The Ninety-Nine Names · the 5th name
السَّلَام
As-Salam
The Source of Peace, and free of all that disturbs it
- The rootس ل م
- From the rootsalima: to be whole, intact, free of injury; the root of Islam and of the greeting
The essay
As-Salam is the Name that says He is free of every wound. Not that He grants peace, though He does, but that He Himself is untouched by the things that break peace in us: fear, loss, need, decay. Because He is whole, what comes from Him can make whole. This is why the greeting Muslims exchange is a word for Him, why the prayer ends by saying it twice, and why the home of the ones who arrive is called Dar as-Salam, the House of Peace.
In the Qur'an
هُوَ ٱللَّهُ ٱلَّذِي لَآ إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ ٱلۡمَلِكُ ٱلۡقُدُّوسُ ٱلسَّلَٰمُ ٱلۡمُؤۡمِنُ ٱلۡمُهَيۡمِنُ ٱلۡعَزِيزُ ٱلۡجَبَّارُ ٱلۡمُتَكَبِّرُۚ سُبۡحَٰنَ ٱللَّهِ عَمَّا يُشۡرِكُونَ
He is Allah, other than whom there is no god: the King, the Most Holy, the Peace, the Giver of Security, the Guardian over all, the Almighty, the Compeller, the Supreme. Glory be to Allah, far above all they set beside Him.
this Name is in the Qur’an
What it asks of you
Say the greeting properly to someone you have been avoiding. The word you are handing them is one of His Names.
Read beside it