My name is Michael, i am 24 years old and from Germany. While beeing atheist myself, i have a muslim penpal in the US. He is incarcerated, but nonetheless he is the Imam in prison.
In his last letter, he asked me to try to find out the answer to a question of his.
Here is his text, directly quoted:
"As Salaamu Alaikum wa rahmatullah!
As far as the manner of greeting goes, one of the things that's seen more frequently amongst many Muslim communities these days is, Muslims raising the index finger to one another. Some say it's an indication of them confirming their belief of "1 God", while others say its a "nonverbal communication" form of greeting one another when there's a significant amount of space between them--eliminating them having to shout out their greetings; For whatever the reason given from person to person, My question is: Is the raising of the index finger to each other a "Halal" practice in Islam? And be it is or isn't, on what basis is the conclusion found? Ahadhith? Sunnah? Good innovation? Fatwa? SALAAM!"
I wouldbe very delighted, if you could help me out.If this is the wrong forum, or i made any other mistake with my first post on this board, let me know.
Best wishes
Michael
I am a from Indonesia, a Muslim majority country. Muslims in my place always greet each other when meet, but never by raising index finger. We use other ways that can be varies. I have found Muslims who raising index finger when taking pose for photograph, but never heard about raising index finger as greeting when meet other people.
I second brother ardianto. Of course Muslim do raise their index finger whilst saying the shahadah in prayer, and sometimes at other times as a sign of affirming their 'tawhid' (the oneness of God).
But I've never seen or heard of it used as a greeting.
I agree with those above, I haven't seen this being practiced and I live in North America. It might be one of those new "hip" or "cool" things the youth came up with?
Thank you very much for you quick answers. You are affirming, what i found in my quick google research. Thats very helpful indeed!
Additionally, what would be very helpful for my friend in the US, is to find some kind of text within the Quaran, on which he can base his teachings for his community. Especially concerning the part, whether or not raising the index finger is to be considered Halal or not. Are you aware of something like that? A text, that is dealing with this practice?
Islamic Etiquette of greeting each other is saying Assalamualaikum. The rest is just custom that can be varied such as raise one hand, two hands, open the hands then hug, or just nod and smile. Muslims may innovate their own way of greeting as long as polite and not imitate the act of worship.
Is halal (permissible) to greet by raising the index finger?. Yes. However, this is not something that must or Islamicaly obligated. This is just permissible innovation.
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Raising the Index Finger - halal?
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