– Returning the salām: that is, to answer the greeting of any passer-by who offers it.
– Enjoining what is right: al-maʿrūf (right) comprises every act that embodies obedience to Allah, drawing near to Him, showing kindness to people, and everything the Sacred Law recommends of virtues while forbidding vices.
Lessons drawn from the ḥadith
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The ḥadith discourages sitting in roadways and pedestrian paths, for doing so leads to spying on passers-by and looking at women who walk in front of men. People should instead remain in their homes, or sit in cafés, or in public gardens where there is no intermingling of men and women.
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If one has no alternative but to sit in roads and streets, those seated must give the road its due: enjoin what is right; forbid any wrong they witness; lower the gaze from women who pass; and refrain from scrutinising the men who go back and forth on their errands—matters they may prefer to keep unseen.
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They are likewise required to return the greeting of peace to anyone who offers it, for initiating the salām is Sunnah for the passer-by, whereas responding to it is obligatory for the one addressed.
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Qāḍī ʿIyāḍ said: This shows that the prohibition of sitting in the road is one of discouragement, not absolute unlawfulness, for had the Companions understood it to be strictly forbidden they would not have pressed the issue.
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Their inquiry to the Prophet ﷺ also stemmed from the narrowness of their homes, in which their women resided; when the men gathered the cramped houses could not accommodate them, so they sat in the road instead—and Allah knows best—as Ibn Abī Jamrah noted.
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Many duties fall upon anyone who sits in a roadway, among them: