Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allaah have mercy on him) was asked about the ruling on greeting non-Muslims. He replied as follows:

Greeting a non-Muslim first is haraam and is not permitted, because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said:“Do not initiate the greeting with the Jews and Christians, and if you meet them in the street push them towards the narrowest part of it.” But if they greet us we have to respond to them, because of the general meaning of the verse in which Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

“When you are greeted with a greeting, greet in return with what is better than it, or (at least) return it equally”

The Jews used to greet the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) by saying,“Al-saam ‘alaykum ya Muhammad (Death be upon you, O Muhammad),” praying that the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) would die. So the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said:“The Jews say ‘al-saam ‘alaykum (death be upon you),’ so if they greet you, then say,‘Wa ‘alaykum (and also upon you).’”

If a non-Muslim greets a Muslim by saying “al-saamu ‘alaykum,” then we should respond by saying “wa ‘alaykum (and also upon you).” The fact that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said “wa ‘alaykum” indicates that if they were saying “al-salaamu ‘alaykum (peace be upon you),” then peace will also be upon them, i.e., whatever they say to us, we say to them. Hence some of the scholars said that if a Jew, Christian or other non-Muslim clearly says “al-salaamu ‘alaykum,” it is permissible for us to say “‘alaykum al-salaam (upon you be peace).”

Similarly it is not permissible to initiate a greeting such as Ahlan wa sahlan (welcome) and the like, because that is a kind of honouring them. But if they say something like that to us, then we should say something similar to them, because the greeting should be returned in like manner and each person should be given his due. It is well known that the Muslims are higher in status before Allaah, so they should not humiliate themselves in front of non-Muslims by greeting them first.

So, in conclusion, it is not permissible for us to greet non-Muslims first, because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) forbade that, and because this is a humiliation for the Muslim when he starts to honour a non-Muslim. The Muslim is higher in status before Allaah, so he should not humiliate himself in this manner. But if we are greeted then we should return the greeting in similar terms.

Similarly it is not permissible for us to greet them first with words such as Ahlan wa sahlan (welcome), Marhaban (hello) and so on, because that is a kind of honouring them, so it is like initiating the greeting of salaams with them. Majmoo’ al-Fataawa, 3/33.

If there is a need to greet a kaafir first, there is no sin in that, but it should be something other than the greeting of salaam, such as saying Ahlan wa sahlan or How are you, etc. In that case the greeting is for a reason, not to honour him.

Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allaah have mercy on him) said in Zaad al-Ma’aad (2/424), concerning greeting a kaafir first:

A group of scholars said: It is permissible to greet him first if that serves a purpose, or for fear of his harm, or because of blood ties, or for a reason that requires that.

Yeah, next time I see something like that coming, I'll behave differently myself. Are you a female? They definitely treat women very differently. They're bullies.

I've seen a young Middle Eastern guy arrogantly cut in line at a grocery store to stand in front of an old American lady. (He didn't get away with it). I have noticed that when I dash into the corner store for my one vice, a pack of smokes that lasts me for at least three days, I notice that if I'm wearing a sleeveless shirt and/or it is too short to cover my rump in my jeans, they are cold and distant, sullen. On days I'm wearing long sleeves and a loose tunic-length top, they are civil and amiable.

Creeps. I buy my smokes somewhere else now, by the way. This thread is great -- now, when I do business with Middle Eastern folks in my own work as a kind of contractor, whether or not they greet me first will tell me quite a lot.

It is hard to have a separation of church and state when a foreign theocratic state is funding the establishment of Islamic training centers in our nation.

Saudi funded mosques should not be elligible for tax breaks.

Add to it that the Saudis who are expanding the practice of Islam around the world do not permit non-Islamic faiths to be practiced in Saudi Arabia, do not permit non-muslims to enter the cities of Mecca and Medina (under penalty of death), and do not permit Jews to even enter into the country.

When the so called moderate muslims speak out against apartheid in Saudi Arabia, I’ll believe that they oppose the Islamic Supremacist movement. Until then, their intolerant political ideology is undeserving of any more tolerance than Nazism.

From yesterday's Daily Telegraph (UK):

Praising Allah is a full-time job in Tunis

By Rosemary Behan

Last Updated: 12:01am BST 01/08/2007

I have been living in Tunis, the Arab world's most "progressive" capital, for almost a month. Amid disturbing notions of a clash of civilisations, I have come to learn Arabic in a city where the call to prayer alternates with the gyrating sound of Shakira. I am not alone: the war on terror has fostered a new fascination with Arabic, which isn't as hard as people like to think.

It's a phonetic language, so once you have mastered the alphabet and vowel system, street signs, advertisements and even television subtitles unfold like magic. It's a joy, when travelling in the Middle East and North Africa, to be able to move beyond shukran (thank you) and salaam aleikum (peace be upon you). That last notion, one feels, is wearing slightly thin anyway - even with Tony Blair as Middle East peace envoy.

In conversation, the first thing you notice is the amount of time even the most secular Arabic speaker spends thanking God. They praise Allah so often it's a wonder there's time to do anything else. After almost every single task, whether it's finishing a meal, having a drink of water, completing a project at work, running an errand, talking about the future or simply exchanging pleasantries, it's alhamdulilah, inshallah or bismillah. People never seem to get tired of it.

Some things, of course, are difficult. There are a few unfamiliar sounds, it has a very complex system of grammar, and numbers that seem to go on for ever. Yet all this can be learnt, and, when they are broken down, many words and sentences sound positively European.

There are many English words of direct Arabic origin. Admiral comes from the amiral, "ruler of the sea", alcohol from al-kuhul (a mixture of powdered antimony), elixir from al-iksir, sugar from sukkar, sofa (sofaa), cotton (qutun), almanac (al-manakh) and so on. The influence runs the other way, too. We have bequeathed modern gems such as tilifizyuun and intanet kafay.

Confusion between dialects adds to the fun. Here, a tabuna is a small bread roll; in Morocco, it's a discreet part of the female body. In Tunisia, a maarass is a married man, while in Egypt it means homosexual - an unfortunate or convenient discrepancy.

Far more challenging than any language barrier is a disappointingly widespread lack of understanding and respect for women - Western women in particular. Foreigners are targets for the unsavoury attention of men who have made preying on the isolation of female travellers a national sport.

Because we exist outside the social tradition, we are seen as fair game. In between bouts of coffee-drinking, far too many men spend all day irritating, groping and generally offending. Even modestly dressed Western women find it almost impossible to walk down the street without being approached by deluded men who think that their chat-up lines are original and that we really want to sleep with them.

Despite the best efforts of Habib Bourgiba - the liberal lawyer who became Tunisia's first president - to modernise the country by banning the hijab and improving the legal status of women, one cannot avoid being propositioned.

I've learnt to tune out the barrage of sexual references that come at me in English, French, German and Italian. I am frequently referred to as "gazelle" and have been followed on the street for hours by boys as young as 12. Even when swimming in the sea, we were chased by a crowd of horny windsurfers.

This harassment is enough to turn ordinary women into raging feminists. Tunisian women can strut around in jeans and tight T-shirts and not attract a single word of attention, while Western women dressed in long sleeves, baggy trousers and sunglasses are seen as fair game. I look like a walking Bedouin encampment - and I have still had 20 offers of marriage.

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