Tafseer Ibn Kathir of AL AHZAB [56]

56. Allah sends His Salah on the Prophet, and also His angels (do so). O you who believe! Send your Salah on him, and greet him with Taslim. Al-Bukhari said: ”Abu Al-`Aliyah said: ”Allah's Salah is His praising him before the angels, and the Salah of the angels is their supplication.'' Ibn `Abbas said: ”They send blessings.'' Abu `Isa At-Tirmidhi said: ”This was narrated from Sufyan Ath-Thawri and other scholars, who said: `The Salah of the Lord is mercy, and the Salah of the angels is their seeking forgiveness. There are Mutawatir Hadiths narrated from the Messenger of Allah commanding us to send blessings on him and how we should say Salah upon him. We will mention as many of them as we can, if Allah wills, and Allah is the One Whose help we seek. In his Tafsir of this Ayah, Al-Bukhari recorded that Ka`b bin `Ujrah said, ”It was said, `O Messenger of Allah, with regard to sending Salam upon you, we know about this, but how about Salah' He said:

(Say: ”O Allah, send Your Salah upon Muhammad and upon the family of Muhammad, as You sent Your Salah upon the family of Ibrahim, verily You are the Most Praiseworthy, Most Glorious. O Allah, send Your blessings upon Muhammad and upon the family of Muhammad, as You sent Your blessings upon the family of Ibrahim, verily You are Most Praiseworthy, Most Glorious.'')'' Imam Ahmad recorded that Ibn Abi Layla said that Ka`b bin `Ujrah met him and said, ”Shall I not give you a gift The Messenger of Allah came out to us and we said, `O Messenger of Allah! We know how to send Salam upon you, but how can we send Salah' He said:

(Say: ”O Allah, send Your Salah upon Muhammad and upon the family of Muhammad, as You sent Your Salah upon the family of Ibrahim, verily You are the Most Praiseworthy, Most Glorious. O Allah, send Your blessings upon Muhammad and upon the family of Muhammad, as You sent Your blessings upon the family of Ibrahim, verily You are Most Praiseworthy, Most Glorious.'')'' This Hadith has been recorded by the Group in their books with different chains of narration. Al-Bukhari recorded that Abu Sa`id Al-Khudri, may Allah be pleased with him, said: ”We said, `O Messenger of Allah, this is the Salam upon you, but how do we send Salah upon you' He said:

(Say: ”O Allah, send Your Salah upon Muhammad, Your servant and Messenger, as You sent Your Salah upon the family of Ibrahim, and send Your blessings upon Muhammad and upon the family of Muhammad, as You sent Your blessings upon the family of Ibrahim.'')'' Abu Salih narrated that Layth said:

(Upon Muhammad and upon the family of Muhammad as You sent Your blessings upon the family of Ibrahim.) Ibrahim bin Hamzah told that, Ibn Abi Hazim and Ad-Darawardi told, that Yazid, i.e., Ibn Al-Had said:

(As You sent Your Salah upon Ibrahim, and send Your blessings upon Muhammad and the family of Muhammad, as You sent Your blessings upon Ibrahim and the family of Ibrahim.) This was also recorded by An-Nasa'i and Ibn Majah. Imam Ahmad recorded from Abu Humayd As-Sa`idi that they said: ”O Messenger of Allah, how can we send Salah upon you'' He said,

(Say: ”O Allah, send Your Salah upon Muhammad and his wives and offspring, as You sent Your Salah upon Ibrahim, and send Your blessings upon Muhammad and his wives and offspring, as You sent Your blessings upon the family of Ibrahim, verily You are Most Praiseworthy, Most Glorious.'')'' It was also recorded by the rest of the Group, apart from At-Tirmidhi. Muslim recorded that Abu Mas`ud Al-Ansari said: ”We came to the Messenger of Allah and we were with Sa`d bin `Ubadah. Bashir bin Sa`d said to him, `Allah has commanded us to send Salah upon you, O Messenger of Allah. How can we send Salah upon you' The Messenger of Allah remained quiet for so long that we wished that he had not asked him, then the Messenger of Allah said:

