Maulana Wahiduddin Khan

Responding to non-Muslim's greeting permissible?

“Is it permissible in Islam to respond to a non-Muslim's greeting?”Asked by Muhammad Hussain Akhtar, Delhi

He answers at 1:15:28 in Age of Peace · 2 min 12 sec

His answer, in his own words
1:15:28
maulana, agla sawal dilli se hai. muhammad hussain akhtar sahab ka, unhon ne likha hai: "kya kisi ghair muslim ke salam ka jawab dena islam mein jaiz hai?" is ke bare mein batayein. jaiz nahi hai, farz hai, sir, farz. jaiz kya hai? yeh jaiz ki kya baat hai? dekhiye, aap jab namaz padhte hain, sari duniya ke musalman to kya karte hain? aakhir mein khatam karte hain to kehte hain: "assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullah." "assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullah." tumhare upar salamati ho. yeh tum kaun ho? yeh kaun tum ho? is ko aap keh rahe hain ke tumhare upar salamati ho. idhar kaun hai? idhar kaun hai?
1:16:09
aap bataiye. "peace be upon you." "assalamu alaikum" maani hote hain "peace be upon you." to jab aap kehte hain "peace be upon you" to you kaun hai? woh kahan hai? woh to jhoota nikal rakha hai ke farishton ko karte hain, farishton ko salam karte hain. yeh bilkul jhooti taweel hai. nahin, insanon ko karte hain. jo insan east mein hain, jo insan west mein hain, jo insan south mein hain, jo insan north mein hain, sab ko hum kehte hain: "ae logon!
1:16:40
peace be upon you! peace be upon you!" to namaz mein roza karte hi hain. hum is mein masle ki kya baat kar rahe hain? ek jhoota masla bana rakha hai, bilkul jhoota ke hum farishton ko karte hain. farishte hamare salamati ke intezar mein nahin hain, unko salamati mili hui hai, already . farishte to already peaceful life hain, unki peace insanon ki peaceful life nahin hai. peace ki zaroorat insanon ko hai, peace ki zaroorat farishton ko nahin hai. woh to peace to already unko mili hui hai, insanon ko. to hum apni tamanna ka izhar karte hain, apni tamanna ka, apni khwahish ka ke Allah taala unko bhi peace de, unko bhi peace de, unko bhi, unko bhi, sab ko peace de.
1:17:27
yeh to hamara culture hai, yani ibadat, ibadat culture mein shamil hai ke sari dunya ko peace bhejo. yeh fatwa, fatwa hi galat hai, bilkul is masla hi galat hai. yeh maulana, agla sawal aaya hai maulana farhad salafi sahab ka, tamil nadu se. unhone likha hai: "maulana sahab!
All questions he answeredThe whole lecture, from this momentWatch on YouTube

Machine transcription. These are his recorded words, written down by software from the Urdu he speaks — so a line may carry a misheard word. Every timestamp above opens the video at that second: one tap and you can hear him say it. Quote it as speech, and link to the moment.