a purely Islamic turn of phrase never employed by Arabic-speaking Jews and Christians.

Submitted by Yehuda Poch (Israel), Sep 19, 2012 at 03:43

The phrase "Peace be unto them" is most certainly used by Jews, though it is used differently. Jews use the phrase to refer to anyone who has died, ranging from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, all the way down to the very recently deceased. It is not "reserved" for prophets. The Hebrew term is "Aleyhem Hashalom", or for the singular, "Alav Hashalom", and it is used very frequently.

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".