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- "Peace be upon you!"
"Peace be upon you!"
Translation:اَلْسَّلامُ عَلَيْكُم!
11 Comments
That's correct, with the clarification that it's said in response to السلام عليكم and wouldn't be used first
414
You can also say that (the latter). But generally it is the former, in the plural form. And it is said that every person has angels accompanying them, watching and writing every deed that can be physically observed.
~Vir pius sacrificat~
So where is the "be"? And customarily, I have seen many possible translations of the phrase, "peace with you", "peace onto you", even just "peace"—although every Muslim I know would never translate it in the first place, even the most recent convert—there seems to be an assumption that God only understands Arabic.
- 338
EvemarieMo,
(1) "So where is the "be"?"
In my mother tongue's translation, there is no "be" but it simply looks like "peace onto you" in English. We describe السلام then translate عليكم.
The "be" in English has not only confused you, EvemarieMo, but also me (as a non-native Muslim). Anyway, some says that the "be" in this case is rare, perhaps it is from "maybe" -- "may praise be upon you". (You know English better than me. Why do English translators put "be" there?).
(2) "there seems to be an assumption that God only understands Arabic"
The السلام عليكم was from Classical Arabic, a dead language, was understandable by only Ancient Arabs, who lived 1,400 years ago. If we want to understand this expression perfectly, we should learn Classical Arabic and not Modern Arabic (or dialects).
In short, the problem is in Modern English and not Classical Arabic.
I'm confuse in English translation. السلام علیکم = Hi مرحبا= Hi This kind of transition from English is really complicated.
You say السلام علیکم to someone, Then he or she reply to you علیکم السلام
You say مرحبا So she or he reply مرحبا
