and it brings reward: the more we practise it, the more worship we render to Allah, and the greater our recompense and reward with Him. Had Allah not legislated this, repeating the salām in such a manner would have been an innovation. Yet, by Allah’s grace, whenever you part from your brother and then return—even after only a brief absence—you greet him with the salām. If a tree or a large rock intervenes so that the two of you can no longer see each other, then when you meet again you should initiate the salām.

The annotator, may Allah have mercy on him, then cited the ḥadīth of Abū Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) about the man who entered the mosque and prayed without tranquillity, pecking at his prayer like a bird. He came and greeted the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), who returned the greeting and said, “Go back and pray, for you have not prayed.” The man went back and prayed, but in the same hurried manner, without tranquillity. He returned, greeted the Prophet, and again heard, “Go back and pray, for you have not prayed,” and this happened three times. The man knew no other way to pray, for he was ignorant, so he finally declared, “By Him who sent you with the truth, I cannot do better than this; teach me.”

This was part of the Prophet’s wisdom: he let the man repeat an invalid prayer so that the man would yearn for knowledge and crave it, allowing that knowledge to reach his heart when it was fully open and in need of it. It is well known that something received at a moment of need is more readily embraced by the soul. Now consider: when you give a poor person