06-30-2004, 03:20 AM
dear suhail,
it's a good thing that you have that concern...
death is "sammun"
peace is "salaamun"
to put it word by word:
"As" or "Al" (as in Al-Qur'an - the Koran) can literally be referred as "the"
"Salaamu" or "Salaama" is "peace"
"Alai" or "Alaa" means "upon"
"Kum" means "you" (plural)
"Wa" means "and"
As-salaamu-alai-kum = (May) the peace (be) upon you
Wa-alai-kum-mus-salaam = And (May) upon you (too) the peace
in the second greeting, the word "As" became "mus" because of the word before it "Kum" ends with "m" and the word after it, "Salaam" stated with "s". so "m"+"as"+"s"="mus". you might feel this one is confusing, but keep in mind that letters in arabic are diffrent from english.