The Holy Qur’an: “… whenever you enter houses, greet one an-other with a blessed, wholesome greeting by invoking God. Thus God explains [His] signs to you so that you may reason things out”. 24: 61

Salaam (peace) is the desirable word to be uttered upon each meeting. We first say salaam to each other whenever we meet and in this way express our re-spect and beneficence towards each other.

Have you ever thought about the concept of salaam? And did you know that it is one of the names of Allah - the One and the Only God? It means peace, health, and being a well-wisher towards oth-ers and so, this expression should be regarded as the starting word

for constructive, human commu-nication.

The Islamic expression ‘Asalaamu Alaikum’ (peace be upon you) is, in fact, connected to the Islamic expression – ‘Salaamullah Alai-kum’ (Allah’s greetings and bless-ings be upon you). This expres-sion means that we are praying to Allah to grant peace, safety, and blessings to the person(‘s) we are saying salaam to.

As we see, the Islamic way of saluting others is, in fact, pray-ing for them and expressing our friendship and sincerity towards them and so this expression is the best one to be used when starting a conversation or meet-ing other people, and as inferred from the above verse of the HolyQur’an, (24: 61) by so doing, we are expressing our good-will to the others, telling that we wish them fruitful, prolonged life. (The word Tahiyyat in Arabic conveys wishing good, long life for the others).

In Islamic ethics, it has been emphasized that Muslims should start their words (addressed to the others) with salaam. In fact, in a hadith (Islamic narration) we read that the Holy Prophet (pbuh) of Islam has stated that it is advisable not to reply to the one who has started talking with-out first saying salaam. The Holy Prophet of Islam (pbuh) and In-fallible Imams (as) have repeat-edly expressed the significance of uttering salaam and taught

 mentioned here that as per Islamic teachings, salaam should be said in a clear audible voice. Certainly, we should not say salaam to the others in a too low voice, be it out of shyness or for any other reasons, because the others may not hear our salaam and then resent us and regard us impolite and without manners. Also, we should take care not to return a salaam in a low voice, because the person (whose sa-laam we are returning) may not hear our salaam and, thus, imag-ine that for some reasons, we are angry with him/her. If this hap-pens, undesirable feelings may arise which of course we do not want. In fact, the aim and pur-pose of salaam is, among other things, removing any ill feelings and bringing about good ones among the people and so should be uttered and returned audibly and in the proper manner.

By : hussein aminipoya