سلم

Core meaning

To be whole, without flaw or division: the integrity of an intact thing, of a being wholly turned toward God, of a relation without breach, which is peace.

Uses

1. أَسْلَمَ, مُسْلِم → "to be true to God alone", "true to God alone" : to give oneself to God without division; the word states a posture, not a membership.

   • «فَلَهُۥٓ أَسْلِمُوا۟» — "So to Him alone be true" (22:34)
   • «وَأَسْلَمْتُ مَعَ سُلَيْمَٰنَ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ ٱلْعَٰلَمِينَ» — "and I am true, with Sulayman, to God, Guardian of all beings" (27:44)

2. أَسْلَمَ وَجْهَهُۥ → "to render one's direction true to God alone" : to orient one's whole being toward God, holding nothing back.

   • «مَنْ أَسْلَمَ وَجْهَهُۥ لِلَّهِ وَهُوَ مُحْسِنٌۭ» — "whoever renders his direction true to God alone, while doing good" (2:112)

3. ٱلْإِسْلَٰم → "being true to God alone" : the name of this posture, which God approves as Law.

   • «إِنَّ ٱلدِّينَ عِندَ ٱللَّهِ ٱلْإِسْلَٰمُ» — "The Law, with God, is indeed being true to Him alone" (3:19)

4. سَلَٰم, ٱلسِّلْم, ٱلسَّلَم → "peace", "submission" : the relation without breach: peace offered or received, the greeting; before force, submission offered.

   • «سَلَٰمٌ عَلَيْكُمْ» — "Peace be upon you" (6:54)
   • «وَإِن جَنَحُوا۟ لِلسَّلْمِ فَٱجْنَحْ لَهَا» — "And if they incline toward peace, incline toward it also" (8:61)

5. سَلِيم, سَٰلِمُون, مُسَلَّمَة → "intact", "sound" : what has not been broken: a core, a body, a beast without blemish.

   • «إِلَّا مَنْ أَتَى ٱللَّهَ بِقَلْبٍۢ سَلِيمٍۢ» — "except to one who comes to God with an intact core" (26:89)
   • «وَهُمْ سَٰلِمُونَ» — "while they were intact" (68:43)

6. سَلَّمَ, تَسْلِيم → "to greet", "to adhere with complete integrity", "adherence with complete integrity" : to make whole: a greeting addressed, or an adherence without reserve to what God and His messenger have decided.

   • «وَيُسَلِّمُوا۟ تَسْلِيمًۭا» — "and adhered to it with complete integrity" (4:65)
   • «وَمَا زَادَهُمْ إِلَّآ إِيمَٰنًۭا وَتَسْلِيمًۭا» — "and it only increased them in faith and adherence with complete integrity" (33:22)
   • «وَسَلِّمُوا۟ تَسْلِيمًا» — "and greet him with a salutation" (33:56)

7. سُلَّم → "ladder" : a concrete word of the same family: what allows one to climb.

   • «أَوْ سُلَّمًۭا فِى ٱلسَّمَآءِ» — "or a ladder into the sky" (6:35)

Evidence from the text

The opposite of integrity is division. Ibrahim was wholly turned toward God, true to Him alone (3:67), and the same verse adds that he was not of those who associate; the example of 39:29 sets the man shared among quarreling partners against the man who belongs wholly to one. The word names a posture and not a group: Nuh (10:72), Ibrahim and Isma'il (2:128), the queen of Saba' with Sulayman (27:44), the disciples of Issa (3:52) are true to God alone.

Peace is the same integrity in a relation: one enters into peace "in totality" (2:208); it is offered (4:90, 4:94), sought (8:61), given as greeting to the people of the Garden (10:10, 14:23), and God Himself is "the Peace" (59:23). What is intact, the core (26:89, 37:84) or the body (68:43), is what has not been broken.

The noun تَسْلِيم keeps this integrity: before the parties, the believers' faith grows with their adherence with complete integrity (33:22). It is not to be confused with ٱلسَّلَم, the submission offered before force (16:28, 16:87).

Distinctions

• خلص — to devote exclusively: to reserve for one alone, whereas سلم states the whole being
• حنف — to be wholly turned toward God: the direction taken, which سلم makes whole
• شرك — to associate: division, the opposite of integrity

See also

صلح (sound)