(Say: ”O Allah, send Your Salah upon Muhammad and upon the family of Muhammad, as You sent Your Salah upon the family of Ibrahim, and send Your blessings upon Muhammad and upon the family of Muhammad, as You sent Your blessings upon the family of Ibrahim among all people, verily You are Most Praiseworthy, Most Glorious.'' And the Salam is as you know.)'' This was also recorded by Abu Dawud, An-Nasa'i, At-Tirmidhi and Ibn Jarir. At-Tirmidhi said, ”It is Hasan Sahih.'' Imam Ahmad, Abu Dawud and At-Tirmidhi reported the following Hadith and graded it Sahih; An-Nasa'i, Ibn Khuzaymah and Ibn Hibban recorded in their Sahihs that Fadalah bin `Ubayd, may Allah be pleased with him, said: ”The Messenger of Allah heard a man making supplication in his prayer when he had not praised Allah or said Salah upon the Prophet . The Messenger of Allah said:

(This man is rushing.) Then he called him over and said, to him or to someone else,

(When any one of you supplicates, let him start by praising and glorifying Allah, may He be exalted, then let him send Salah upon the Prophet, and after that let him make supplication as he wishes.)'' Another Hadith At-Tirmidhi recorded that Ubayy bin Ka`b said: ”When two thirds of the night had passed, the Messenger of Allah would get up and say,

(O people, remember Allah, remember Allah, the first blast of the Trumpet has come and will be followed by the second blast, death has come with all its horrors, death has come with all its horrors.)'' Ubayy said, ”I said, `O Messenger of Allah, I send a lot of Salah upon you, how much of my prayer should be Salah upon you' He said,

(Whatever you want.) I said, `A quarter' He said,

(Whatever you want, but if you increase it, it will be better for you.) I said, `Half' He said,

(Whatever you want, but if you increase it, it will be better for you.) I said, `Two thirds' He said,

(Whatever you want, but if you increase it, it will be better for you.) I said, `Should I make my whole prayer for you' He said,

(This would be sufficient to relieve your distress and earn you forgiveness of your sins.)'' Then he said: ”This is a Hasan Hadith.''   Imam Ahmad recorded that Abu Talhah said that the Messenger of Allah came one day looking happy. They said, ”O Messenger of Allah, we see that you look happy.'' He said,

(The angel came to me and told me, ”O Muhammad, would it not please you if your Lord, may He be glorified, says: `No member of your Ummah sends Salah upon you but I send Salah upon him tenfold, and no member of your Ummah sends greetings of Salam upon you but I send greetings of Salam upon him tenfold''' I said, ”Of course.'') This was also recorded by An-Nasa'i. Imam Ahmad recorded that Abu Talhah Al-Ansari said: ”One morning the Messenger of Allah was in a cheerful mood and looked happy. They said, `O Messenger of Allah, this morning you are in a cheerful mood and look happy.' He said,

(Of course just now someone ﴿an angel﴾ came to me from my Lord and said, ”Whoever among your Ummah sends Salah upon you, Allah will record for him ten good deeds and will erase for him ten evil deeds, and will raise his status by ten degrees, and will return his greeting with something similar to it.'')'' This is also a good chain, although they (Al-Bukhari and Muslim) did not report it. Muslim, Abu Dawud, At-Tirmidhi and An-Nasa'i recorded that Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, said: ”The Messenger of Allah said:

(Whoever sends one Salah upon me, Allah will send ten upon him.) At-Tirmidhi said: ”This is a Sahih Hasan Hadith. On the same topic, narrations come from `Abdur-Rahman bin `Awf, `Amir bin Rabi`ah, `Ammar, Abu Talhah, Anas and Ubayy bin Ka`b.'' Imam Ahmad recorded from Abu Hurayrah that the Prophet said:

(Send Salah upon me, for this is Zakah for you, and ask Allah to grant me Al-Wasilah, for it is a position in the highest part of Paradise which only one man will attain, and I hope that I will be the one.) This was recorded only by Ahmad.   Imam Ahmad recorded that Al-Husayn bin `Ali said that the Messenger of Allah said:

(The miser is the one in whose presence I am mentioned, then he does not send Salah upon me.) Abu Sa`id said:

(...and he does not send Salah upon me.) This was also recorded by At-Tirmidhi, who then said: ”This Hadith is Hasan Gharib, Sahih.'' At-Tirmidhi recorded that Abu Hurayrah said: ”The Messenger of Allah said:

(May he be humiliated, the man in whose presence I am mentioned and he does not send Salah upon me; may he be humiliated, the man who sees the month of Ramadan come and go, and he is not forgiven; may he be humiliated, the man whose parents live to old age and they do not cause him to be granted admittance to Paradise.)'' Then he (At-Tirmidhi) said: ”Hasan Gharib.''   It is reported that we should send blessings upon him on many occasions, such as following the call to prayer, as in the Hadith recorded by Imam Ahmad from `Abdullah bin `Amr bin Al-`As, who said that he heard the Messenger of Allah say:

(When you hear the Mu'adhdhin, repeat what he says, then send Salah upon me, for whoever sends Salah upon me, Allah will send Salah upon him tenfold. Then ask Allah to grant me Al-Wasilah, which is a status in Paradise to which only one of the servants of Allah will be entitled, and I hope that I will be the one. Whoever asks Allah for Al-Wasilah for me, it will be permitted for me to intercede for him.) This was recorded by Muslim, Abu Dawud, At-Tirmidhi and An-Nasa'i. Other occasions when we should send Salah upon the Prophet include when entering or exiting the Masjid, because of the Hadith recorded by Imam Ahmad from Fatimah, the daughter of the Messenger of Allah who said: ”When the Messenger of Allah entered the Masjid, he would send Salah and Salam upon Muhammad, and say,

(O Allah, forgive me my sins and open for me the gates of Your mercy) When he exited, he would send Salah and Salam upon Muhammad, and say,

(O Allah, forgive me my sins and open for me the gates of Your bounty.)'' We should also send Salah upon him during the Funeral prayer. The Sunnah is to recite Surat Al-Fatihah following the first Takbir, to send Salah upon the Prophet during the second Takbir, to make supplication for the deceased during the third Takbir, and in the fourth Takbir to say, ”O Allah, do not deprive us of his reward, and do not test us after him.'' Ash-Shafi`i, may Allah have mercy on him, recorded that Abu Umamah bin Sahl bin Hunayf was told by one of the Companions of the Prophet that the Sunnah in the funeral prayer is for the Imam to pronounce the Takbir, then to recite Surat Al-Fatihah silently after the first Takbir, then to send Salah upon the Prophet then to offer sincere supplication for the deceased, but not to recite any Qur'an in any of the Takbirs, then to conclude by saying Salam silently. An-Nasa'i also recorded this from Abu Umamah, who said, ”This is from the Sunnah,'' and he mentioned it. According to the correct view, such a statement reported from a Companion carries the ruling of Marfu`   At-Tirmidhi recorded that `Umar bin Al-Khattab said: ”A supplication remains suspended between heaven and earth and does not ascend any further until you send Salah upon your Prophet.'' This was also narrated by Mu`adh bin Al-Harith from Abu Qurrah from Sa`id bin Al-Musayyib from `Umar, as a saying of the Prophet . It was also recorded by Razin bin Mu`awiyah in his book, where he also attributed it to the Prophet reporting that he said:

(A supplication remains suspended between heaven and earth and does not ascend any further until a person sends Salah on me. Do not treat me like a spare water container, send Salah upon me at the beginning of your supplication, at the end and in the middle.) hSending Salah upon the Prophet is even more strongly encouraged in the Qunut supplication. Ahmad, the Sunan compilers, Ibn Khuzaymah, Ibn Hibban and Al-Hakim recorded that Al-Hasan bin `Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, said: ”The Messenger of Allah taught me some words to say during Al-Witr:

(”O Allah, guide me along with those whom You have guided, grant me health along with those to whom You have granted health, be an ally to me along with those to whom You are an ally, and bless me for that which You have bestowed. Protect me from the evil You have decreed, for verily You decree and none can decree over You. Verily, he whom You show allegiance to is never abased and he whom You take as an enemy is never honored and mighty, O our Lord, blessed and Exalted are You.'')'' In his Sunan, An-Nasa'i has the addition,

(”and may Allah bless Muhammad.'') at the end of this Qunut. It is also recommended to say plenty of Salah upon him on Friday and on the eve of Friday. Imam Ahmad recorded that Aws bin Aws Ath-Thaqafi, may Allah be pleased with him, said: ”The Messenger of Allah said:

(One of the best of your days is Friday; on this day Adam was created and died, on this day the Trumpet (Sur) will be blown and all will have swoon away. So on this day send plenty of Salah upon me, for your Salah will be presented to me.) They said, `O Messenger of Allah, how will they be shown to you after your body has dispersed into the earth' He said,

(Allah has forbidden the earth to consume the bodies of the Prophets. )'' This was also recorded by Abu Dawud, An-Nasa'i and Ibn Majah, and it was graded Sahih by Ibn Khuzaymah, Ibn Hibban, Ad-Daraqutni and An-Nawawi in Al-Adhkar.