The Holy Qur`an says: هُوَ اللَّهُ الَّذِي لا إِلهَ إِلا هُوَ الْمَلِكُ الْقُدُّوسُ السَّلامُ الْمُؤْمِنُ الْمُهَيْمِنُ... He is Allah, other than Whom there is no God, the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One, the Peace [Free from every kind of imperfection], the Securer, the Guardian...(59:23) Commenting on the Divine Name al-Salam , ‘Allama al-Tabataba`i in his Tafsir al-Mizan says: وَالسَّلاَمُ مِنْ أَسْمَائِهِ تَعَالَى لأَنَّ ذَاتَهُ الْمُتَعَالِيَةَ نَفْسُ الْخَيْرِ الَّذِيْ لاَ شَرَّ فِيْهِ...
And al-Salam is among His Names, for His Exalted Essence is sheer goodness wherein there is no evil...[^4] And in a tradition, Hadhrat Fatima al-Zahra’ (AS) referring to this kind of salam says: إنَّ اللهَ هُوَ السَّلاَمُ، وَمِنْهُ السّلاَمُ، وَإِلَيْهِ السّلاَم .
Surely only Allah is the Absolute Peace and from Him alone comes peace and unto Him alone returns peace[^5] The Holy Prophet (S) is reported to have once informed Hadhrat Khadija (AS) that Gabriel was nearby and he sent his salams to her. Thereupon she said: اَللهُ السّلاَمُ وَلِلّهِ السَّلاَمُ وَعَلىَ جِبْرَائِيل السَّلاَمُ .
Allah is the Absolute Peace, and to Him alone belongs peace and upon Gabriel be peace.[^6] And since the Absolute Peace loves us, He always invites us to His abode of peace: وَاللَّهُ يَدْعُو إِلى دارِ السَّلامِ And Allah invites to the abode of peace...(10:24) The indefinite verb yad’u in the above verse confers the sense of continuity, which means that Allah constantly invites us towards His abode of peace, which is Paradise.
Some commentators however confer a subtler interpretation, and say that Allah is al-Salam , which means that He is free from every kind of imperfection whatsoever. And when He invites us to Dar al-Salam , He calls us to the state of freedom from every kind of imperfection whatsoever. His call will remain constant, for the stages of salam have no end.
In his commentary on the above verse, al-Bahrani narrates the following tradition: عَنِ الْعَلاَء ا بْن عَبْدِ الْكَرِيْمِ، قَالَ: سَمِعْتُ أَبَا جَعْفَريَقُوْلُ فِيْ قَوْلِ اللهِ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ: وَاللَّهُ يَدْعُوا إِلىَ دارِ السَّلامِ، فَقَالَ: إِنَّ السَّلاَمَ، هُوَ اللهُ عَز وَجَلَّ، وَدَارُهُ الَّتِي خَلَقَهَا لأَوْلِيَائِهِ اَلْجَنَّةُ.