Tafseer of The Women · An-Nisaa · 4:86
And when you are greeted with a greeting, greet [in return] with one better than it or [at least] return it [in a like manner]. Indeed, Allah is ever, over all things, an Accountant.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The statement concerning the explanation of His word: And when you are greeted with a greeting, respond with a better one or return it
Abū Jaʿfar said: Allah, exalted be His praise, means by His word "and when you are greeted with a greeting": when supplication is made for you for a long life, continuance, and safety (63) = "respond with a better one or return it," He says: then supplicate for the one who has thus supplicated for you with something better than that with which he supplicated for you = "or return it," He says: or return the greeting.
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Then the people differed concerning the explanation of the nature of the "greeting" that is better than that with which the greeted person was greeted, and that which is equal to it.
Some of them said: that which is better than it is that the greeted person, when it is said to him: "as-salāmu ʿalaykum" (peace be upon you), says: "wa-ʿalaykum as-salāmu wa-raḥmatu llāh" (and upon you be peace and the mercy of Allah), and thus adds to the supplication of the one who supplicated for him. And the returning is that he says: "as-salāmu ʿalaykum," equal to that greeting, just as was said to him, (64) or that he says: "wa-ʿalaykum as-salāmu," and thus supplicates for the one who supplicated for him with the like of that with which the latter supplicated for him. (65)
* Mention of who said that:
10033 — Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to me, saying: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: "And when you are greeted with a greeting, respond with a better one or return it," he says: when someone greets you, then you say: "wa-ʿalayka as-salāmu wa-raḥmatu llāh," or you limit yourself to "as-salāmu ʿalayka," just as he said to you.
10034 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ concerning his word: "And when you are greeted with a greeting, respond with a better one or return it," he said: concerning the people of Islam.
10035 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Suwayd related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj in that which was read to him, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, he said: concerning the people of Islam.
10036 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, on the authority of Shurayḥ, that he used to return: "as-salāmu ʿalaykum," just as he was greeted.
10037 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Ibn ʿAwn and Ismāʿīl ibn Abī Khālid, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, that he used to return: "as-salāmu ʿalaykum wa-raḥmatu llāh."
10038 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of ʿAṭiyya, on the authority of Ibn ʿUmar: that he used to return: "wa-ʿalaykum."
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Others said: no, rather its meaning is: respond with a better one to the people of Islam, or return it to the people of unbelief (kufr).
* Mention of who said that:
10039 — Isḥāq ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Ḥabīb ibn al-Shahīd related to me, saying: Ḥumayd ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan ibn Ṣāliḥ, on the authority of Simāk, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, he said: whoever of Allah's creatures greets you, give him a response, even if he is a Magian (majūsī), for Allah says: "And when you are greeted with a greeting, respond with a better one or return it."
10040 — Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Sālim ibn Nūḥ related to us, saying: Saʿīd ibn Abī ʿArūba related to us, on the authority of Qatāda concerning his word: "And when you are greeted with a greeting, respond with a better one," to the Muslims = "or return it," to the People of the Book (ahl al-kitāb).
10041 — Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda concerning his word: "And when you are greeted with a greeting, respond with a better one," to the Muslims = "or return it," to the People of the Book.
10042 — Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, his word: "And when you are greeted with a greeting, respond with a better one," he says: greet with a better one, that is to say: with respect to the Muslims = "or return it," that is to say: to the People of the Book.
10043 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning his word: "And when you are greeted with a greeting, respond with a better one or return it," he said: my father said: it is an obligation upon every Muslim who is greeted with a greeting, that he return the greeting with a better greeting; and when someone who does not belong to the people of Islam greets him, that he return to him the like of what he said.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: The most fitting of the two interpretations for the explanation of the verse is the statement of the one who said: that concerns the people of Islam, and who directed its meaning toward returning the greeting to the Muslim when he greets with a greeting that is better than his greeting, or equal to it. This is because the authentic reports from the Messenger of Allah — peace and blessings be upon him — indicate that it is obligatory upon every Muslim to respond to the greeting of every unbeliever (kāfir) with something lesser than his greeting. And Allah in this verse commanded the giving of the better and the equal return, without therein distinguishing between the one who deserves the better return of his greeting and the one to whom the equal is returned, by means of an indication through which the correctness becomes known of the statement of the one who said: "by the better return the Muslim was intended, and by the equal return the people of unbelief."
