Salam

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Salām ( Arabic سلام, DMG salām  , well-being, integrity, health, salvation, well-being; Peace; Greeting ') is one of the Arabic words for peace (also salvation ). At the same time, it is a common greeting in the Arabic language context (complete:السلام عليكم as-salāmu ʿalaikum ' peace be upon you !, peace be with you!').

The term salam had religious connotations early on, in the sense of peace with God . Another word for peace in Arabic is silm and salm . Both terms are based on the Semitic root s-lm , as well as the Hebrew word שָׁלוֹם shalom , the Aramaic equivalent שְׁלָמָא or ܫܠܡܐ šlama (or Šlomo ) and the name of the religion Islam . Names like Salomon / Sulaiman , Salīm , Sālim , Sulaim , Sulamith etc. go back to the same root.

Salam and Islam

The idea of ​​surrender resonates in salām , i.e. H. Peace in the sense of "submission". The term islām , also derived from the consonant stock slm as a noun, denotes the religion Islam in its originally understood meaning as the "devotion to God". The underlying verb aslama means: "He gave himself up, surrendered himself, submitted (to God)". Thus, both the verb aslama and the nominal formation islam express the relationship (devotion / submission) between man and one (single) god. In terms of content, the term “Islam” expresses the unconditional turn to monotheism.

A Begriff -Ṭabarī explains the term Islam in his Qur'an commentary on sura 5 , 3: "... and I am satisfied that you have Islam as a religion" ( wa-raḍītu la-kumu l-islāma dīnan ) as follows: God 'Praised be he means:' I am satisfied that you have submitted to my command ( al-istislām li-amrī ) and submitted to my obedience ( al-inqiyād li-ṭāʿatī ), as I do to you in the doctrine of duty and instructions as religion prescribed by law; ' ie as your obedience to me. "

This understanding of the Koranic term “islām” is already documented in the early Koran exegesis . The exegete Muqātil ibn Sulaiman († 767 in Basra ) explains the term “Muslims” with the words: “They are loyal to monotheism.” And he paraphrases the verb “aslamtu” (I have accepted Islam) with the words: “ that means: I am loyally devoted ”(aḫlaṣtu).

In several letters that Mohammed addressed to the Arab tribes of the Arabian Peninsula , the request is: “Accept Islam / Var. submit to (the only) God ( aslim! - imperative of aslama ), and you will be unharmed ( taslam ) ”.

The word salām occurs forty-two times in the Quran . In sura 59 , God is also characterized with this word within a list of God's names :

“He is God, besides whom there is no God. (He is) the most holy King, (in whom) salvation (dwells). (It is he) who gives security and certainty (?), The mighty, mighty and proud. God be praised! (He is exalted) above what they (ie the unbelievers) associate with (him in other gods). "

- Koran 59:23 : Translation by Rudi Paret

That's how it belongs السّلام as-Salam on the 99 names of Allah .

Most of the time, however, the word salam appears in the Koran as a greeting in the original meaning of salvation , for example in sura 56 , 91, where at the Last Judgment the people on the right hand side are received with the words: Heil dir! You belong (yes) to those on the right. Likewise, Ibrāhīm says goodbye to his father, who threatens him, in Sura 19:47 with the words: Hail be upon you! I will ask forgiveness of my Lord for you. Also Salām in Sura 97 , 5, was (of Johannes Hendrik Kramer translated at the time of the Second World War) and "salvation".

Salām as a greeting

Salām becomes in the Arabic formula:السلام عليكم as-salāmu ʿalaikum ' Peace be upon you!' used as a traditional greeting among Muslims around the world. The usual answer to that isوعليكم السلام wa-ʿalaikumu s-salām 'And peace upon you!'.

Both the Sunnah of the Prophet Mohammed and the legal documents that regulate contact with non-Muslims clearly state that the greeting is used exclusively among Muslims. In a hadith the Prophet is allowed to say: "When the owners of the scriptures greet you ( sallama ʿalaikum ahlu l-kitāb ), then reply: (wa) -ʿalaikum " - d. H. the word salām was not used as a wish in a form of greeting to a non-Muslim .

According to Islamic hadeeth, a Jew greeted Mohammed in the presence of Aisha with an as-sāmu ʿalaikum (instead of as-salāmu ʿalaikum ) - the word sām meaning "quick death". According to the hadith, the Prophet said that in such a case one should use (وعليكم) should answer - ie "and also to you".

