Why Muslims must greet each other everywhere

Would say to a person who had sneezed He mentions here a narration collected by both Bukhari and Muslim that a man came to the prophet and asked him, what of Islam is most virtuous? What's meant here is those things that people do naturally amongst each other. What of these what of these you know, dealings or what of these interactions is most virtuous in Islam. The prophet said, to feed others and to convey a salaam to those whom you know and those whom you do not. So, what's meant here by what of Islam is most virtuous? Obviously, salah is more virtuous than this. Obviously, fasting, the pillars of Islam. There are actions that are more virtuous but this is a very specific type of virtue. It is relative to what the questioner had in mind. Clearly, we see from the answer here, the response of the prophet that the is asking about something very specific and that is people's dealings with each other, people's interactions, what is most virtuous of these interactions? He mentions, feeding their stomachs, and as well their hearts by conveying a Salem. Muslim, in Adama, Lama the.

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Go to that group of angels over there and convey a salaam to them and listen closely to their response. For indeed their salutation to you shall remain your salutation among you and your offspring. Meaning, this will be what your offspring will salute one another with. And so Adam Alaihi Salam went to these angels and he said assalamu alaikum. And they responded assalamu alaikum. So they added onto his salaam. Likewise, in both Bukhari and Muslim, That's the prophet commanded that people convey a salaam to one another And that and he promised that if they do convey a salaam to one another openly to those who know each other and those who do not know each other. What's meant here is are those who are Muslim, a salaam to initiate a salaam, to say a salaam alaikum, to initi another person with this specific salutation. This is for Muslims only. We only say assalamu alaikum to Muslims. As for if a person says that is non Muslim the response is different among different upon amongst the scholars. The opinion of the author Ibn al Kaim, and also Sheikh Al Islam. And many others. Is that a person responds with. And we will get into that inshallah. What's what's what's intended here is that if you know someone is Muslim that you should say assalamu alaikum to them. Whether you know them or you don't. This is the spirit of the bond of Islam. That our bond of Islam is that I love all of the Muslims, those whom I know, and those whom I do not. Alright? This is the idea of belief and brotherhood in faith and belief. We see this very often. A person will be out you know, in a supermarket or somewhere where especially when it's, you know, usually you don't bump into another Muslim there and they walk by each other nothing like, you know, and they stare at each other. They walk by and stare at each other the whole time. You know what I'm talking about. We all we've all seen it, right? And if you if they know that you're Muslim, they'll stare at you. If you're there for 20 minutes, they'll stare at you the whole time but never will a salaam be exchanged. This is, this is highly disappointing. Likewise, if you bump into another person that is Muslim and you do say assalamu alaikum, it's almost they're shocked. It's almost they're taking aback and maybe you might get a response, you know, you know, this is unfortunate and disappointing. And unacceptable. We convey a salaam to those whom we know and those whom we do not. And the.

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Believe until we learn to love one another. Allah Ibn the.

