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 , 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 (call to prayer), (call to commence prayer), Quran recitation, a sleeping person, and someone performing the (chants during Hajj/).
Exempted from the obligation of returning greetings are those engaged in prayer or remembrance (), 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.
Summary from Ftawy's records · added here
Reviewed by El Fatwa's sharia committee.
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- Summary from Ftawy's records, reviewed by El Fatwa's sharia committee.
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