The Qur'anic invitation, sura 4, verse 86:

“And when you are greeted with a greeting, greet it back with a more beautiful one or return it in the same way in which it was given to you! God accounts for everything. "

limited the Koran exegesis only to the dealings of Muslims with one another and understands by the more beautiful the addition of the greeting with “and God's mercy” ( wa-raḥmatu llāhi ). In the greeting reply often also: "And on you (be) peace and God's mercy and his blessings": wa-ʿalaikumu s-salām wa-raḥmatu ʾllāhi wa-barakātuhu  /وعليكم السلام ورحمة الله وبركاته

Nonetheless, it is permissible for a non-Muslim to greet a Muslim with as-salāmu ʿalaikum , and also for that person, knowing that the other is not a Muslim, to return the greeting in the appropriate manner. It was customary to avoid the greeting of peace with the term salam . In the 14th century, adh-Dhahabī still recommended replying to the greeting of Jews and Christians as follows: "May God increase your wealth and the number of your children."

However, Muslims should not imitate the welcoming customs of Jews and Christians; for the former greet with the lifting of a finger, the latter by the lifting of the hand. According to an alleged saying of the prophet, this custom is to be omitted: "Greet neither with the greeting of the Jews nor with that of the Christians ..." Also the handshake with a dhimmī, a person under protection, should be omitted, because they are unbelievers (kuffār). Mālik ibn Anas is said to have held the handshake with a dhimmī to be permissible in his missive addressed to Hārūn ar-Raschīd (risāla), the authenticity of which is doubted by as-Suyūtī († 1505).

In official or personal letters to non-Muslims, the phrase “God's peace be upon you” ( salāmu llāhi ʿalayka / ʿalaykum ), which is common among Muslims, should be avoided. Rather, one should use the phrase: "Peace be upon him who follows the true religion / the right path" ( as-salāmu ʿalā man ittabaʿa l-hudā ). In papyrology , this formulation is evidence that in Islamic papyrus documents from the late 7th century and later, the addressees were not Muslims. This formulation also appears at the beginning of the letter in an alleged letter from Muhammad to the Coptic Patriarch Muqauqis. This letter on parchment was found by the Egyptologist Étienne Barthélemy in an Upper Egyptian monastery in 1852 and published by M. Belin in the magazine Asian Asian (1854) with a photograph of the original. However, the letter is a forgery.

To the present day there is an Islamic norm that a Muslim should not be the first to greet a non-Muslim; Here, in contemporary legal opinions, one cites a corresponding saying traced back to Mohammed, which is recorded in the canonical collections of traditions . For example, according to a code of conduct for Muslims when dealing with non-Muslims: "With regard to the salam (greeting), the Muslim does not begin the greeting, but he can return it because he said (salla-llahu alayhi wa sallam) : {لَا تَبْدَءُوا الْيَهُودَ وَلَا النَّصَارَى بِالسَّلَامِ} “Do not begin with Salaam's greeting to the Jews and Christians.” (Sahih Muslim, As-Salam 2167; Sunan At-Tirmidhy, 2700) And he (salla-llahu alayhi wa sallam) said: {إِذَا سَلَّمَ عَلَيْكُمْ أَهْلُ الْكِتَابِ فَقُولُابِ ِولُوا, says to you فَقُولُوا: وَعَلَيْكُم, وعَلَيْكُم geben says to you : 'Wa' alaykum. '”(Saheeh Al-Bukhary, 6258; Saheeh Muslim, As-Salam 2163; Sunan At-Tirmidhy, Tafsir Al-Qur'an, 3301; Sunan Abu Dawud, Al-Adab, 5207; Sunan ibn Majah, Al-Adab, 3697; Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Musnad, 3/218) That is why the Muslim does not begin the (peace) greeting to a Kaafir, but when the Kaafir begins it and when the Jew or Christian greets you with the Salaam then you should answer “wa 'alaykum” as the Prophet (salla-llahu alayhi wa sallam) said. "

