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Greeting "ASSalaamu Alaikum" is Sunnah. And "Jazaakallah" is thanking the answerer.

When questions are asked with these greetings in the question body, they are being edited to remove the greetings.
These greetings are basic manners of a Muslim that have inspired many people to Islam and showcases the respect Muslims have for each other.

I request the community not to remove these salutations because it keeps up the good spirit. Let this site not follow what other Stack Exchange sites follow. It is justified there, but here it is a question of promoting Sunnah.

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    I did not down vote you (and probably won't), but is the aim of this SE to promote Sunnah (As noble as that aim might be)?
    – System Down
    Commented Jun 21, 2012 at 7:22
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    @SystemDown, of course it's not.. but let us behave here in the best manner. The whole world will be viewing this site. Let the world have positive impressions about us.
    – Tabrez Ahmed
    Commented Jun 21, 2012 at 7:33
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    I get where you're coming from, but to the rest of the world these words don't really mean much do they? While to us Muslims they are the highest form of politeness, to others they are only salutations in a foreign language.
    – System Down
    Commented Jun 21, 2012 at 7:36
  • 3
    @SystemDown, Moreover I am not stressing anyone to Start their questions with salaam and end it with Jazaakallah, It's totally voluntary. But if people want to add these salutations in their question, there should be no harm in it, and the community shouldn't edit the question to remove it.
    – Tabrez Ahmed
    Commented Jun 21, 2012 at 7:36
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    Well since we have reached the consensus (or have we?) that for all intents and purposes these terms are indeed just salutations we need to follow the SE policy. Here's a related meta discussion on this very subject: meta.stackexchange.com/questions/47578/…
    – System Down
    Commented Jun 21, 2012 at 7:44
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    That meta discussion is for SO, yes, but the policy is SE wide as I'm sure you've noticed. All salutations are preferably removed. Even a simple "Hi" is often edited out.
    – System Down
    Commented Jun 21, 2012 at 7:52
  • Shouldn't this policy be changed for religious sites?
    – Tabrez Ahmed
    Commented Jun 21, 2012 at 7:58
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    There is a valid argument there I suppose. But, we are aiming for "informative" rather than "religious". I think that's where the main distinction is going to be. The whole idea behind removing salutations is to keep posts as informative as possible.
    – System Down
    Commented Jun 21, 2012 at 8:02
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    You haven't phrased this as a question. You're just telling others what to do without asking their opinion. Hence the downvotes.
    – Mateen Ulhaq
    Commented Jun 24, 2012 at 7:47
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    @SystemDown: Just a note: Meta Stack Overlflow is for discussing SE wide issues, so That meta discussion is for SO, yes is actually wrong. Minor nit, though.
    – Manishearth
    Commented Jul 2, 2012 at 7:40
  • @SystemDown Selam is not foreign word, Just like Allah is not foreign word, Those are universal words for all Muslims.
    – adopilot
    Commented Aug 18, 2012 at 22:15
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    @adopilot - Well that's the thing you see, this site isnt for Muslims, it's about Islam and is targeted at everybody, including non-Muslims.
    – System Down
    Commented Aug 19, 2012 at 14:10
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    +1, I don't understand those ones who think they have the right to EDIT others BELIEFS. Islam might not be the concern of all the viewers but I think it should be for the editors.
    – Zahra E
    Commented Aug 19, 2012 at 18:56
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    @Ezati - But the editors do what they do for the benefit of the viewers who are the main target of this site.
    – System Down
    Commented Aug 29, 2012 at 20:44
  • @SystemDown - I thought the main target of this site is Islam. Maybe I'm in the wrong place
    – Zahra E
    Commented Aug 31, 2012 at 11:32

7 Answers 7

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I strongly encourage anyone reading this to abstain from adding unnecessary salutations to their questions and answers. This isn't a discussion board, answers are not replies, and if the majority of each question's excerpt quoted on the front page of the site is the same then you've thrown away what should have been an eye-catching introduction to your question...

That said, if you're gonna edit these things out, be polite about it - and don't stop editing after removing the salutation:

To be very specific, I would discourage editing a post solely to remove salutations like “hi” and “thanks”. That’s just adding an unnecessary edit on top of an unnecessary set of salutations. I completely agree that salutations add little to a question or answer, but if you’re going to take the time to go in and remove salutations, fix the whole post while you’re at it! If there’s nothing else to edit, then don’t bother.

The reason for editing someone else's post should always be to improve it, to turn the question or answer being edited into a shining example of the best your community has to offer. Don't get hung up on trivial little edits.