And the correct view is — since there is in the verse no indication of the correctness of that, nor any binding authentic report from the Messenger — peace and blessings be upon him (66) — that the choice therein belongs to the greeted person: between returning the better or the equal, except in the case where a sunna of the Messenger of Allah — peace and blessings be upon him — has excepted something of that, so that one submits to it. And the sunna has excepted the people of unbelief with the prohibition of responding to their greeting with something better or with the equal, except that one says: "wa-ʿalaykum" (and upon you). It therefore befits no one to transgress that which the Messenger of Allah — peace and blessings be upon him — has delimited therein. As for the people of Islam: the one among them who is greeted has, in the return, the choice that Allah has given him therein.
And there has been related from the Messenger of Allah — peace and blessings be upon him — in the explanation of that a report in the vein of what we have said. That is what:
10044 — Mūsā ibn Sahl al-Ramlī related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Sarī al-Anṭākī related to us, saying: Hishām ibn Lāḥiq related to us, on the authority of ʿĀṣim al-Aḥwal, on the authority of Abī ʿUthmān al-Nahdī, on the authority of Salmān al-Fārisī, he said: a man came to the Prophet — peace and blessings be upon him — and said: "as-salāmu ʿalayka, O Messenger of Allah." He said: "wa-ʿalayka wa-raḥmatu llāh." Then another came and said: "as-salāmu ʿalayka, O Messenger of Allah, wa-raḥmatu llāh." The Messenger of Allah said to him: "wa-ʿalayka wa-raḥmatu llāhi wa-barakātuh." Then another came and said: "as-salāmu ʿalayka, O Messenger of Allah, wa-raḥmatu llāhi wa-barakātuh." He said to him: "wa-ʿalayka." The man said to him: "O Prophet of Allah, by my father and my mother, so-and-so and so-and-so came to you and greeted you, and you returned to them more than you returned to me!" He said: "You left nothing for us; Allah said: 'And when you are greeted with a greeting, respond with a better one or return it,' so we returned it to you." (67)
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And if a questioner says: is the return of the greeting then obligatory in accordance with what Allah has commanded for it in His Book?
It is said: yes, and this was the statement of a group of the early ones.
* Mention of who said that:
10045 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Suwayd related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, he said: Abū al-Zubayr informed me: that he heard Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh say: I saw him regarding it as nothing but obligatory, namely His word: "And when you are greeted with a greeting, respond with a better one or return it." (68)
10046 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Suwayd ibn Naṣr related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of a man, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, he said: the greeting is voluntary (taṭawwuʿ), and the returning is an obligation (farīḍa).
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The statement concerning the explanation of His word: Indeed, Allah is, over all things, an accountant (ḥasīb) (4:86)
Abū Jaʿfar said: He, exalted be His praise, means by it: indeed, Allah is, over all the things you do, O people, of deeds — obedience and disobedience — a Keeper over you, until He recompenses you for them with His recompense, just as:
10047 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: "ḥasīb," he said: a Keeper.
10048 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, the like of it.
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And the origin of "al-ḥasīb" in this place is, in my view, a "faʿīl" form derived from "al-ḥisāb" (the reckoning), which has the meaning of enumerating/registering (al-iḥṣāʾ), (69) one says of it: "I reckoned with so-and-so concerning such-and-such," and "so-and-so is his reckoner concerning such-and-such," and "he is his ḥasīb," and that is when he is the holder of his account.
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Some of the philologists of the people of Basra have claimed: that the meaning of "al-ḥasīb" in this place is "the Sufficient" (al-kāfī). One says of it: "aḥsabanī al-shayʾu yuḥsibunī iḥsāban," in the sense of: the thing sufficed me, derived from their statement: "ḥasbī kadhā wa-kadhā" (such-and-such is sufficient for me). (70)
And this is an error in the statement and a mistake. That is because in the case of "aḥsabanī al-shayʾu" one does not say: (71) "aḥsaba ʿalā al-shayʾi, fa-huwa ḥasīb ʿalayh," (72) but one says only: "huwa ḥasbuhu wa-ḥasībuhu" — whereas Allah says: "Indeed, Allah is, over all things, an accountant (ḥasīb)."
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The footnotes:
(63) That is because the meaning of "al-taḥiyya" (the greeting) is: continuance and safety from calamities.