The oriental Christians and atheists also use the formula "as-salāmu ʿalaikum" - in the reply accordingly: "wa-ʿalaikumu s-salām", regardless of the religious affiliation of the counterpart.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ^ AJ Wensinck and Johannes H. Kramers: Short dictionary of Islam . Nrill, Leiden 1941. pp. 634-635
  2. ↑ DZ Baneth: What did Muhammad mean when he called his religion Islām? The original meaning of Aslama and its derivatives. In: Israel Oriental Studies. Volume 1, 1971, p. 184: "The fundamental change required by Muḥammad was the abandonment of polytheism, to serve one god only, the same god which they had already previously known under the name of Allah. Does not the idea suggest itself to seek this very meaning of adopting monotheism in the word aslama, islām ? "
  3. ↑ Ǧāmiʿ al-bayān ʿan taʾwīl āy al-Qurʾān . Volume 6, p. 81; to sura 5, verse 3
  4. ^ Fuat Sezgin: History of Arabic literature. Volume 1. pp. 36-37. Brill. Leiden 1967
  5. ↑ For further evidence see MJ Kister: Labbayka, Allāhumma, Labbayka ... On an monotheistic aspect of a Jāhiliyya practice. In: Jerusalem Studies in Arabic an Islam. Volume 2 (1980), pp. 39-40 and note 41
  6. ↑ Muḥammad Ḥamīdullāh: Maǧmūʿat al-waṯāʾiq as-siyāsiyya lil-ʿahd an-nabawī wal-ḫilāfa ar-rāšida (Collection of political documents from the time of the Prophet and the properly guided caliphate). 3. Edition. Beirut 1969. p. 81; 123; 128 and ibid. Several times
  7. ↑ Encyclopédie de l'Islam. Nouvelle édition. Brill, Leiden 1993. Art. Salām , Vol. VIII, p. 947
  8. ↑ Hans Jansen : Mohammed. A biography. (2005/2007) Translated from the Dutch by Marlene Müller-Haas. CH Beck, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-406-56858-9 , p. 180.
  9. ↑ MJ Kister (1989), pp. 326-327: M. Lidzbarski (1922), p. 88
  10. ↑ MJ Kister (1989), p. 328, note 27
  11. ^ Fuat Sezgin: History of Arabic literature . Volume 1. p. 464. No. II. Brill, Leiden 1967
  12. ^ MJ Kister (1989), p. 325
  13. ↑ MJ Kister (1989), pp. 328-329
  14. ↑ Werner Diem: Four official letters to ʿAmmār. A contribution to Arabic papyrology. In: Journal of the Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft (ZDMG) 133 (1983), pp. 239-262; here: p. 255
  15. ^ Theodor Nöldeke: History of the Qorāns. 2nd Edition. Edited by Friedrich Schwally. First part. P. 190. Note 3; see the photograph also at: Muhammad Hamidullah : Maǧmūʿat al-waṯāʾiq as-siyāsiyya lil-ʿahd al-nabawī wal-ḫilāfati r-rāšida . 3. Edition. Beirut 1969, p. 108.
  16. ↑ [1] ; [2]
  17. ↑ Obligations of the Muslim towards the Kafir (non-Muslim) - Islam Fatwa. Accessed on September 20, 2018 (German).
  18. ↑ "As-salaamu-Alaikum" and "Wa-Alaikum-as-Salaam". Columbia University , accessed July 2, 2020 .

literature

  • Bernard Lewis : The Political Language of Islam . Berlin 1991. pp. 133–135 (and note 18–24 on pp. 233–234)
  • Ignaz Goldziher in: Die Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländische Gesellschaft , Vol. 46 (1892), pp. 22–23, note 3
  • MJ Kister: "Do not assimilate yourselves ..." Lā tashabbahū. In: Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam (JSAI) 12 (1989), pp. 321–353. With an appendix by Menahem Kister: pp. 354–371
  • Mark Lidzbarski: Salām and Islām . In: Journal for Semitic Studies and Applied Areas. Vol. 1 (1922), pp. 85-97.
  • Karl Lokotsch : Etymological dictionary of European (Germanic, Romanic and Slavic) words of oriental origin . Carl Winter, Heidelberg 1927; 2nd, unchanged edition 1975 (= Indo-European Library , 2), ISBN 353302427X , p. 143.
  • H. Ringgren: Islam, "aslama and muslim. In: Horae Soederblomianae ii. Uppsala 1949.

Web links

Wiktionary: سلام  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations