SALAWAT
You must do salawat upon Sayyid al-Wujud al-Habib al-Kamil Rasul-Allah (alayhi salat wa salam) frequently and super-abundantly. It is literally the best act of ‘ibada you can do, no exceptions.
(What about Salat? What about Sadaqa? What about Jihad?)
Imam Shafi’i said in some poetry of his, “Is it not enough of an honor for you (i.e. the Rasul and his Ahl al-Bayt) that the Salat is invalid unless the person makes salawat upon you?”
Allah Himself said (Q29:45) that the dhikr of Allah is greater than the Salat, and that the whole purpose of the Salat is dhikr (Q20:14), and the Prophet (asws) said that you retain from your salat only those parts in which you were aware and present (i.e. dhakir), and salat is limited (you cant pray in certain times or places) but dhikr is unlimited as such. So dhikr is better than salat.
Abu Darda’ related that he (asws) said: “Shall i not inform you of the best of your deeds, the purest in the estimation of your King, and the loftiest in your degrees, and better for you than spending gold or silver in charity, and better for you than meeting your enemy in combat, striking their necks and your necks being struck?”
“It is the Dhikr of Allah!”
[recorded by Imam Malik, Imam Ahmad, Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah, Hakim in the Mustadrak, Tabarani, Ibn Abi Shayba, Bayhaqi in his Shu'ab al-Iman, Ibn Shahin in his Targhib, Ibn Mubarak in his Kitab az-Zuhd, 'Abd ibn Humayd in his Musnad, and others.]
Abu Sa’id al-Khudri also related that he was asked, “which slave of Allah will have the loftiest rank on Qiyama?” and in his inspired wisdom he (asws) answered: “those who invoke and remember Allah frequently.”
“Even better than the mujahid in the Way of Allah?”
“Even if he fights the disbelievers and idolators with his sword until it breaks, and becomes covered with blood, those who invoke Allah frequently would still occupy a higher station than he.”
[recorded by Tirmidhi and Ahmad with weak chains, but it has supporting narrations which are Sahih, recorded by Tabarani in his Mu'jam as-Saghir and al-Awsat, Ibn Abi Shayba in his Musannaf, and others.]
Salawat upon the Prophet (asws) and his household is even better than reading the Qur’an. Think about it. if you do some bad deeds, especially do something hurtful or oppressive to another creature, and then you read the Qur’an, the Qur’an curses you because your actions contravene its commands. but when the rebellious person does Salawat, Allah looks at him with mercy and favor (and he would not have done salawat were it not for His merciful support), and forgives him and strengthens him to do good and repent.
So there you have it, dhikr is the best ‘ibada. And i say with certainty that salawat is the best dhikr. it is also the only ‘ibada you can do which Allah Himself also does perpetually (Q33:56), and which results in multiplied salawat from Allah, His Angels, and the Prophets upon you in grateful return.
Ubayy ibn Ka’b said, “ya Rasul Allah! I make much salawat upon you as a personal habit. I have a daily portion of dhikr which i do, so how much of it should i devote to you in salawat and du’a?”
“As much as you please, ya Ubayy!”
“A quarter?”
“This is good, and if you increase it would be even better”
“A third?”
“This is good, and if you increase it would be even better”
“Half?” … “Two-thirds?”
(same response)
“then i shall devote my entire daily ‘ibada to you and make it all salawat”
“In this case, ya Ubayy, Allah will suffice you your needs in this world and the next, and forgive you your sins.”
[recorded by Tirmidhi, Imam Ahmad, Hakim in his Mustadrak, Tabarani in Mu'jam al-Kabir, Abdur-Razzaq and Ibn Abi Shayba in their Musannafs, Diya' al-Maqdisi in his Mukhtara (which is mostly Sahih hadiths), Bayhaqi in his Shu'ab al-Iman, and in the Musnad collections of Bazzar, Ruyani, and 'Abd ibn Humayd, and it is Hadith Hasan].
You must understand (and when you do abundant salawat you will realize this for yourself) that every blessing and ni’ma that Allah gives to creation in general, comes to Rasul-Allah first, and then he (alayhi salat wa salam) distributes it. “Allah is the Giver, and i am the distributor (qasim),” as Bukhari and others recorded. Until, some people do so much salawat that they become inheritors of him, and receive an abundant share from the overflowing oceans of the blessings and madad Allah sends the creation thru him.
