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Passion For Greeting (Salaam – Peace), Father Of The Belly

Posted on January 20, 2011 by Gary Larocque

Yahya (raa) related to me from Malik (raa) from Ishaq ibn Abdullah ibn Abi Talha (raa) that at-Tufayl ibn Ubayy ibn Kab (raa) told him that he visited Abdullah ibn Umar (raa) one morning and went out with him to the market, and when they were out, Abdullah ibn Umar (raa) did not pass by anyone selling poor merchandise or selling commodities or a needy person or anyone but that he greeted them.
At-Tufayl (raa) said, I came to Abdullah ibn Umar (raa) one day and he asked me to follow him to the market. I said to him, “What will you do in the market if you will not stop to sell nor seek any goods or barter with them or sit in any of the assemblies or market?”
Abdullah ibn Umar (raa) said that we should sit down and talk, and then he explained, “Abu Batni (raa), (lit. father of the belly, at-Tufayl had a prominent stomach), we go out in the morning only for the sake of the greeting. We greet whomever we meet.”
Greetings – Malik’s Muwatta: Book 53 : Hadith 53.3.6

Commentary: The Book of Greetings

Excellence of Promoting Greetings

Riyadh as-Saaliheen (The Gardens of the Righteous), by Imam an-Nawawi

This Hadith highlights ‘Abdullah bin ‘Umar’s (raa) passion for promoting Salam which is a practice of Sunnah. Secondly, we can call a person by his epithetic name provided he is not offended by it.