Recordings › Reply to Sheikh Assim on Having Non-Muslim Friend | Mufti Abu Layth · 10 Mar 2021 › Segment 1 of 1
Can I have a close non-Muslim friend and answer his salam?
sahih saheeh sahih hadith saheeh hadith sound hadith muftis mandub mandoob mustahabb mustahab kufr kuffar kaafir kufar kaafirun disbelief as-salamu alaykum assalamu alaikum assalamualaikum salaams salam alaykum wa alaykum as-salam peace greeting al-din ad-deen ad-din religionReply to Assim al-Hakeem: a close non-Muslim friend and returning his salam
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This segment0:01 to 5:21 · 5 min 20 sGeneral teaching
The answer in brief
machinesummary, machine-writtenMufti Abu Layth rejects as ignorance and nonsense the view that a Muslim cannot have a close non-Muslim friend or return his greeting. Assim al-Hakeem's answer in the clip, that only acquaintances are allowed and a non-Muslim's salam gets a smile at most, is the view being replied to.
In more detail
Mufti Abu Layth plays a clip in which a caller asks Assim al-Hakeem whether he may answer the salam of a very close non-Muslim friend who is seriously ill and who greets him with salam, and whether the salam of a non-Muslim may be answered in general. In the clip Assim al-Hakeem replies that a Muslim may have a non-Muslim acquaintance or work colleague but not a dear friend used as a confidant and counsellor, and that a non-Muslim's salam is not to be returned but met with a smile, which he presents as the way of the Prophet and the most authentic opinion. Mufti ridicules the answer, playing on the name Hakeem and the word hikmah, and says this is the problem with such preachers. He then asks how anyone could claim a Muslim cannot have a non-Muslim friend, and says this is ignorance, hatred and venom that spreads toxicity, that the deen suffers because people are taught this and come to think it is what Islam is about, and that it is nonsense and a tragedy.
Question as read aloud · questioner not identifiedI have a very close non-Muslim friend who greets me with salam whenever we meet; he is seriously ill and it is not that he wants to accept Islam. Can I answer his salam, or in general can I answer the salam of a non-Muslim?
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moving on to the next microscope it just keeps getting the universe keeps giving people the universe keeps giving so what are the right now if i can after from india my question is that i have a very close non-muslim friend and whenever we met he always used to say [Music] he is suffering from cancer and it's not like that that after knowing that he's suffering from cancer he wants to change and he wants to accept islam so i want to know can i answer his
salaam or in general speaking can i answer salaam of non-muslim the wise the wise is about to part his wisdom
learn right this is wisdom coming all the way bedouin wisdom poorer tsunami of wisdom is coming your way people after from india he says that he has a very dear friend of his who is a non-muslim moment
and this is uh an issue you should look into after you can't have dear friends who are non-muslims because yeah you can have an acquaintance a colleague at work but not a dear friend whom you hang out with and you use him as a confidant you tell him your secrets and you take his counseling no this is not uh recommended so he says that he's sick and he's not sure whether he's interested in islam or not however every time he meets him he says
should i reply to his salaam the answer is no any non-muslim who says you simply reply with a smile that's it and you don't complete you don't continue because this is the way of the prophet this is the most authentic opinion from india you you heard that people the wisdom right there pouring forth that it knocked my uh version see this is the problem people you know when you get these
uh bedouins [Laughter] the wise that's such an oxymoron that his parents decided to give him the name hakeem and allah decided to give him no hikmah [Laughter] that's just such that's just like a cruel joke [Laughter] ah that's just cruel that you think so
that's just like uh you know you know so it's it's a shame really it's a shame [Laughter] but here he is sharing any little ounce of wisdom that he can find in the desert amongst the camel study so he said people first of all
how can you even have a non-muslim friend explain me explain me this one how is possible no is possible you're muslim how can you have a non-muslim yes you can have an acquaintance you can have a colleague how can you have a friend friend friend friend friend friend [Laughter] [Music] kafir oh lahi this is the type of ignorance people this is the hatred and the venom the cancer the radioactive
toxicity that is being spewed this is why the deen suffers because people they have to learn this kind of stuff and think achara that's what my islam is about then i'm not even allowed to have these friends i should be weary it should be this should be that it's nonsense it is really a tragedy to be honest but it is what it is and
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Cite this segment
Stable id, transcript version and tier are part of the citation. Every change to a transcript is logged.Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment 2021-03-10-S01, auto-transcribed, may contain errors. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/cnwajt1i9bo/s/1/ (accessed 1 November 2026)
- APA 7
Mufti Abu Layth. (2021, March 10). Can I have a close non-Muslim friend and answer his salam? [Video, segment 2021-03-10-S01, auto-transcribed, may contain errors]. Mufti Abu Layth Archive. Retrieved November 1, 2026, from https://muftiabulayth.org/r/cnwajt1i9bo/s/1/
- Chicago author-date
Mufti Abu Layth. 2021. "Can I have a close non-Muslim friend and answer his salam?" Video, segment 2021-03-10-S01, auto-transcribed, may contain errors. Mufti Abu Layth Archive. Recorded March 10, 2021. Accessed November 1, 2026. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/cnwajt1i9bo/s/1/
- BibTeX
@misc{abulayth-2021-03-10-S01, author = {Mufti Abu Layth}, title = {{Can I have a close non-Muslim friend and answer his salam?}}, year = {2021}, month = {3}, date = {2021-03-10}, howpublished = {\url{https://muftiabulayth.org/r/cnwajt1i9bo/s/1/}}, url = {https://muftiabulayth.org/r/cnwajt1i9bo/s/1/}, organization = {Mufti Abu Layth Archive}, urldate = {2026-11-01}, note = {Segment 2021-03-10-S01, auto-transcribed, may contain errors} }
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