ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books The Torch of Perpetual Guidance, an Exposé on Ziyarat Ashura of al-Imam al-Husayn b.

As we know, each culture greets in their own specific manner. The manner of those in the “West” is that of shaking hands; the far East cultures greet one another by slightly bending at the waist; yet others would remove their hat or at least tip the rim of the hat to greet another person. One of the traditions of the Arabs was to say “May Allah keep you alive”, however with the dawn of Islam, the greeting, as the Qur’an itself mentions is the saying of “As-Salam Alaikum” or “Peace be upon you”.

The true meaning of “As-Salam Alaikum” is not a mere “Hi”, “Hello”, “How are you” as we are accustomed to using today – it has a much deeper meaning than just a standard greeting. In actuality, there are three meanings for this greeting: As-Salam, as we know, is one of the names of Allah.

Thus, when we say “As-Salam Alaikum” we are actually saying that may the trait of Allah (as-Salam or peace and tranquility) be upon you and may He protect you; As-Salam is also in the meaning of submission or surrender. Thus, when we say “As-Salam Alaikum” we are actually saying that we submit to what you would like for us to do (obviously within the limits of the Shariah.); As-Salam is also in the meaning of protection or safety.

Thus in this meaning, when we greet another believer with “As-Salam Alaikum” we are actually guaranteeing our believing brother or sister protection from any evil from ourselves and that we will not do a single thing to harm them – either physically or even spiritually. Not only would we not harm them with our hands, but we will also not cause them grief with our tongue...