Answer
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
In this fatwa:
1- As for greeting and responding to non-Muslims’ greeting, it has to be clearly known that a Muslim is required by the Shari`ah to show kindness and cordiality to everyone.
2- Greeting people, even non- Muslims, is one of the best ways to make strong ties and relations with people especially friends and colleagues.
3- So, you have to warmly greet those colleagues and best return their greetings whenever they greet you.
In his response to your question, Sheikh Ahmad Kutty, a senior lecturer and an Islamic scholar at the Islamic Institute of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, states:
Islam teaches us to wish good to everyone. All of humanity is from a single pair of a male and female, and are all brothers and sisters.
We are told to be kind and charitable to everyone. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “Jibreel kept stressing my duty towards my neighbor so that I thought he would be reckoned as one of my heirs.” (Al-Bukhari)
So, exchanging greetings of peace and joy with others is one of the Islamic manners. Allah Almighty says in the Qur’an, “When you are greeted with a greeting [of peace], answer with an even better greeting, or [at least] with the like thereof. Verily, Allah keeps count indeed of all things.” (An-Nisaa’ 4:86)
You should warmly greet your colleagues and best return their greetings whenever they greet you.
Almighty Allah knows best.
Editor’s note: This fatwa is from Ask the Scholar’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.