Appropriate response to religious greeting

June 30, 2015 1:06 AM

I am currently living in Austria, where it is typical for people entering a semi-public space (e.g. doctor's office, barber shop) to greet the entire room and receive a greeting back. What is the appropriate response when greeted with "salaam alaikum" (selamün aleyküm)?

So far, I have answered, "alaikum salaam", but am wondering in retrospect whether that was appropriate. I am not, and have never been, a follower of an Abrahamic religion, but already use "Gruß Gott" in other contexts because it's easier than the various non-religious alternatives.

I don't want to use "alaikum salaam" as a response if it would be disrespectful or impolite, but also feel that replying with a German greeting would be completely inappropriate and othering.

posted by frimble to Human Relations (8 answers total)

It means "and peace be upon you" - so not really religious as such, and totes good to reply with from my knowledge of Islam as its practiced in Australia (which has a large Turkish population).
posted by smoke at 1:16 AM on June 30, 2015 [1 favorite]

I live in Austria, have never been greeted this way and would not know how to react. Not a lot of people outside the faith would! It is good that you are looking for the correct response, but assume that "guten Tag" will be accepted as a polite rejoinder as well.
As an aside, I once called the spokesman of the Muslim Community and started off my call with"Grüß Gott". I facepalmed almost immediately, but he never batted an eyelid. So yeah. Avoid "Grüß Gott".
posted by Omnomnom at 2:17 AM on June 30, 2015 [2 favorites]

I am Austrian and I live in Vienna. I am intrigued actually - I was not aware that "salaam alaikum" was in such general use in Austria, but I suppose if you live in certain districts in Vienna you would hear it a lot.

I would still stick to Guten Tag, which serves the purpose just as well and is used by those prefering not to use Grüß Gott.
When I was child which greeting you used was an indication of whom you (or your family) voted for. Guten Tag was for left (SPÖ), Grüß Gott for conservative (ÖVP). To a certain extent this is still the case.

Also, the greeting in doctor's offices serves a purpose at least in the doctors offices I frequent. The greeting of choice is followed by: wer ist der Letzte? which means: who was last (to arrive)? and this is the person who is just in line before you. If there is numbering system but free seating in the waiting room this way you can tell whose turn it is before you. In turn when a new person comes in and asks Wer ist der Letzte? YOU need to chime up that you are: just saying "Ich" is enough.
posted by 15L06 at 2:26 AM on June 30, 2015

Response by poster: I'm in Favoriten (10. Bezirk), in an area of that district (Katastralgemeinden Favoriten) with a lot of first- and second-generation immigrants. I was definitely not trying to say that "salaam alaikum" was in general use in Austria, but rather that greeting and being greeted by groups of strangers is common.

Most of the time, it's "Grüß Gott/Guten Tag" when entering and "Auf Wiedersehen" when leaving, it's just that where I am, "salaam alaikum" has come up just often enough that I want to not be inadvertently impolite to my neighbours.
posted by frimble at 2:38 AM on June 30, 2015 [1 favorite]

I think sometimes that when you have a question like this the best thing to do is to ask. It acknowledges that you're unfamiliar with something and that you'd like to contribute correctly. Most people will appreciate that you want to be courteous and have gone to the effort to ask them how you can be.
posted by sciencegeek at 3:00 AM on June 30, 2015 [3 favorites]

Best answer: There is actually a pretty good Wikipedia page on this expression. It underlies that there is no single single accepted way in which non Muslims should respond. As a non Muslim who does regular work in the Middle East I hear this a lot and give my best approximation of "Wa-Alaikum-Salaam" -because that seems to be the most honest reply for somebody who knows what the greeting means and how it should be responded to.
posted by rongorongo at 3:23 AM on June 30, 2015 [2 favorites]

Best answer: I've lived in the Middle East for years. Your response is completely appropriate and what I do. There is no implication in either the greeting or the response that either speaker is a Muslim, Christian Arabic speakers also use this expression.
posted by atrazine at 4:08 AM on June 30, 2015 [3 favorites]

Ah, that explains it. You see I live in "Boboville" (1070) and here I hear it rarely, only when I shop across the Gürtel at Brunnenmarkt ;-)
posted by 15L06 at 4:15 AM on June 30, 2015