Taking Pride in As-Salam
A greeting is a form of establishing a friendly relationship with a stranger or a person that we know. It differs from one culture to another based on the language used. However, because English is used universally, we tend to forget our own form of greeting. It is okay to adopt some practices from another culture, but we should not simply ignore the roots that we have spread. Doris Lessing once heard a Chinese family singing “Happy Birthday.” She thought it was weird because they should have their own happy birthday song. She also said every dominant society in the world — whether it’s French or British or American — imposes its culture on less-developed societies. Based on this we know that Lessing is against cultural imperialism.
I’m not condemning other forms of greeting like “Hi,” “Hello,” or “Nihao,” but I wish to introduce to the world how Muslims greet each other; this can be emulated by other societies as well because the phrase exists in other languages. When I was a buddy for a few Aussies who came for a social mobility program, one of them said “Assalamualaik” to me and I was surprised to my core. Not the scared type of surprise but the glad type because a non-Muslim from a Muslim minority country actually knows about our form of greeting. The greeting “Assalamualaikum” literally means ‘Peace be upon you (plural).’ By saying this we are wishing for the other party’s peace, spreading peace to the other party.
Muslim scholars were conflicted if a Muslim should reply to a non-Muslim’s salam but majority of them agreed that we must reply with “Waalaikumussalam.” In my opinion (though I’m not a scholar, yet) we should let everyone use this term regardless of religion, race, and ethnicity. However, the intention must be pure and good, which is to greet and not to make fun and patronize so that Islam in the 21st century promotes inclusivism to a certain extent. I feel like most of us (Muslims) are becoming like the colonizing Europeans in the 18th-20th century, promoting Islam as a superior religion instead of the true religion.
But most importantly, as Muslims, it is better if we spread more salam to our Muslim brethren rather than saying hi or hello to them. In the Malay culture, sometimes the salam is being misused as a sarcastic remark with a snarky tone. This scenario can be described when someone (a Muslim) says hi to another and he/she (a Muslim) replies with “Assalamualaikum” in a sarcastic tone and rolls their eyes. It is crucial for us Muslims to give salam to other Muslims as a form of greeting because it is our religious culture and we will be awarded for it.
