We wake up in the morning. Rub our eyes. Stretch. Time to quickly rush to the bathroom, hoping no one else at home has beaten you to it. We brush our teeth, hit the shower (Ghusl). We rush out, hit the prayer mat then rush to get a bite to eat. On our way we might see our family. We say Salaam. We get dressed and leave for work.

On the way to work we pass people who have the Muslim look. It may be a hijaab (the head scarf of Muslim women). It may be a beard and cap. They may have that mark on their forehead from all their salaat (Muslim prayer). We walk by. They do not exist. We dare not look at them or acknowledge them. Our western conditioning has made it something weird to smile and say salaam to someone that we do not know.

I went for a walk this morning. Walking towards me, at a distance, was an old woman with a hijaab. She spotted me and began looking away. With my short hair I do look rather thug-like. Imagine how she must have felt. A back street, with a large-framed, broad-shouldered man making walking towards you. Not a fun thought if you are female. Usually I would have considered crossing the street to give a signal that I am no threat. The path was narrow. The uncomfortable feeling was neutralised by one word with a smile. Salaam. Peace.

All of a sudden the situation was  changed. No longer did I sense her to be uncomfortable. She beamed a smile. “Walaikum-as-Salaam.” What had just happened? Only ten seconds earlier I was a threat. Now, I was given a smile that she would have given to a member of her family. Smiles do not necessarily get a return smile. They might be ignored. The Salaam is one of the great powerful tools of a Muslim. It seems that in this day and age we have abandoned it to our detriment as a community.

Salaam is not just bidding peace. Salaam is a ritual of a Muslim to reinforce a sense of belonging to a group. It is a symbol of a Muslim. Salaam has rules. We have rights upon other Muslims to have our salaam answered in the same manner or better. The young will initiate salaam to the old. The few will initiate to the many. Those standing will initiate to those seated.

We complain about our lack of unity, lack of cohesion. Allah SWT has already given us the means, ability and framework to achieve this. One element is the Salaam. It crosses gender, race and age. What better way for a man of Asian origin to make bonds with his African or Caucasian brother than through Salaam? Show me any other group or nation that has a mechanism that is more potent than the Salaam.

The next time a Muslim brother insists on just “Hi” and “bye”, talk to him. Tell him in the nicest way using gentle, kind words. The Salaam is our identity, our symbol, our bond. Why abandon one of the most powerful tools of the Muslim? Salaam smashes barriers immediately between two strangers. I am now going to make a point to acknowledge every sister in hijaab, every brother with a beard who looks at me. Salaam is a behaviour that needs to be established outside of the mosques as well, not just inside.

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