السلام
al-Salām
Topic
A name of God: the Source of peace, safety and blessing, who grants security to His creatures.
What it means
Al-Salām is among the beautiful names of God. The Quran lists it in the closing verses of Surah al-Hashr, between “the Holy” and “the Granter of security”: “He is God, other than whom there is no god, the Sovereign, the Holy, the Source of Peace (al-Salām)” (59:23). Faruqi glosses it as the Source of peace and blessing. Commentators understood it to mean that God is free of every fault and that He grants safety and peace to His servants. The name stands behind the Muslim greeting, because a person who says as-salāmu ʿalaykum asks God to give His peace to the other. The Quran also calls Paradise dār al-salām, the abode of peace (6:127).
Often misunderstood as
Taken only as a word for the absence of conflict, the name loses its sense of safety and wholeness that comes from God alone.
What the sources say
A report in Sahih Muslim says that after the final greeting of the prayer the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) used to say, “O God, You are Peace, and from You comes peace; blessed are You, O Possessor of majesty and honour.” Many Muslims repeat it after each prayer.
Term and Arabic as listed in Ismail al Faruqi, Toward Islamic English (International Institute of Islamic Thought, 1995), p. 35, listed as AL SALĀM. The definition is restated here.