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used to prefer acting in harmony with the People of the Book in matters about which he had received no specific command. The People of the Book would let their hair hang loose, while the idolaters parted theirs; so the Prophet ﷺ initially let his forelock fall forward, and later on he parted it.
From the section “Etiquette and Customs”:
1 – Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh reports, traced back to the Prophet ﷺ:
“Do not greet one another in the manner of the Jews, for their greeting is only by nodding the head, waving the hands, and pointing.”1
(1) Al-Hafiz writes in Fath al-Bari, 11/12: “Al-Nasaʾi recorded it with a sound chain.”
I add: It is probably found in his al-Sunan al-Kubra or in his ʿAmal al-Yawm wa’l-Layla. The latter has since been printed, where it appears as no. 340; its isnad includes Abu al-Zubayr in the form of ʿanʿana. See al-Sahihah, no. 1783.
Al-Haythami cites it in Majmaʿ al-Zawaʾid, 8/38, in similar wording and remarks: “It was transmitted by Abu Yaʿla and al-Tabarani in al-Awsat; the transmitters in Abu Yaʿla’s chain are those of the Sahih.”
Support for it also comes from what al-Tirmidhi narrates (3/386) through Ibn Luhayʿa, from ʿAmr b. Shuʿayb, from his father, from his grandfather: the Messenger of Allah said, “Whoever imitates a people is not one of us. Do not imitate the Jews or the Christians; the greeting of the Jews is to point with the fingers, and the greeting of the Christians is to gesture with the palms.” Al-Tirmidhi comments: “This isnad is weak.”
I note that Ibn Luhayʿa’s weakness stems mainly from his unreliable memory, and the preceding hadith lends support to what he relates; see the next narration.
1 For this reason they disapproved of giving the greeting by hand-signs, as ʿAtaʾ b. Abi Rabah stated in the report transmitted by—
"كان النبي ﷺ يحب موافقة أهل الكتاب فيما لم يؤمر فيه وكان أهل الكتاب يسدلون أشعارهم وكان المشركون يفرقون رءوسهم فسدل النبي ﷺ ناصيته ثم فرق بعد".
ومن "الآداب والعادات":
١ - عن جابر بن عبد الله مرفوعا:
"لا تسلموا تسليم اليهود فإن تسليمهم بالرءوس والأكف والإشارة"١.
١- قال الحافظ في "الفتح" "١١/ ١٢":
"أخرجه النسائي بسند جيد".
قلت: ولعله في "سننه الكبرى" أو في "عمل اليوم والليلة" له، ثم طبع هذا، وهو فيه برقم "٣٤٠"، وفيه عنعنة أبي الزبير. انظر "الصحيحة" "١٧٨٣".
وقد أورده الهيثمي في "المجمع" "٨/ ٣٨" بنحوه، ثم قال:
"رواه أبو يعلى والطبراني في "الأوسط"، ورجال أبي يعلى رجال الصحيح".
ويشهد له ما أخرجه الترمذي "٣/ ٣٨٦" من طريق ابن لهيعة عن عمرو بن شعيب عن أبيه عن جده أن رسول الله ﷺ قال: "ليس منا من تشبه بغيرنا، لا تشبهوا باليهود ولا بالنصارى، فإن تسليم اليهود بالإشارة بالأصابع، وتسليم النصارى الإشارة بالأكف". وقال:
"هذا إسناد ضعيف".
قلت: وابن لهيعة إنما ضعف من قبل حفظه، والحديث الذي قبله يشهد لما رواه، وانظر الحديث الآتي.
١ ولهذا كانوا يكرهون التسليم باليد، كما قال عطاء بن أبي رباح فيما أخرجه =