Question: I know we should not initiate greetings with non-Muslims since the prophet (peace be upon him) said “Do not initiate the greetings with the Jews and Christians." The problem is I encounter non-Muslims at my job and do not know how to be courteous to them with this prohibition upon me. What can I do?

Answered by Sheikh Ahmad al-Rashîd

To start with, our Prophet (peace be upon him) never said we could not initiate greetings with non-Muslims. He said: “Do not initiate the salutation of ‘salâm’ with the People of the Book." [Sahîh Muslim].

The People of the Book are the Christian and Jews, but this hadîth applies to all non-Muslims. This hadîth forbids us from saluting non-Muslims with the particular greeting of “salâm” before they greet us with it, but it certainly does not forbid us from using other types of salutations such as “Hello”, “Hi”, “Good morning”, “Good evening”, “How are you” and the like. Therefore, it is perfectly alright for a Muslim who works with non-Muslims or resides in their countries to initiate these kinds of salutation with them.

Moreover, it is worth poining out that some scholars have permitted initiating the greeting of “salâm” with non-Muslims in special cases. Ibn al-Qayyim said: “Some scholars allowed us to greet the unbelievers with this salutation for some reasons; such as being in need of them, in fear them, or simply on account of having a good relationship with one of them or any other good reason.” [Zâd al-Ma`âd (2/425)]

And Allah knows best.