Greetings

كتاب السَّلامِ

Chapter 40: The Greeting to Children

Thabit al-Bannani reported that Anas ibn Malik walked by some children and greeted them. He said, "The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, used to do that."

'Anbas said, "I saw Ibn 'Umar greet children in the schools."

Chapter 41: Women greeting men

Umm Hani', the daughter of Abu Talib, said, "I went to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, while he was performing a major ablution. I greeted him and he asked, 'Who is this?' 'Umm Hani',' I replied. He said, 'Welcome.'"

Al-Hasan said, "Be women who greet men."

Chapter 42: Greeting women

Asma' was heard to say that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, passed by a group of women sitting down in the mosque. He said to the salam with his hand and said, "Beware of the ingratitude of those with blessings. Beware of the ingratitude of those with blessings." One of them said, "We seek refuge with Prophet, Prophet of Allah, from ingratitude for the blessings of Allah." He said, "Yes. One of you women might have been without a husband for a long time (and then Allah provides her with one) and she becomes angry and says, 'By Allah, I have never seen a hour of good from you. That is ingratitude for the blessings of Allah. That is the ingratitude of those with blessings.'"

Asma', the daughter of Yazid al-Ansari, said, "The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, passed by me while I was with some young slavegirls belonging to me. He greeted us and said, 'Beware of the ingratitude of those with blessings.' I was the boldest of them in coming forward to question him and I said, 'Messenger of Allah, what is the ingratitude of those with blessings?' He replied, 'Perhaps one of them with remain unmarried for a long time with her parents and then Allah provides her with a husband and provides her with children from him and then she gets angry and is ungrateful and says, "I have never seen any good at all from you."'"

Chapter 43: Someone who dislikes to greet a particular person

Tariq said, "We were sitting with 'Abdullah when his doorkeeper came and said, 'The iqama for the prayer has been given.' He got up and we got up as well and went to the mosque. He saw the people doing ruku' at the front of the mosque. He said the takbir, bowed, and we went and did the same thing that he had done. Then a man rushed past and said, 'Peace be upon you, Abu 'Abdu'r-Rahman.' He said, 'Allah has spoken the truth and His Messenger conveyed the Message.' When we finished the prayer, he returned and went back to is people. We remained sitting in our places, waiting for him until he came out. We said to each other, 'Which of us will ask him?' Tariq said, 'I will ask him,' and he did so. 'Abdullah said, 'From the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, who said, "Before the Final Hour people will single out one individual for the greeting, commerce will increase until a woman helps her husband in business, people will sever their links with their relatives, knowledge will spread, false testimony will appear and true testimony will be concealed."'"

'Abdullah ibn 'Amr reported that a man asked the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, "Which is the best of Islam?" He replied, "Feeding people and giving the greeting to those you know and those you do not know."