- published: 25 Jan 2016
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As-Salāmu `Alaykum (السلام عليكم) is an Arabic greeting often used by Muslims around the world. It literally means what is close to "Peace be upon you," but is considered the equivalent to "hello" or "good day" in English.
The term as-salāmu ʿalaykum varies slightly in pronunciation from country to country, but always remains universally intelligible. The classical pronunciation of the greeting in Literary Arabic is /assaˈlaːmu ʕaˈlajkum/. Many people today omit the initial 'As' and pronounce the word as "Salaamu `Alaykum". In many parts of the world, indeed in most of the non-Arabic speaking countries the greeting is pronounced [asalaːmʊ aleɪkʊm] or in a similar variation. This is especially common in Africa, the South Asia, South East Asia and in Eastern Europe--not to mention North America. In some other cases, it omits the "u" at the end of "as-salaam" to make it shorter and less formal.
For an example of different pronunciations, Pakistanis tend to emphasise the 'ssalam aLAYkum', whereas Indonesian pronunciation is monotonous until the last syllable ('assalamuAlaiKUM').
Maher Zain (Arabic: ماهر زين ; born March 16, 1981 in Tripoli, Lebanon) is a Muslim Swedish R&B singer, songwriter and music producer of Lebanese origin. His debut album Thank You Allah, an internationally successful album with strong Muslim religious influences, was released in 2009. He released his follow-up album Forgive Me on April 2, 2012.
Maher Zain and his family moved to Sweden when he was eight years old. He completed his schooling there gaining a Bachelors degree in Aeronautical Engineering. After university he entered the music industry in Sweden and linked up with RedOne, the Moroccan-born Swedish producer.
When RedOne moved to New York in 2006 Maher Zain followed soon after to continue his music industry career in the USA producing for artists such as Kat DeLuna. On a visit home to Sweden he became engaged once more with his Islamic faith and decided to move away from a career as a music producer to become a singer/songwriter of contemporary R&B music with a strong Muslim religious influence.