[Ruling on Initiating Salām for Oppressors and Open Sinners, or Responding to Them]

The answer, and success is from Allah: “As-salāmu ʿalaykum” in meaning is a supplication for the one greeted that he be granted general mercy in this world and the Hereafter.
And the proof that what is meant is general mercy in this world and the Hereafter is His – the Exalted – saying: “And peace be upon him the day he was born and the day he dies and the day he is raised alive.” [Maryam:15] and (the words in the prayer): “Peace be upon us and upon the righteous servants of Allah.”
And the scholars have said: It is not permissible to supplicate for the enemies of Allah – the Exalted – with good of the Hereafter. They inferred this from what has come in the Qur’an of the prohibition of seeking forgiveness for the polytheists. He – the Exalted – said: “It is not for the Prophet and those who have believed to ask forgiveness for the polytheists, even if they were relatives, after it has become clear to them that they are companions of Hellfire.” [al-Tawbah:113]
- So, based upon what we have presented, it is not permissible for a believer to supplicate for an oppressor or a sinner with forgiveness, mercy, salām, or any other form of Allah’s good and reward in the Hereafter.
- You should know – even though the matter is as we have mentioned – that the phrase “as-salāmu ʿalaykum” in our time is not intended as a supplication for the one greeted. The one initiating salām does not intend it, think of it, or mean it. And the one greeted and the listener do not understand supplication from this phrase, nor does it give the impression or cause any assumption that the one greeted is among the righteous.
- Therefore, I hope that there is no sin and no objection upon the one who initiates salām to criminals, as long as the situation is as we have described.
- And what clarifies for you what we have said is that the oppressor or sinner or similar person, if his name is Ṣāliḥ (Righteous) or something like that among praiseworthy names, he is called by saying: “O Ṣāliḥ, O Fāʾiz (Successful), O Mufliḥ (Prosperous), O Zayn al-ʿĀbidīn, O Walīyullāh, O Muḥsin (Doer of good), O Muʾmin (Believer), O Zakī (Pure), O Taqī (Pious)...” and so on, without Muslims finding this strange among themselves and without any disagreement between them. And that is only because the caller does not intend the meaning nor desire it, and the literal meaning does not occur to the mind of the one called nor the listener, and there is no suggestion or presumption there of the linguistic meaning of those names.
- This, then, is one reason for the permissibility of initiating salām to a criminal and a sinner. But that permissibility is conditioned by conditions, namely:
1. That there be nothing in giving salām to the sinner that would comfort him in what he is upon of sin and oppression, such that he would feel in himself, because of the salām given to him, that his sin is minor, and that his sinfulness has not diminished his standing with the believers, and that by his sin he has not exited, in their view, from the circle of honour and esteem. In that case he would become tranquil, because of this, in committing sin, take the matter of sins lightly, and increase in them with ferocity.
2. That the salām to the sinner be free of any form of veneration. So it is not permissible to go specially to the sinner’s house or his gathering-place or location just in order to give him salām, nor to accompany it with anything indicating veneration, such as bowing.
3. That there be a need calling for giving salām to the sinner. Examples of such a need include:
a) Seeking safety from his harm.
b) That good character and modesty call for it.
c) Fear of being accused of arrogance or of belittling people.
- Yes, it may be permissible to visit the sinner in his home, in order to repay him in kind for his action, or because he is a relative, or a neighbour, or because he has done good to you or to some of your relatives, or to your friend, or to the scholars, or to the students of knowledge, or because he defends a believer, or the like of such acts of goodness. In these cases it is permissible to visit him in his home and give him salām for that reason.
- Likewise, it is permissible to visit him for the sake of reforming him or reforming those around him, and so on.
- Once you know that initiating salām to the sinner and the oppressor is permissible according to what we have mentioned, then you know that returning the salām (to them) is even more permissible.

Source: Min Thimār al-ʿIlm wa al-Ḥikmah vol.2