بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
﴿إِنَّ اللَّهَ وَمَلَـئِكَـتَهُ يُصَلُّونَ عَلَى النَّبِىِّ يأَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ صَلُّواْ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلِّمُواْ تَسْلِيماً ﴾
Allāh sends His Salāh on the Prophet, and also His angels (do so). O you who believe! Send your Salāh on him, and greet him with Taslīm. (Al-Ahzāb:56)
The meaning of Salāh upon the prophet (ﷺ)
Al-Bukhārī said:
Abū ‘Āliyah said: “Allāhs Salāh is His praising him before the angels, and the Salāh of the angels is their supplication.” Ibn ‘Abbās said: “They send (supplicate for) blessings.”
(Sahīh al-Bukhārī, Chapter of Tafsīr)
Shaykh Ibn Uthaymīn said: “Allāhs Salāh upon an individual is Allāhs praising him in the highest gathering.”
(Qawlul Mufīd pg. 458)
The meaning of Salām upon the prophet (ﷺ)
Shaykh Sālih al-Sālih said: “The salām is Allāh’s safeguarding of the Prophet (ﷺ) from deficiencies and any kind of evil, and the protection of the Message with which he was entrusted.
When the Muslim says “sallallāhu ‘alayhi wasallam”, he invokes Allāh to grant His Praise and Security to Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) and the protection of the Message of Islām which was revealed to him (ﷺ).”
(Tafsīr of Āyat al-Kursī pg. 4)
Does salāh mean mercy?
Shaykh Ibn Uthaymīn said: “The Salāh from Allāh upon His Messenger (ﷺ) does not mean what some of the people of knowledge understand: that it means mercy. This is not correct, from the evidence that show the incorrectness of this opinion is Allāh’s saying :
أُوْلَٰٓئِكَ عَلَيۡهِمۡ صَلَوَٰتٞ مِّن رَّبِّهِمۡ وَرَحۡمَةٞۖ وَأُوْلَٰٓئِكَ هُمُ ٱلۡمُهۡتَدُونَ ١٥٧
They are those on whom are the Salawāt (i.e. Praise) from their Lord, and (they are those who) receive His Rahmah (Mercy), and it is they who are the guided-ones. (al-Baqarah:157)
Allāh connected mercy with Salawāt, and conjuction implies difference.”
(Qawlul Mufīd pg. 458 & Sharh Riyād al-Sālihīn 1/186, slightly abridged)
The virtues of sending Salāh upon the prophet (ﷺ)
“أَوْلَى النَّاسِ بِي يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ أَكْثَرُهُمْ عَلَىَّ صَلاَةً”
The Prophet (ﷺ) said: “The person closest to me on the Day of Judgement is the one who sent the most Salāh upon me.” (al-Tirmidhī 484. Declared Hasan lighayrihi by Al-Albānī in al-Mawārid al-Dhamān 2027)
“إِنَّهُ جَاءَنِي جِبْرِيلُ صلى الله عليه وسلم فَقَالَ أَمَا يُرْضِيكَ يَا مُحَمَّدُ أَنْ لاَ يُصَلِّيَ عَلَيْكَ أَحَدٌ مِنْ أُمَّتِكَ إِلاَّ صَلَّيْتُ عَلَيْهِ عَشْرًا وَلاَ يُسَلِّمَ عَلَيْكَ أَحَدٌ مِنْ أُمَّتِكَ إِلاَّ سَلَّمْتُ عَلَيْهِ عَشْرًا ”
The Messenger of Allāh (ﷺ) came one day with a joyful expression on his face. He said: “Jibrīl came to me and said: ‘Will it not please you, O Muhammad, (to know) that no one of your Ummah will send salāh upon you but I will send salāh upon him tenfold, and no one will send salām upon you but I will send salām upon him tenfold?” (Al-Nasā’ī 1295. Declared Hasan by Al-Albānī)
“ مَنْ صَلَّى عَلَىَّ صَلاَةً وَاحِدَةً صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ عَشْرَ صَلَوَاتٍ وَحُطَّتْ عَنْهُ عَشْرُ خَطِيئَاتٍ وَرُفِعَتْ لَهُ عَشْرُ دَرَجَاتٍ
“The Messenger of Allāh (ﷺ) said: “Whoever sends salāh upon me once, Allāh will send salāh upon him tenfold, and will erase ten sins from him, and will raise him ten degrees in status.” (An-Nasā’ī 1297. Declared Sahīh by Al-Albānī)
Shaykh Ibn Uthaymīn said: Therefore, whoever sends Salāh upon the prophet once, Allāh will exalt his mention ten times in the highest gathering. (Qawlul Mufīd pg. 458)
How the Salāh is conveyed to the prophet (ﷺ)
إِنَّ لِلَّهِ مَلاَئِكَةً سَيَّاحِينَ فِي الْأَرْضِ يُبَلِّغُونِي مِنْ أُمَّتِي السَّلاَمَ
The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: “Indeed Allāh has angels who roam the earth and they convey to me the greetings of salām of my Ummah (nation).” (An-Nasā’ī 1282. Declared Sahīh by Al-Albānī)
Recommended occasions to send Salāh upon the prophet (ﷺ)
1) Jumu’ah
The Messenger of Allāh (ﷺ) said:
أَكْثِرُوا الصَّلاَةَ عَلَىَّ يَوْمَ الْجُمُعَةِ فَإِنَّهُ مَشْهُودٌ تَشْهَدُهُ الْمَلاَئِكَةُ
“Send a great deal of Salāh upon me on Fridays, for it is witnessed by the angels.” (Ibn Mājah 1637. Al-Mundhirī said the chain of transmission is good, and declared Hasan lighayrihi by Al-Albānī in Sahīh al-Targhīb 1672)
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