Al-Adab Al-Mufrad
Al-Adab Al-Mufrad 1101
حَدَّثَنَا يَحْيَى بْنُ بِشْرٍ، قَالَ: حَدَّثَنَا الْحَكَمُ بْنُ الْمُبَارَكِ، قَالَ: حَدَّثَنَا عَبَّادٌ يَعْنِي ابْنَ عَبَّادٍ، عَنْ عَاصِمٍ الأَحْوَلِ، عَنْ أَبِي عُثْمَانَ النَّهْدِيِّ قَالَ: كَتَبَ أَبُو مُوسَى إِلَى رُهْبَانٍ يُسَلِّمُ عَلَيْهِ فِي كِتَابِهِ، فَقِيلَ لَهُ: أَتُسَلِّمُ عَلَيْهِ وَهُوَ كَافِرٌ؟ قَالَ: إِنَّهُ كَتَبَ إِلَيَّ فَسَلَّمَ عَلَيَّ، فَرَدَدْتُ عَلَيْهِ.
Unreviewed translation. All hadiths in this collection are available in five languages. Titles and introductions may remain in Arabic.
Abu Uthman al-Nahdi said: Abu Musa wrote to some monks and included a greeting in his letter. He was asked, “Do you greet them when they are unbelievers?” He replied, “They wrote to me and greeted me, so I returned their greeting.”
Notes and open questions — unreviewed
The Arabic says رُهْبَانٍ, “monks”; it does not identify them as Persian officials.
إِلَى رُهْبَانٍ
The Arabic says monks, not a Persian grandee.
Should the recipient be corrected to monks?