Some of the scholars have said that the meaning of asking salawat upon the Prophet (asws) is that you ask Allah’s mercy to descend upon him. But how can this be the meaning, when Allah himself already made him the spring of mercy, and said, “I have not sent you except as a mercy to all the worlds and domains” (Q21:107), and he (asws) said, “I was sent as a gifted mercy to you”… in other words, he already has that from Allah.
no, the nature and reality of Salawat is something much more greater and sublime. i will post on that in the future.
in the rest of this post, i will just quote various hadiths he stated to encourage myself and you the reader to make it a habit – especially on fridays – to offer abundant salawat.
Ibn Mas’ud related that he (asws) said: “the person most deserving of me (my closeness, intercession, kindness, etc) on the Qiyama is the one who sent the most salawat upon me.”
[recorded by Bukhari in his Tarikh al-Kabir, Tirmidhi, Ibn Hibban in his Sahih collection, Tabarani in M. Kabir, Bayhaqi in his Shu'ab al-Iman, and in the Musnads of Abu Ya'la and Bazzar. Sahih according to Suyuti].
“None of you will believe until I am more beloved to him than his family, his children, and all of mankind” (Bukhari and Muslim), and then add to that, “those who love something/someone mention it frequently” (Daylami in Musnad al-Firdaws, Da’if acc. to Suyuti), and you see that the mark of the true believer is frequent mention and salawat upon the one he loves the most.
Aws ibn Aws al-Thaqafi related that the Prophet (asws) said: “the best of your days is the day of Friday, so increase your prayers of benediction (salawat) upon me, for your prayers are shown before me,” and in other narrations, “your prayers reach me from wherever you are.” They asked him, “How could our prayers be shown to you when you have decomposed in your grave?” He answered, “Verily Allah has forbidden the earth to consume the bodies of the Prophets.” Some narrations add: “Therefore, the Prophet of Allah is alive and sustained.”
[recorded by Abu Dawud, Ibn Majah, Nasa'i, and Darimi in their Sunan, Ibn Khuzayma, Ibn HIbban, and Hakim in their Sahih collections, Tabarani in his Mu'jam al-Kabir and Awsat, Bayhaqi in his Sunan al-Kubra and Shu'ab al-Iman, Ibn Abi Shayba, Imam Ahmad, Abu Ya'la, and Musaddad in their Musnads, Hakim Tirmidhi in Nawadir al-Usul, and others. Sahih according to Nawawi].
“Make frequent salawat upon me on the night preceding Friday, for indeed your salawat are presented to me” (Tabarani in M. Awsat, Bayhaqi in Shu’ab and Hayat al-Anbiya); “…for the salawat of my Ummah are shown to me every Friday, so whoever makes more salawat upon me will have a closer station to me” (Bayhaqi in Sunan and Hayat al-Anbiya, Hasan acc. to Ibn Hajar in Fath al-Bari), and in the narration of Anas, “…the day of Jum’a and its night, and whoever does this i will be his intercessor (shafi’) in Qiyama”.
Abu Hurayra related that he said: “Whoever sends salawat upon me at my grave, i hear him directly, and whoever sends salawat upon me at a distance, it is delivered to me and i am made to know of it” [recorded by Abu'l Shaykh ibn Hayyan in his Kitab al-Thawab, with a strong chain acc. to Ibn Hajar and his student Sakhawi].
‘Ammar ibn Yasir related that he (asws) said: “Allah has a special angel stationed at my grave, who has ears the number of the creatures, and if someone sends salawat upon me, he hears it and delivers it to me.”
[recorded by Bazzar and Harith ibn abi Usama in their Musnads, Abu'l Shaykh in Kitab al-'Adhama, and also by Daylami with a different chain from Abu Bakr. Hadith Hasan, and it has supporting narrations recorded by Bayhaqi in his Hayat al-Anbiya, Ishaq ibn Rahawayh in his Musnad, Isma'il al-Qadi in Fadl as-Salat 'ala-n Nabi, Ibn Bashkuwal in his Qurba, and others].
Similar to this is the other hadith from Ibn Mas’ud:
“Allah has angels who roam the earth, with the sole duty of conveying the salawat of my Ummah to me (in my grave)”
[Sahih hadith recorded by: Imam Ahmad, Nasa'i, Darimi, Hakim, Ibn Hibban, Bayhaqi, Tabarani, Abu Ya'la, Abdur-Razzaq, Ibn Abi Shayba, Bazzar, Qadi Isma'il, Ibn Mubarak, Abu'l Shaykh, Abu Nu'aym, al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, Ibn 'Asakir, al-Baghawi, Daylami and others].
Mujahid stated that the Prophet (asws) said, “Indeed, you are presented to me (in my grave) with your names and your identifying marks, so beautify your salawat upon me” (Abdur-Razzaq in his Musannaf with a Sahih mursal chain).
more later…