Silsilat al-Ahadith al-Sahihah

Lady Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) narrates that a Jew came to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and (instead of saying "As-Salamu Alaikum") said: O Muhammad! «اَلسَّامُ عَلَيكُم» (i.e., death and destruction be upon you). The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) replied: «وعليك» (and upon you as well). Lady Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) says: I wanted to say something, but I knew that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) would dislike it, so I remained silent. Another Jew came and said: «اَلسَّامُ عَلَيكُم» (death and destruction be upon you). The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “«وعليك» (and upon you as well).” This time too, I wanted to say something, but due to the Prophet’s (peace and blessings be upon him) dislike (I remained silent). Then a third Jew came and said: «اَلسَّامُ عَلَيكُم». I could not bear it and I spoke out: O apes and swine! Destruction be upon you, and Allah’s wrath and His curse. Do you want to use the manner in which Allah Almighty did not send peace upon the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)? The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Allah Almighty does not like foul language and obscenity. They (the Jews) said «اَلسَّامُ عَلَيكُم» and we also (avoiding foul language, simply replied by saying «وعليك»). In fact, the Jews are a jealous people and do not envy us for any trait as much as they do for (our) greeting of peace and for saying Ameen.

Lady Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) says: The Jews used to come to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and say «اَلسَّامُ عَلَيكُم» (instead of "As-Salamu Alaikum," they would say "As-Saamu Alaikum" — may death and destruction be upon you). The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) would reply: «وعليك» ("And upon you as well"). Lady Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) understood what they meant and responded to them harshly (and in one narration, she said: "Rather, may destruction and condemnation be upon you!"). The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "Aisha! Leave it, do not say unpleasant things, for indeed Allah does not like foul language and bad words." She said: "O Messenger of Allah! Did you not hear what they were saying to you?" The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "Did I not respond to them in a good manner?" Then Allah revealed this verse: «وَإِذَا جَاءُوكَ حَيَّوْكَ بِمَا لَمْ يُحَيِّكَ بِهِ اللَّـهُ» (58:8 Al-Mujadila) "And when they come to you, they greet you with words with which Allah does not greet you..." to the end of the verse (Surah Al-Mujadila: 8).