Als Sallūm

As-salamu alaykum is an Arabic-origin greeting. Its response is wa-ʿalaykumu s-salām. It is a Muslim religious salutation, though its use predates Islam and is common among non-Muslim speakers of Arabic or Arabic-influenced languages. In colloquial speech, the shortened form salām is often used to greet a person in Arabic and other languages. The phrase can be expanded to as-salāmu ʿalaykum wa-raḥmatu -llāhi wa-barakātuhᵘ̄.

The use of salām as an Arabic greeting dates at least to Laqit bin Yamar al-Ayadi (6th century), and cognates in older Semitic languages—Aramaic šlāmā ʿalḵōn (ܫܠܵܡܵܐ ܥܲܠܟ݂ܘܿܢ) and Hebrew shalom aleichem (שָׁלוֹם עֲלֵיכֶם shālôm ʻalêḵem)—can be traced back to the Old Testament period. In the Quranic period, one repeated as-salamu alaykum, but the inverted response is attested in Arabic not long after its appearance in Hebrew.

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