bodies will be healthy, and they will have less sickness because of having less food waste in their bodies.

10. One thing that the child needs most urgently is close attention to his moral well being. He grows up with whatever the one who is raising him gets him used to when he is small. [If it is] resentment, anger, arguments, haste, being easily led by whims and desires, foolishness, hot-temperedness and greed, then it will be difficult for him to change that when he grows up. Hence you will find that most people are deviant in their character, because of the way they were brought up.

11. The child’s guardian should keep him from taking from others because if he gets used to taking, that will become natural for him, and he will grow up as one who takes and not one who gives. If the guardian wants to give something, he should give it by his hand [i.e., give it to the child to give away] so that that he will taste the sweetness of giving.

12. He should keep him away from lying and treachery more than he would keep him away from lethal poison. Once he lets him get the habit of lying and betrayal,
he will have corrupted his happiness in this world and in the Hereafter, and deprived him of all goodness.

13. He should keep him away from laziness, idleness, a life of ease and too much rest, and he should force him to do the opposite. He should not let him rest more than is sufficient to restore his energy so that he can do more work, for laziness and idleness bring bad consequences and lead to regret. Yahya ibn Abi Katheer said:
"Knowledge cannot be attained by letting the body rest."

14. He should get him used to waking up at the end of the night, for that is the time when reward is allocated and prizes are awarded; some will take less and some will take more and some will be deprived. If he gets used to that when he is little, it will be easy for him when he grows up.

[Tuhfat al-Mawdood (194-203).]

Jihadul Nafs

al-Hasan al-Basri (Rahimahullaahu ta'ala) narrated:“There was a fornicating woman who had exceeded the people of her era in beauty, and would not let any man sleep with her unless he paid her one hundred dinars. One day, a man saw her and was attracted to her, so he went and worked until he earned the one hundred dinars and came to her. She told him: “Pay it to the man at the door so that he may count it and weigh it.” When he did this, she told him to enter. She had a luxurious home and a bed made of gold. She told him: “Come to me.” When he was about to have intercourse with her, he suddenly remembered his standing before Allah on the Day of Resurrection, so it was as if he was struck with lightning and his desire was put out.He said to her: “Allow me to leave you, and you can keep the money.”She replied: “How can you do this now, when you saw me and was attracted to me, and went and worked hard to collect the one hundred dinars, and when you are finally with me, you do what you did?”He said: “By Allah, I did not do this out of anything except for the fear of Allah, and the thought of my standing between His Hands.”She said: “If you are truthful in what you say, then I want to marry nobody except you!”He told her: “Let me leave.”She said: “No, not unless you promise me that you will marry me!”He said: “I cannot do anything until I leave first.”She then said to him: “You must promise Allah that if I come to you where you live, then you will marry me!”He said: “It might be so. We will see.”So, he put on his clothes, left her, and travelled back to his land. She later travelled to his land with all that she owned - regretting the circumstances under which they had met each other - until she arrived and asked about him. When she arrived at his home, it was said to him: “The queen herself has arrived and asked about you!” When he saw her, he was in such a state of shock that he collapsed and died.His body fell into her arms, so she said: “As for him, then I have missed out on the chance to be with him. Does he have any close relatives?” It was said to her: “Yes, his brother, but he is a poor man.” So, she said to him: “I will marry you out of my love for your dead brother.”She married him and bore for him seven righteous sons.”


[‘at-Tawwabin’ by Ibn Qudamah al-Maqdisi; p. 41-42]