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Traits. Now, obviously, faith is to believe in Allah and the angels and the books and the messengers. What's meant here by these three traits are true faith is that these are the fruits of true faith. If a person really believes in Allah and the last day and the books and the angels and so forth. If a person really has this belief truly and it touches his heart and it has its roots sprouting in his heart. Then, this tree will bear fruit. This faith will manifest itself in a person's actions. What are these traits, these fruits? He says, the first trait is that a person is just and fair and in judging himself and judging himself. What's meant here by fairness is that a person does not judge himself based on his ego. The ego is what we wish we we we were. Or the ego is what we to show other people. rather what's meant here is that a person looks at himself objectively. Objectivity in judging a person's own self. This is where progress comes from. If a person looks at himself and says no I'm happy with myself as it is. I don't see that I'm doing anything wrong. I'm fine. This person is very far from the path of redemption. and we see this and we see this in our popular culture now, right? Popular culture is, you know, I love myself and I love everything about myself and anyone who doesn't love everything about me, then, you know, they don't deserve to have me and you know, they need to love me for who I am. I don't know exactly what is meant by this but people do not love one another essentially. They love one another because of each other's actions, right? That's objectivity. That a person is valuable based on their actions. If their actions are upstanding, they become more valuable. And if their actions are bad or harmful, they become less valuable and they may even become a liability, right? and so, a person needs to constantly objectively view himself, to view oneself with objectivity. I look at myself and I see what needs to be changed. I am honest with myself and I'm not afraid to be honest with myself. This whole, you know, embrace yourself and you know, love yourself and these people are unhinged and these people usually have extremely, extremely, extremely deeply seat you know, personality issues when you look at their lifestyle, you know, it's all about I love myself and it's kind of an an overcompensation because they really can't stand themselves and often times, this is why people who tout this can't spend, you know, 10 minutes alone with themselves without having some phone in their face or having some, you know, person sitting there distracting them from who they are the point here is that a person needs to view himself objectively. A person looks at himself with objectivity, he will see what needs to be changed and what needs to be worked on. Doesn't mean a person needs to, you know, beat himself down to where, you know, they have no confidence. This is not what's intended but what is intended is that a person needs to see what needs to be worked on. If you sit down with yourself honestly and write a list of, you know, 1 00 things that you wish you could change or need to work on on yourself, there's a problem. There's a serious problem and you know, there's this easy cop that people do this cop out. It's well, I'm not perfect, you know? You hear people say, I'm not perfect but I am saying, no, I'm not perfect. It's just glossing over things and you know, it's a cheap cop out. I'm not perfect. You know, that's not saying anything objective about yourself. I'm not perfect means, you know, it's this fainting of fake humility. That doesn't get us anywhere. What needs to happen is that a person honestly look at himself and it takes courage. It takes courage and it takes you know, honesty and bravery to look at yourself because who wants to do that? Who wants to look in the mirror and you know, come to terms with the fact that you know, I need a lot of fixing. I need a lot of work. you know, I may not be favorable to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. This is a serious thing and these are demons that we have to exercise and so, the first trait that the companion mentions is viewing oneself with objectivity. The second is conve to everyone and what's meant by everyone here is every Muslim, right? Salam is for Muslims and the third is spending and giving to others in spite of your own hardship, in spite of your own hardship. He goes on to explain these traits. He says, these three principle, these three fundamental traits. essentially they essentially contain or entail all of good and everything that comes from good. How is that? He says, as for a person being objective in viewing himself, if a person truly is objective when viewing himself, meaning not biased to himself. naturally, the human being always views himself as the victim. Always views himself as giving others and not receiving what he's owed. This is the natural state of being because people are naturally selfish, right? And so, usually people will magnify any perceived slight from another person and they will mitigate anything that they do against another person. Likewise, they will magnify any good that they do for another person in their mind's eye and they will mitigate good that other do for them. That's the natural state of the human being. He says, when a person becomes objective and unbiased in viewing himself this will bring about a person fulfilling the rights of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala fully. A person, if they have this trait, they will no longer be of the camp of you know, I'm just human. I'm not perfect, and Allah will forgive me and I've didn't done my best and who who of us can honestly say we've done our best. Who? Who amongst us can stand up and say, I am innocent, honestly. None of us is innocent. We're all guilty. None of us is innocent and none of us has done our best and that's how we need to feel about it. And we need to work and build on that. He says, and this will also, this trait will also carry a person to and this trait will also cause a person fulfill other people's rights, not just the rights of Allah but the rights of other people as well because they are unbiased. They are looking at their exchanges with people with objectivity. And a person will start to treat others as he wishes to be treated. and another thing that this trait will bring about in a person is that the person will view himself for what he really is. So, he will not claim merits or virtues that do not belong to him. and likewise, a person will not you know, put out his soul's light with disobedience to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. If a person is truly objective with himself and unbiased, a person is not going to lay claim to merit that doesn't belong to him. Glory that doesn't belong to him. Person sees himself for what he really is. And that will reflect himself, reflect itself and his life and his actions and speech, in as true humility. True humility is not what you say. True humility is not how you stand. True humility is how you view yourself. Right? If you view yourself with objectivity, that's what breeds true humility And again, you know, as as people, as human beings, we're very crafty in you know, praising ourselves in a very slick way, right? Or deflecting blame in a very slick way. You'll hear people when they apologize, you know, if I've done anything wrong, then, I apologize for it but you know, how is this an apology? If I've done anything wrong, I mean, god forbid, you know? And likewise, people deflect as you know, our people will have this this fake humility and this fake selflessness, right? And this urge to you know, put every little thing they do on on the internet for everybody to give them a round of applause and a standing ovation. You know, you'll read the caption, you know. eating homeless people today, you know, and hey, how are you? You know, what's your name? they do that when people aren't looking, right? This is cheap and fake and it cheapens the the the of a person being a real human being. If you honestly wanted to be good to this person, you wouldn't plaster their face and their picture and their video all over the internet. You know, hey, guys. You know, everybody, this is a poor person. You see this? Homeless. Right here. Right? That's not how we treat people that are less fortunate than ourselves. but that that goes back to a critical difference between the Muslim and the non Muslim when it comes to etiquettes and character. there are parallels. You know, there are Muslims that are honest and there are non Muslims that are honest, right? But the honesty may appear the same. But what that honesty is rooted in is the key difference between the Muslim and the non Muslim. The Muslims etiquettes, character, good dealings is rooted in to his belief and his relationship with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. When I am honest, I feel like when I am treating others well, I am actually simultaneously building a relationship with Allah. This, you know, honesty, integrity, whatever it is, bravery, all of these things are hardwired and deeply rooted and grounded in our belief. contrary to the non Muslim non Muslim may have, you know, truthfulness and and bravery and all of these other things but these things are rarely rooted in their belief in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Usually, it is rooted in tradition or it is rooted in business strategy or it is rooted in whatever it is they're trying to achieve. So, often times, people will be honest because it's in their favor to be honest. A Muslim is honest because in spite of whatever transpires here, this is building a relationship with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And so the prophet when he was asked what is what is righteousness, piety, what is it? Yeah, yes, no, he said, piety is having good etiquette, good character. This is piety. So, our manners and etiquettes are deeply rooted in our beliefs. These are etiquettes that we adorn ourselves with because this is what pleases Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And this also changes the effects that other people's reactions to our etiquettes will have. What do I mean by that? Usually, people are honest when it's in their favor, right? Usually, people are nice when it's in their favor. It's good to smile, you know, and and speak nicely to a customer because that's how we build a customer base. A Muslim, we do these things primarily because it is a type of worship of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Which where does the difference really manifest itself in the person's Action. So, if if we receive a positive reaction or not, we still maintain these etiquettes. If it's going to get me a more positive reaction, should I lie? No. We will tell the truth even if it even if it merits a poor reaction. Contrary to those who have the same etiquettes but these etiquettes are not rooted in their belief system and their relationship with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. They're nice to people only as long as they receive what they're looking for of of you know that a person is nice back or that it but if if that doesn't work then they will do anything to get that same that desired effect. and this is one of the tribulations that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tests the Muslims with He says subhanahu.

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And then that we will put forth the effort as dictated to us by Allah and his messenger but the fruits will will not be as plentiful as we would hope. So, this is a test. Is a person going to change now his actions to get the desired effects, or as a person doing those actions based on principle. I am not doing this for the effects. I am doing this out of worship of Allah. And if those desired effects come to fruition, then, great and if they don't, I still have my relationship with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. This is a type of test. The.