SALAWAT
SALAWAT
SALAWAT
Commentary
Allamah Taba Tabai (AR)
The verses 43 and 44 define it clearly when they say, " He it is who confers upon
you His blessings and the angels, that He may bring you forth from the
darkness into the light, and He is to the believers the all –merciful. Their
greetings on the Day when they meet Him shall be "Peace" and He has prepared
for them an honorable reward."
God says, " Verily God and his angels bless the Prophet! O you who believe, send
blessings unto him and greet him with a salutation worthy of respect."
The Salawat certainly is a blessing and the messenger deserved that the blessings
be sent upon him. When the angels bless the Messenger it is the proof of the
divine purity endowed on him by God. When the momins bless him then it is a
sign of allegiance. God has mentioned the angels blessing the Messenger before
human beings for we only copy them. There are various traditions in both Sunni
and Shia books about it and when the Mu’min says the Salawat they ask God to
shower His Blessing upon the Messenger.
Hazrat Ali has been quoted in the book Tawab Al A’mal by Abul Ma’zi in this
manner. The narrator says I asked " What is the difference between the worship
of God, of the Angels and of the Men?" He answered,
Abdul Razzaq, Ibn Abi Shiba, Ahmed, Abd bin Hameed, Bukhari, Muslim, Daud,
Tirmizi, Nisai, Ibn Maja and Ibn Marduia quote Ka’b bin A’jra in Durre Manthur
who said,
One person said to the Messenger we know how to say "O Messenger of God may
peace be upon you" but how are we to say the Salawat?" The Messenger
answered, " Say the full words
Miser is the person who does not say the Salawat after he
hears my name.
Fakh al Din al Razi writes that the Ahl ul Bayt are at par with the Holy Prophet in
five things (one of which is) in invoking the blessings of Allah during prayers,
after each tashahud which, if not recited, renders the salat null and void. Bukhari
writes in his Sahih, page 127, volume 3 (Egypt edition) that the Holy Prophet
said: Say:
O Allah send blessings on Muhammad and on ali
Muhammad (Ah ul Bayt) just as You blessed Ibrahim and
ali Ibrahim.
Ibn Hajar Makki writes in his Sawa-iq al Muhriqah, on page 87, that the Holy
Prophet warned the people not to send batar salawat (salawat which has lost the
tail i.e. curtailed). When asked what a batar salawat was he replied:
Ahmad bin Hanbal writes in his Musnad, volume 6 page 323, that the Holy
Prophet covered Ali, Fatimah, Hasan and Husayn with a blanket and said:
Muslim has also related this in his Sahih, in part I of "the book of prayers."
Also refer to Mushkil al Athar by Tahawi (volume 1, page 334), Kanz al Ummal by
Ali Muttaqi (volume 7, page 103) and Tafsir Durr al Manthur by Jalaluddin al
Suyuti in his interpretation of ayah al tat-hir. He has also quoted the well-known
verse composed by Al Shafi-i:
Ibn Hajar also quoted these lines of Shafi-i on page 88 of his Sawa-iq al
Muhriqah, in connection with his interpretation of verse 33 of Ahzab.