As-salamu alaykum is an Arabic-origin greeting. Its response is wa-ʿalaykumu s-salām. It is a Muslim religious salutation, though its use predates Islam and is common among non-Muslim speakers of Arabic or Arabic-influenced languages. In colloquial speech, the shortened form is often used to greet a person in Arabic and other languages. The phrase can be expanded to .
The use of salām as an Arabic greeting dates at least to Laqit bin Yamar al-Ayadi (6th century),Laqit's date is uncertain and contested by other sources. He uses salām according to Van Arendonk and other scholars; see, however, and cognates in older Semitic languages—Aramaic () and Hebrew ( )—can be traced back to the Old Testament period. In the Quranic period, one repeated as-salamu alaykum, but the inverted response is attested in Arabic not long after its appearance in Hebrew.
Grammatical variants The expression commonly uses the second person plural masculine, even when used to address one person and non-males. It may be modified by choosing the appropriate enclitic pronoun.
Gender Greeting ResponseSingularMasculine SingularFeminine DualUnisex PluralMasculine PluralFeminine
A third-person variant, ʿalayhi as-salām, , is often used by Muslims for prophets and other holy personalities, such as angels.
In Islam
According to Islamic tradition, the origin of the greeting "Peace be upon you" dates back to the first human, Adam:
As recorded in Sahih Muslim and Sahih al-Bukhari, Abu Huraira reported: 'The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said, "Allah said: Go and greet with peace these groups of assembled angels and listen to how they greet you, for this will be the greeting among your progeny. Adam said: Peace be upon you. The angels said: Peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah. Thus, they added the mercy of Allah."Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 5873, Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2841
The final Prophet said, "None of you will enter paradise until you believe and you will not believe until you love one another. Shall I not tell you about something which, if you do it, you will love one another? Spread amongst yourselves."'[Muslim (54), Aḥmad (2/391), and al-Tirmidhī (2513) narrated from Abū Hurairah]
It is also stated that one should give the Salam greeting upon entering a house. This is based upon a verse of the Quran:
The phrase appears a total of 7 times in the Quran, each time as salāmun ʿalaykum (). In Classical Arabic, used in the Qur'an and early Hadith manuscripts, the phrase is spelled as . In Rasm, it is written as .
Other variants, such as salamun ʿalā (), or the term salam () alone is also mentioned in several other Ayahs of the Qur'an.
Usage by non-Arabic speakers
Cognate Semitic language parallels include the Aramaic/Classical Syriac šlāmā ʿalḵōn (ܫܠܵܡܵܐ ܥܲܠܟ݂ܘܿܢ), and the Hebrew Shalom aleichem ( shālôm ʻalêḵem). Maltese inherited is-sliem għalikom from Arabic. In Albania and Kosovo a diminutive form in the Albanian language, Selamun Alejkem or Selamun Alejqum, is rarely used, the 'q' being a voiceless palatal stop typical of Balkan Turkish and Thracian Turkish phonology. In Bangladesh, Assalamu alaikum () is the most common Muslim greeting. Some Muslims greet their elders with these words whilst raising their right hand to the forehead. The older generation of South Asian Christians in the northern Indian subcontinent speak Hindustani and use the word salám when greeting one another.
See also
Notes
References
External links
A brief illustrated guide to understanding Islam How to pronounce As salamu alaykum in Arabic How To Pronounce Assalamualaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh in Arabic How to pronounce Walaikum Assalam in Arabic