Greet With A Better Greeting
[Go out for war] and if salam [is said by any person], [32] you also reply by saying salam in a better way or in the same way [and do not oppress anyone] because God indeed will take account of everything . [33] (4:86) (Quranic Exegesis: Javed Ahmed Ghamidi) (Translated by Dr. Shehzad Saleem) __________________________ [32] The Quranic words used are: وَإِذَا حُيِّيْتُم بِتَحِيَّةٍ. Imām Amīn Ahsan Islāhī has explained them. He writes: The real meaning of حَيَّاهُ تَحِيَّةٍ is to pray for someone’s life. The supplicative expression حَيَّاكَ اللهُ originates from them. It means: “May God prolong your life.” Since the word salām and other supplicative words of similar meaning have this connotation or are close to it, they are included in the general meaning of تَحِيَّةٍ. (Amīn Ahsan Islāhī, Tadabbur-i Qur’ān, vol. 2, 356) [33] Since this war campaign was being launched to help the oppressed Muslims who were under the hold and sway of the rejecters, the attacking Muslims were directed to regard their saying salam to be a sign of their Islam; they were to accept this salutation and respond to it in a better manner; their faith could be investigated later. At that time, it was more important that a sincere Muslim should not be killed by them.