Is it permissible to return the greeting or initiate the greeting to sellers of alcohol and drugs?

A Muslim is required to offer greetings (salam) by initiating them to those they know and do not know, and to return them with a similar or better greeting. Initiating the greeting is a Sunnah, while returning it is obligatory. However, scholars have made exceptions, deeming it disliked to offer greetings to a disbeliever, an oppressor, a transgressor, innovators, those engaged in idle amusements while they are occupied with them, and to a young woman for fear of temptation. Also, it is disliked to greet someone engaged in the adhan (call to prayer), iqamah (call to commence prayer), Quran recitation, a sleeping person, and someone performing the talbiyah (chants during Hajj/Umrah).

Exempted from the obligation of returning greetings are those engaged in prayer or remembrance (dhikr), a Muslim who has lost their sanity, and a young woman from whom temptation is feared. This does not include alcohol sellers or drug dealers, especially if refraining from greeting them serves as a deterrent against their sins.