As-Salaam:
We are continuing our discussion of the Names and attributes of Allah Azzaojal- Asma Ul Husna. And this post is regarding ALLAH’s name ‘As-Salaam’. The Name As-Salaam is one of those names of Allah SWT that does not occur in the proper noun form. The proper noun is As-Sami, Al-Baseer, and so on. As-Salaam occurs in what the Arabs call – ‘the masdar’ or ‘the concept’. It’s not a noun rather it’s a concept. So the noun from Salaam would be the Name ‘Saalim’ or the Name ‘Saleem’.
‘Saalim’ and ‘Saleem’ are nouns but As-Salaam is not a noun, it’s actually a ‘masdar’; now what’s a ‘masdar’? We don’t have an English word equivalent to it but it’s a concept. Allah Azzaojal is calling Himself As-Salaam. This Name only occurs once in the Quran which is in Surah Al-Hashar. “Hu Allahul lazi la ilaha illa huwal Malikul Qudoosus Salaamul Mominul Muhaiminul Azizul Jabbarul Mutakabbir”, we greet one another with assalamu alaikum; our religion is from the same root. ‘Al Islam’. Our name as Muslim comes from the root.
So Allah Azzaojal is As-Salaam but what exactly does it mean? If you ask the average Arab, even the non-Muslim Arab knows what Salaam means? He will reply peace. Technically this is right, yet it is not fully accurate. As-Salaam is not peace; it’s just too simplistic of a translation!
As-Salaam is the absence of evil. As-Salaam is the absence of harm, which does co notate peace but that’s one translation or one connotation. As-Salaam, when it comes to Allah Azzaojal, has three meanings.
1) Allah SWT is never characterized with a negative attribute; there is no imperfection in Allah SWT. He is As-Salaam, the One who lacks any negative attribute. So because Allah SWT is As-Salaam, He has no partners, He has no children, He does not sleep, He does not forget. So As-Salaam is the ‘all perfect’ because no negative is attributed to Him. This is in a hadith of Prophet ﷺ where he said, “We do not ascribe any shar to you o Allah”, why? Because As-Salaam cannot be the source of Ash-shar. As-Salaam cannot be ascribed to Ash-shar. So, in a nutshell As-Salaam is the One who Himself has no characteristic of imperfection. Allah is perfect in every single respect because He is As-Salaam.
2) The source of Salaam is As-Salaam; where do we get salaam from? By salaam we mean absence of evil here, which is peace; absence of any harm, which is safety. Who gives us safety and security? Who can ensure ultimate Salaam? That is As-Salaam. So the source of salaam is As-Salaam, that’s a second meaning. Where do we feel contentment from? Who gives us the blessing of feeling fulfilled, of feeling content, of feeling safe? It is As-Salaam who gives us that feeling. So Allah is As-Salaam meaning number two, that he grants peace and the most perfect peace and the most perfect absence of evil is to protect us from His punishment and to cause us to enter Jannah. Only As-Salaam can guarantee the ultimate salaam.
3) The third meaning of As-Salaam is the One who greets those who believe in Him with the greeting of salaam. So As-Salaam is the One who will greet the believers in Him with the greeting of salaam. Allah SWT will greet the believers with the greeting of salaam.
“Tahiyyatu hum youma yalqaonahu Saleem” the greeting of Allah SWT on the day He will meet His believers, shall be the salaam. May Allah SWT make us amongst those. There is an interesting fact here which in fact As-Salaam is also the very first word that Allah SWT taught our father Adam (AS). “Waa llama adama asmaha kullaha”. Our Prophet ﷺ said, “When Allah SWT created Adam (AS), he blew into him his soul. Allah SWT said to Adam (AS) that “O Adam (AS) go to those group of angels and say assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullah and memorize their response, for that will be your greeting and the greeting of your children after you, until ‘the Day of Judgment”.
So the word that Allah SWT taught Adam (AS) to say was the word ‘Assalaamu alaikum wa rahmatullah’. Then the angels responded, “Walaikum assalaam wa rahmatullahi wa barakaatuh”. They added ‘wa barakaatuh’! Adam (AS) memorized this and all of the believers in Adam(AS) and all of the believers of the his children and all of the believers of the Prophets greet one another with assalamu alaikum or in the case of the Jews ‘Shalom Aleichem’ or the Christians once upon a time would say ‘Pax Vobiscum’ meaning peace be unto you. All of this would be the Abrahamic culture that exists to this day.
The first commandment which our Prophet ﷺ gave when he migrated to Madinah was of salaam. There is a famous hadith of Abdullah Ibn Salaam that says, “The first words of our Prophet ﷺ after entering Madinah were ‘Ayyuhannas Adshus-Salaam wa tut imu toaam waseelul arhaam wa sallu billaili wannaasu niyaam tadquloonal jannata bis-Salaam”. “O mankind spread the salaam’ – this was the first commandment of the Prophet ﷺ. The Prophet ﷺ commanded the Sahabas to praise Allah SWT when you sit down for the tahiyyat. Initially he didn’t teach the Sahabas tahiyyatu lillah. He simply said when you sit down ‘praise Allah SWT’.
