2006, IV - The Muslim Sunrise

It is obligatory onevery Muslim to sayAssslamo Alaikum toanother Muslim and itis equally obligatoryon every Muslim torespond to thegreetings. It is alsoaccorded that nearestto God are those whoare first to sayAssalamo Alaikum.be sufficient to be considered as grouprepresentation. As, such, one personsaying Wa Alaikum us Salam, will beconsidered to represent the whole group.Anyone who is coming to joins gatheringshould be the first to say AssalamoAlaikum. Anyone who wishes to catchattention should say Assalamo Alaikum.On the telephone, it is a good practice tostart the conversation with AssalamoAlaikum.Instead of saying Hello, Hello, on thephone, it is good to say Assalamo Alaikumto get the attention of the other party.The Holy Prophet Muhammad sa , oncepassed by a group of youths, and was thefirst to say Assalamo Alaikum. Similarly,it is reported that while passing by ladies,he would say Assalamo Alaikum. Once theHoly Prophet was sitting among others,someone came and said AssalamoAlaikum. The Holy Prophet respondedand some one heard the Holy Prophetuttering the number ten. Then, anotherperson came to join the company and saidAssalamo Alaikum Wa Rahmat Ullah[…and His mercy]. The Holy Prophetresponded and then said “twenty.”Afterwards, another person came to jointhe company and said Assalamo AlaikumWa Rahmat Ullah Wa Barakata-hu […andHis blessings], The Holy Prophetresponded and said “thirty.” It is said thatthese numbers referred to the blessings theperson would receive, on the principle thata good deed gets a tenfold reward.Generally speaking, if someone saysAssalamo Alaikum (peace be on you), theresponse is: Wa Alaikum Assalam (peacebe on you too), if someone says AssalamoAlaikum Wa Rahmatullah (peace andAllah’s mercy be on you}, the response isWa Alaikum Assalam We Rahmatullah(peace and Allah’s mercy be on you too).Similarly, if some one says AssalamoAlaikurn Wa Rahmatullahe WaBarakatohu (peace end Allah’s mercy andHis blessings be on you), the response is,Wa Alaikum Assalam Wa RahmatullaheWa Barakatohu (peace and Allah’s mercyand His blessings be on you too).It is obligatory on every Muslim to sayAssslamo Alaikum to another Muslim andit is equally obligatory on every Muslimto respond to the greetings. It is alsoaccorded that nearest to God are thosewho are first to say Assalamo Alaikum.The companions of the Promised Messiahalways took the lead in saying AssalamoAlaikum whenever they met. It is reportedthat Hadhrat Maulwi Sher Ali, forinstance, would call Assalamo Alaikum toothers as soon as he reached withinhearing distance to them; thus he neverallowed to slip by any opportunity ofearning the promised blessings.The Companions of the Holy Prophetwere very keen to say Assalamo Alaikumand Wa Alaikum Assalam. In case theywere going together on a journey one ofthem got separated from others for a shortwhile, he would say Assalamo Alaikum onrejoining.The Muslims are a people who lovepeace. So if someone quartets and disputeswith them, they avoid the unpleasantnessby saying peace end leaving the scene. TheHoly Prophet once said, “Should I tell youone thing that you would start loving eachother? Make it your habit to say AssalamoAlaikum frequently among yourselves,”Once the Companions wanted to knowone good deed in Islam. It is recorded thatthe Holy Prophet told them to sayAssalamo Aiaikum frequently.It is said about the Promised Messiahthat he would affectionately look at aperson who said Assalamo Alaikum orresponded to this greeting. It is also knownthat The Promised Messiah wouldinvariably write Assalamo Alaikum whilewriting any letter. Once the PromisedMessiah asked some of his followerssitting together, to trace certain references.They got to work, and began sending himthe references on small slips of paper,beginning with Assalamo Alaikum, Oneof them forgot to write this greeting onone of his slips of paper. The PromisedMessiah reminded the person that heshould not have forgotten to writeAssalamo Alaikum, no matter hownumerous these slips became. ThePromised Messiah said that no matter howfrequently and how often you meet andaddress someone, you must say or writeAssalamo Alaikum.It is recorded that the PromisedMessiah fell sick and more than once hereceived the revelation ‘AssalamoAlaikum’ and he recovered soonafterwards. Tadhkirah [collection ofPromised Messiah’s revelations, dreams,etc.] records several revelations of thePromised Messiah which say ‘AssalamoAlaikum’, The Promised Messiah hasquoted verses by some poet which maybe rendered into English as: It is good thatI am humble. In that I say Salam toeveryone; If I were haughty and proud, Iwould have not reached Lord God.It is also refreshing to know thatHadhrat Khalifatul Masih III, while onEuropean tour, dispatched several timesa gift to the Community, and his gift wasAssalamo Alaikum.The Muslims, according to the HolyQur’an, also believe that Peace, Peacewill be the words heard in paradise. Islamis, therefore, the religion through whichone can find peace, not only in this world,but also in the Hereafter, The Muslims,therefore, should make it a habit tofrequently exchange the greetings ofAssalamo Alaikum.Peace and Allah’s mercy and Hisblessings be on you.Muslim Sunrise1974•Issue 1Dr. Qazi Barkatullah (1931-2006)obtained his B.A., B.Ed., and M.O.L(Master of Oriental Learning)degrees from the Punjab University,Lahore, Pakistan. He came to theUnited States and earned his M.S.and Ph. D. degrees from IndianaUniversity, Bloomington, and taughtfor 27 years in the EducationDepartment at Jackson University,TN. He wrote of several booksincluding Introduction to EducationalMeasurement and Evaluation(1971), Islam, the Religion ofMankind (1972), Jesus Son of Mary(1973), Education During MiddleAges Under the Muslims (1974), andThe Lady Mary (1975). He was amember of the editorial board of TheReview of Religions in 1984-1985.He passed away on October 4, 2006.36 MuslimSunrise