سورة المجادلة

Ali ibn Ibrahim (may Allah have mercy on him): When they came to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family), they used to say: "Have a good morning and have a good evening." And this was the greeting of the people of Jahiliyyah. So Allah the Mighty and Majestic revealed this verse: وَ إِذا جاؤُکَ حَیَّوْکَ بِما لَمْ یُحَیِّکَ بِهِ اللهُ [And when they come to you they greet you with a greeting with which Allah does not greet you]. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) said to them: "Now a better greeting than that has been given to us; the greeting of the people of Paradise: al-Salamu alaykum."

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family): The Jews came to the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) and said: "Sam upon you." And sam in their language means death. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) said: "And upon you." So Allah the Exalted revealed: وَ إِذا جاؤُکَ حَیَّوْکَ بِما لَمْ یُحَیِّکَ بِهِ اللهُ وَ یَقُولُونَ فی أَنْفُسِهِمْ لَوْ لا یُعَذِّبُنَا اللهُ بِما نَقُولُ حَسْبُهُمْ جَهَنَّمُ یَصْلَوْنَها فَبِئْسَ المَصیرُ [And when they come to you they greet you with a greeting with which Allah does not greet you, and they say in themselves: Why does not Allah punish us for what we say? Hell is enough for them; they shall enter it, and evil is the resort].

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): A Jew came in upon the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) while his wife Aisha was in the house. The Jew said: "al-Sam alaykum." The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) replied: "Alaykum." Another Jew came and greeted with the same phrase, and the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) answered with the same reply. A third Jew entered and again greeted in the same manner, and the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) answered him as he had the first time. Aisha became angry and said: "al-Sam be upon you yourselves, and the curse and wrath of Allah, O Jews! O brethren of apes and pigs!" The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) said to Aisha: "O Aisha! If obscenity and abuse were to be embodied, an ugly and hideous figure would be made. If gentleness and mildness are added to anything they become an adornment for it, and if gentleness and mildness are taken away from anything they become a source of ugliness and disgrace for it." Aisha said: "O Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family)! Did you not hear that they say 'al-Sam alaykum; pain upon you'?" The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) said: "Yes, I heard. And did you not hear that I said in reply to them: 'Upon yourselves'? By the demand of this sunnah: whenever a Muslim greets you with salam, reply to him: al-Salamu alaykum. And whenever a disbeliever greets you with salam, reply to him: alayka."

Ibn Abbas (may Allah have mercy on him): The verse أَ لَمْ تَرَ إِلَی الَّذینَ نُهُوا عَنِ النَّجْوی [Have you not seen those who are forbidden secret counsels] was revealed concerning the Jews and hypocrites who used to confer secretly among themselves in the absence of the believers, and would glance at the believers so that they would not notice them. But when the believers noticed their whispered conversations, they [the Jews and hypocrites] would say: "We were talking about our friends and acquaintances who took part in the battles and were martyred, or wounded, or defeated and fled." With these words the believers too would become saddened [and their hearts would ache for the martyrs and the wounded] and would let them be [and would not be suspicious of them]. This affair went on for a long time and they continued in this state, until the believers took this complaint to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family), and he commanded: "No Muslim shall confer secretly (whispering in the ear) with another." But those hypocrites and Jews did not desist from their conduct and returned to their secret conferrings, whereupon this verse was revealed.