(64) In the manuscript there stands, in the place of his word "just as was said to him," "qāla qīla lahu," and I do not know what that is; the intervention of the first printer is not objectionable.
(65) In the printed edition there stands: "fa-yadʿū al-dāʿī lahu," but the correct reading comes from the manuscript; yet what led him into the error is that the copyist wrote: "fa-yadʿū" with an alif after the wāw.
(66) In the printed edition there stands: "wa-lā bi-ṣiḥḥatihi atharun lāzim," and in the manuscript there stands: "wa-lā bi-ṣiḥḥati atharin lāzim," and both are incorrect, so I preferred that what has been established is most in agreement with the right of the context.
(67) The report 10044 — ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Sarī al-Madāʾinī al-Anṭākī: weak, and he was a pious man, as they said. Abū Nuʿaym said: "he relates objectionable matters (manākīr), it amounts to nothing." And Ibn Ḥibbān said in the book of the Weak Ones: "he related from Abū ʿImrān the marvels which there is no doubt are fabricated." He has a biography in al-Tahdhīb, and in Ibn Abī Ḥātim 2/2/78. But he was not alone in the transmission of this ḥadīth from Hishām ibn Lāḥiq, as will yet come.
Hishām ibn Lāḥiq, Abū ʿUthmān al-Madāʾinī: there is disagreement concerning him. Aḥmad said: "he relates from ʿĀṣim al-Aḥwal, and we wrote down reports from him; there was no harm in him, but he raised from ʿĀṣim reports that were not raised [to the Prophet], and he attributed them to Salmān." And Shabāba rejected a ḥadīth of his. This is the summary of what stands concerning him in his biography by al-Bukhārī in al-Kabīr 4/2/200-201, and Ibn Abī Ḥātim 4/2/69-70. And in Lisān al-Mīzān it stands that al-Nasāʾī strengthened him, and that Ibn Ḥibbān mentioned him both in the Trustworthy and in the Weak Ones. And Ibn ʿAdī said: "his reports are good (ḥisān), and I hope there is no harm in him." From all this it becomes clear, then, that the criticism of him does not go back to doubt about his truthfulness, but to a mistake or error of his — it becomes clear, then, that he is good in transmission (ḥasan al-ḥadīth).
And the ḥadīth was mentioned by Ibn Kathīr 2: 526-527, from this place in al-Ṭabarī. He then cited from Ibn Abī Ḥātim that the latter related it in suspended form (muʿallaq) via the way of ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Sarī al-Anṭākī, with this isnād, in the same vein.
Then Ibn Kathīr said: "And Abū Bakr ibn Mardawayh related it: ʿAbd al-Bāqī ibn Qāniʿ related to us, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal related to us, my father related to me, Hishām ibn Lāḥiq Abū ʿUthmān related to us — and he mentioned the like of it. And I have not found it in the Musnad."
And it is as Ibn Kathīr said: it is not in the Musnad.
But al-Suyūṭī mentioned it in al-Durr al-Manthūr 2: 188, and that Aḥmad related it "in al-Zuhd." And he also added its attribution to Ibn al-Mundhir and al-Ṭabarānī, and that it is "with a good isnād."
And al-Haythamī mentioned it in Majmaʿ al-Zawāʾid 8: 33, and said: "al-Ṭabarānī related it. And in it is Hishām ibn Lāḥiq, whom al-Nasāʾī strengthened, and whose ḥadīth Aḥmad set aside, and the rest of the transmitters are transmitters of the Ṣaḥīḥ." And his unqualified claim that Aḥmad set aside the ḥadīth of Hishām is not correct, for the text established concerning Aḥmad in al-Bukhārī and Ibn Abī Ḥātim does not indicate that.
(68) That is to say: he regards the return of the greeting as obligatory.
(69) See the explanation of "al-ḥasīb" in what passed earlier, 7: 596, 597. = and the explanation of "al-ḥisāb" in what passed earlier, 4: 207, 274, 275 / 6: 279.
(70) It is Abū ʿUbayda in Majāz al-Qurʾān 1: 135, and see what passed earlier, 7: 596, 597.
(71) In the printed edition and the manuscript there stands: "aḥsabtu," and the correct reading is "aḥsabanī" as the context indicates.
(72) In the printed edition and the manuscript there stands: "aḥsabtu ʿalā al-shayʾi," and the correct reading is what has been established.
