بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
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Allah the Almighty knows best.
🗒️Sharing some notes regarding the etiquettes of greeting with the salaam:
1🔷 It is a rewarding Sunnah and voluntary good deed to be the first one to say the salaam. The better of two Muslims is usually the first one to greet with the salaam.
2🔷 It is obligatory, waajib, mandatory to respond to a Muslim who specifically greets you with the salaam, regardless of whether you know them well or not. Even if you're not close friends with someone, it is a must to answer that person's greeting when they directly greet you with the salaam.
3🔷 If a person's salaam is not aimed at anybody specific, for example they typed the salaam in an online post or group chat or they're a lecturer saying the salaam to a large audience, it is enough/sufficient if even one Muslim responds to their salaam on behalf of the crowd or general public. Answering that Muslim's salaam is optional if they are greeting a big community and at least one person responded to them. It is still better though to be from the few who kindly and confidently return their salaams if you are not busy nor preoccupied with other tasks.
4🔷 It is from good manners for the following categories of individuals to be the ones to usually initiate/start greeting with the salaam:
1] The younger person to be the first to greet an older person
2] A person riding or driving a vehicle, or means of transportation, to be the first to say salaam to someone passing by them or whom they pass by
3] A person walking or jogging to be the first to greet with the salaam to a Muslim who is sitting
4] One person to be the first to greet two Muslims or a group of more than two Muslims, for example if one student or teacher arrives late to a classroom or meeting, it is from better manners for them to be the first one to greet with the salaam.
5🔷 Since initiating salaams is a rewarding and recommended Sunnah (not obligatory), there is no sin upon a Muslim who does not do the above on a regular basis either due to shyness, social anxiety or rushing and being in a hurry to complete certain tasks etc.
6🔷 While it is obligatory to respond to another Muslim's salaam, at least by returning the same greeting if one is too busy or too tired to respond with a much better greeting, there are some reasons why some individuals fail to answer our salaams at times:-
1. They didn't clearly hear us say the salaam.
2. They are actually ignorant of the proper etiquettes in Islam including the issue of exchanging salaams among Muslims.
3. They wrongly assume that they should answer only the salaams of Muslims whom they like, who belong to their sect or whom they are certain are Salafi Sunnis. This strange conduct is very foul and ignorant because we Muslims are also instructed by Allah the Almighty in the Noble Qur'an to return the greeting of anyone who greets us with the salaam and there is no specification of whether that greeting comes from a Muslim or non-Muslim. So even with non-Muslims or strangers whose religion hasn't been determined yet, we are supposed to answer their greetings rather than acting like silent dismal clowns or cowardly passive-aggressive mimes who speculate their ego is more important than doing the right thing and treating humans with basic decency.
7🔷 If you notice a number of individuals who may regard themselves as "religious" but they consistently ignore your salaams because you can sense they despise you due to extreme jealousy or an unresolved misunderstanding in the past, simply consider them as one of those shady people (of doubtful honesty) in your list to never trust, never depend on and never ask advice from due to how evidently unreliable, immature and unmannered they are. Unapologetically quit following ignoramuses on social media. Gladly take them as examples of how not to behave towards others. Don't let their ignorant acts prevent you from still greeting other Muslims with the salaam for Allah's sake whenever you can. Alhamdulillah we're not like them in being ignorant and obnoxious.