After this, the Sahabas began to invent praises. One day the Prophet ﷺ heard them saying ‘Assalaamu alallah’, ‘Assalaamu ala Jibreel’ and ‘Assalaamu ala Rasoolillah’. They were trying to praise Allah SWT by saying ‘Assalaamu alallah’. But the Prophet ﷺ said, ‘Allah is As-Salaam’. You cannot send salaam upon Allah SWT. Allah SWT is the source of salaam.
When you say ‘assalamu alallah’ where will that salaam come from? Allah SWT is salaam. We cannot send salaam upon Allah SWT. Then Prophet ﷺ taught them that, when you sit down, you should say, ‘Attahiyaatu lillahi wassalawaatu wattayyibaat’. He also taught them the dua which every one of us has memorized. The Sahaba made a mistake in this regard because they didn’t know anything better.
There is a footnote here, Subhanallah! The male Sahabas messed up in this regard, they made a mistake. The female Sahabi, the best of the sahabiyat ‘Khadijah (RA) was not taught this yet she understood better than the male Sahabas’.
The hadith in Bukhaari says that when Jibreel (AS) visited Prophet ﷺ in his house, where Khadijah (RA) was also present, Jibreel (AS) said, “O Messenger of Allah! Allah is sending His Salaam to Khadijah”. So the Prophet ﷺ said to Khadijah (RA) that Jibreel (AS) has come to visit me and he is sending Allah’s Salaam upon you! Subhanallah! What a beautiful hadith!
To this Khadijah (RA) responded and Subhanallah just look at the fiqh of Khadijah (RA)! She said, “Innallaha huwassalaam, wa ala Jibreel As-Salaam, wa alaika ya rasoolullah As-Salaam”. Which means Allah is As-Salaam! I cannot say As-Salaam alallah or wa alaik As-Salaam! Where will that Salaam come from?
So Khadijah (RA) understood what the male Sahabas did not understand theologically and she said, “innallaha huwas- salaam” – “Allah is As-Salaam and upon Jibreel be As-Salaam and upon you o Messenger of Allah be As-Salaam”.
As Allah SWT is As-Salaam, so He is inviting us to His house! He called His abode ‘the abode of Salaam – Daarussalaam’. The abode of Allah SWT, the place where He is inviting us which is Jannah is called Darussalam. “Wallahu yadhu ila Daarussalaam”. Allah is calling us to ‘Darussalam’. How do we get to Darussalam? There’s only one way to get to Daarussalaam and that is to follow the path of Salaam.
“Yahdi bihillaahu manittaba raduannahu subullas Salaam”. So Sabeel or the path or the siraat in the Quran is called the Sabeel of Salaam. The path of Salaam leads to Daarussalaam and it is Allah Azzaojal who is causing us to be on the right path of Salaam to get to Darussalam.
How do we get this path? It is by submitting ourselves to Allah SWT through Al-Islam. When we practice Islam, we are on Sabeel ussalaam which is leading to Darussalam. Another way to perfectly-getting on to the path of Salaam is in fact to spread the greetings of Salaam. Our Prophet ﷺ said, “I swear by the One in whose hands my soul is! None of you shall enter Jannah until you love one another; should I not tell you something that will cause you to love one another? It is ‘Afshus-Salaama bainakum’, meaning ‘spread the Salaam amongst you’. So we are commanded to spread the Salaam, in order to cause ourselves to Sabeelus-Salaam and in order to get to Darussalam.
That’s why brothers and sisters the Name of Allah ‘As-Salaam’ is a powerful name. It causes us to find comfort in Allah. When our hearts are troubled, when we feel anxious we should use the Name ‘As-Salaam’ to ask Allah SWT to give us that peace. When we are going through troubles, or have a feeling of anxiety, or when the problems of Duniya engulf us, then we can call out to ALLAH by this name and say ‘Ya Salaam’, ‘Ya Allah Azzaojal grant us Salaam’ because Allah SWT is ‘As-Salaam’.
This is why one of the duas of Prophet ﷺ and in fact not just a dua but every time when the Prophet ﷺ said assalamu alaikum in the salah, the first dua that he would say is “Allahumma antassalaam wa minkassalaam”. The first thing that would come from the lips of the Prophet ﷺ after every single time he made a salah is “Allahumma antassalaam’ because nothing brings about Salaam like the salah. Nothing brings peace like the salah. So he would remind us and he would remind himself that ‘O Allah you are the Salaam’ and from you comes Salaam’.
As-Salaam is that beautiful Name of Allah Azzaojal that we should invoke to bring about peace in our hearts and of course brothers and sisters, the ultimate goal of every one of us should be to spread the Salaam and practice Islam and to be on the path of Sabeelus-Salaam so that when we enter Daarussalaam, As-Salaam would greet us with his greeting of ‘Salaam’ “Salaamun qaolam mir-rubbir Raheem” – “When As-Salaam greets those who believe in him with the greeting of Salaam. When As-Salaam has sent His Salaam on you then who can possibly harm you?
This is the whole point of being in Daarussalaam, we are never going to have any pain, suffering or harm because As-Salaam has gifted that Salaam to us when we enter there. May Allah SWT make us of those who hear the greeting of Salaam from As-Salaam when we enter Daarussalaam, Aameen.
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