•
Cognate Semitic language parallels include the
Aramaic/
Classical Syriac šlāmā ʿalḵōn (ܫܠܵܡܵܐ ܥܲܠܟ݂ܘܿܢ), and the
Hebrew Shalom aleichem (
shālôm ʻalêḵem). Similarly,
Bosniaks and
Macedonian Muslims use the phrase "" (
Cyrillic: ). • In
Amharic the native
Amharic term
Selam is used in place of
Tadias, which is the equivalent of "What's up". • In
Turkey,
Kazakhstan and
Kyrgyzstan, many religious people use
Äs-sälamwaleykum or and shake hands and it is the same for saying "Hello"; more secular and non-religious people say
Selam and in Kazakhstan say
Sälem or
Sälemetsız be as an equivalent to "Hello" or "Hi". However many Turks pronounce it differently as
Selamün aleyküm. • In
Pakistan the greeting is also associated with shaking right hands and is also often accompanied with a hug when meeting infrequently (only between the same gender). In some places people put a hand on their heart as they shake your hand and greet. In addition the full greeting (As-salamu alaykum) is preferred to the shorter greeting of "salam" or "salamu alaykum". Goodbye is supplanted by a "Khuda Hafiz" or the variation "Allah Hafiz", both of which mean "May God protect you". • In
India the greeting mostly among Muslims is a simple handshake or hug, As-salamu alaykum () or the shorter greeting "Salam" is used in informal situations. For "goodbye", the locution "Khuda Hafiz" () or the alternative form "Allah Hafiz" (), both of which mean "May God protect you", is used. • In
Bangladesh, Assalamu alaikum () is the most common Muslim greeting. Some Muslims greet their elders with these words whilst raising their right hand to the forehead. Assalamu alaikum is even used as to say goodbye, while many others say "Khoda Hafez" or "Allah Hafez" () "May God protect you". • The older generation of
Indian Christians (and Pakistani Christians) in the
northern Indian subcontinent speak
Hindi-Urdu and use the word
salám when greeting one another. • Shortening the greeting to acronyms, such as
A.S., ''As'kum
(in Malaysia), or AsA
is becoming common amongst Internet users in chat rooms and by people using SMS. This trend is similar to writing (S) or SAWS in place of ṣallā llāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam''. • In
Chechnya and other parts of the Caucasus, Salamun Alaykum () is used to say hello, in
Ossetia, a corrupted version of Salam is used (). • In
Senegal, which has a majority of Muslims with
Tasawwuf-orientation, it is a common greeting. Spelled and pronounced in
Wolof: "a-sala māleykum", with the reply being "må-lekum salām". • In
Xinjiang, China, "Essalam eleykum" is used as a greeting by
Uyghurs, and the reply is "We-eleykum essalam". • In
Portugal, the expression
Salamaleque gained a totally distinct and curious meaning: due to the habit of
Iberian Arabs to bow and wave their hand when greeting a person, the expression "Salamaleque" is applied to exaggerated movements or acts in order to appear to be formal, entertaining or fancy. For example: "Os rapazes chegaram cheios de salamaleques". • In
Italy,
Salamelecco has a similar meaning, referring to excessive courtesy and politeness. • In
France,
salamalec has similar meaning, referring to excessive flattery. • In
Malta,
Is-sliem għalikom is often used in
Catholic Church masses as a way of greeting, often by the priest, as a way of saying "peace be upon you". As the
Maltese language derives from
Arabic, it inherited and still uses Arabic terms for religion amongst other things. • In the
Maldives, "" (''assalaam 'alaikum'') is used as a common formal greeting, used similar to "hello". • In
Nigeria, the phrase
assalamu alaikum is used as a formal greeting by Muslims. • In
Kurdish, the phrase "" is used as a formal greeting among, often shortened to just "". • In
Russia, Muslims use variations of the phrase, such as "" (
Russian), "" or "" (
Chechen), "" (
Bashkir), and "" (
Tatar). ==See also==