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  • if you do this, I mean removing Salam, I don't care about other things, then how come is Islam SE related to Islam-it would be controlled behaviour, when you are removing the most fundamental right of a muslim to recieve and pronounce Salam, if you ever survey Islam SE most of the members are muslims themselves!
    – user9301
    Commented Jan 15, 2015 at 13:47
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    Please read this answer carefully and follow the links before responding. Thank you.
    – Shog9
    Commented Jan 15, 2015 at 15:20
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My two cents: This question is all about perspective. Here's the way I see it:

This site is NOT an "Islamic" site!

If you accept this, then greetings of salaam, or beginning with the basmalah are not that important. This is a Q&A site about Islam. We're not going to come here to boost our iman or to purify our hearts. If that happens, alhamdulillah. But that's not the primary purpose.

Having said that, my suggestion for this topic is this: We don't encourage or discourage salaams or the basmalah, but if someone chooses to do it we don't edit it out.

How does that sound?

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    Sounds ... very tolerant.
    – ashes999
    Commented Jun 22, 2012 at 17:07
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    @Ansari, that is exactly what I wanted to say. If you don't want to do, well and fine. But at least don't edit it out if someone else wants to do. . . . But the whole community seems to be against me regarding this. . . .
    – Tabrez Ahmed
    Commented Jun 22, 2012 at 17:20
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    Frankly I think that including Hellos/His/Greetings makes the seem more like a "forum" instead of a "resource" - i.e. this is not a discussion site. This is a resource/informational website. There isn't a place for hello/hi/greeting/bye/thanks
    – user83
    Commented Jun 22, 2012 at 18:12
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    Personally, I like the way Shog9 has approached it. Discourage it, but if someone does put salutations in there don't just edit the post to remove them. If you are going to edit something else (spelling, grammar, clarity ... etc), then by all means remove the salutations as well.
    – System Down
    Commented Jun 22, 2012 at 19:55
  • its not an islamic site but a muslim has to say so because he/she is a muslim,
    – user9301
    Commented Jan 15, 2015 at 13:48
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The way I see it, this site is for Muslims and non-Muslims alike. Nobody has more say-so over the other.

With that said, if we want this site to appeal to non-Muslims, we must make it feel like a welcoming place. This means that we can't speak a language other than English without a translation. But, saying

Assalamualikum (May Allah's (SWT) Peace be upon you)

Is going to get a bit messy.

So in my opinion, these greetings and thank-yous should be abolished.

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  • I do that and it isn't messy.
    – user9301
    Commented Jan 15, 2015 at 13:49
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I see your point, but no one would convert to Islam by seeing your religious salutations in your questions. So I don't see your point at the same time!

Let this site not follow what other Stack Exchange sites follow.

This is an SE site and we have to follow the network policy. There are some minor differences, of course; but I think religious salutations are completely unnecessary and some people might find it annoying since the site is not specific to Muslims.

I brought it up on meta.SO, most people think it's up to this community to make the decision.

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    this site is not a dawah site that you are making people to convert to islam, its a Q/A site and salam is as simple as a greeting to non mulims and a lot more to muslims who understand
    – user9301
    Commented Jan 15, 2015 at 13:51
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I think we should regard this site as a collaboratively edited Q&A book. Why book? Because it fits the "this is not a discussion forum" idea IMO. Consider a book that many people participated in its compilation. A person who collaborated with a question and another person who collaborated with an answer to that question aren't really communicating with each other face to face. Instead, it is one's question and other's answer is communicating. So, it would look bad to have greetings and thanks on such a material. Just like it, they look bad on Q&A format of the site.

Sorry for the late reply. I wanted to add this, because I think we aren't facing the issue head on. And I think If we don't stop this now, it will be harder to fix later. I suggest we be firm about this.

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It's also worth noting that greetings are automatically deleted from StackExchange posts. See meta.StackExchange.com for the technical details. This is in effect at Islam.SE too (although the algorithm is not effective for Arabic transliterations).

I must have edited out over a hundred of these by now, and, as far as I know, nobody has complained.

Users can express what they like about their religion through their profile page. I do.

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I think one should use a little judgement:

  • If the OP is new, or infrequently posts then saying Salaam at the beginning of the post can be welcoming.

  • if the OP is an old hand, or frequently posts then one need not.

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  • What you do with your new members immediately starts setting a pattern for their future usage of the site. SE sites have a big learning curve because they are not the forum format people are used to, but the sooner they catch on to this difference the better they will get on. Take more time with them to help them learn the ropes (e.g. edit their posts instead of just commenting) but don't hold them to a different standard than you want to see continue in the long term.
    – Caleb
    Commented Sep 22, 2015 at 13:06
  • Well, possibly; I usually hang out on Phil.SE; and there I usually make a point of welcoming new posters onto the stack. A few others have followed suit.
    – Mozibur Ullah
    Commented Sep 22, 2015 at 13:18
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    I'm not saying anything against being welcoming, but you should find ways to do it that helps set the right patterns for ongoing usage of the site.
    – Caleb
    Commented Sep 22, 2015 at 13:47

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