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"As-Salaam-Alaikum," the Arabic greeting meaning "Peace be unto you," was the standard salutation among members of the Nation of Islam. The greeting was routinely deployed whenever and wherever Muslims gathered and interacted, whether socially or within worship and other contexts. "Wa-Alaikum-Salaam," meaning "And unto you peace," was the standard response. Muslim ministers and audiences regularly exchanged the salutation at the beginning and end of lectures and sermons. Common in the Arab world, the greeting was one of the few linguistic conventions of Eastern or "orthodox" Islam that the Nation retained in its original, Arabic form. The Muslim practice of hailing fellow Muslims and others with "As-Salaam-Alaikum" mirrored the tradition in popular Black culture of swapping evocative and expressive salutations such as "What's happening?"
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