Thulaathiyyaat, Hadeeth #4

حد ثنا سفيان عن عبد الله بن دينار, عن ابن عمر(رضي الله عنهما) عن النبي (صلى الله عليه و سلم) اذا سلم عليك اليهودي, فانما يقول: السام عليكو فقل: وعليكو وقال مرة: اذا سلم عليكم اليهودو فقلوا: وعليكمو فانهم يقولون: السام عليكم


Sufyaan (ibn 'uyaynah) narrated to us from 'Abdullah ibn Deenaar from Abdullah ibn 'Umar (radhiAllahu 'anhumma) that the Prophet (allayhis salat wassalam) said, "Whenever a jew greets you (with salaam salutations), he actually says as-saamu 'alayka (i.e. death be upon you); therefore, reply by saying, 'wa 'alayka (and upon you).'" On another occasion he said, "If a Jew greets you (with salaam salutations), then say 'Alaykum (upon you),' for the Jews actually say, 'as-saamu 'alaykum (death be upon you).'"1

(Musnad Ahmad, Vol. 2, p.9. The isnaad of this hadeeth is saheeh according to the conditions set by al-Bukhaaree and Muslim.)

1-According to Shiekh Muhammad ibn uthaymeen, if a non-Muslim greets a Muslim with the Islamic greeting, it is either one of two cases; if he articulates the greeting by pronouncing "assallamu 'alaykum" correctly then we can either return the greeting by sahying, "wa 'alaykum-us-salam," or simply "wa 'alaykum". However, if we are not certain that he has pronounced the greeting correctly, then we can only say, "wa 'alaykum". (Shiekh Muhammad ibn 'uthaymeen's fatwa collection, Vol. 2, pp. 97-8)