Sacrifices of The Prophet S

Opening Praise and Salutations

الحمد لله وكفى وسلامٌ على عباده الذين اصطفى، والصلاة والسلام على سيد الأنبياء محمد الأمين وصحبه الغُرِّ الميامين وعلى آله الطاهرين ومن تبعهم بإحسان إلى يوم الدين

أما بعد، فقد قال الله تبارك وتعالى في كلامه المجيد وفرقانه الحميد:

صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وأصحابه وبارك وسلّم تسليمًا كثيرًا

And the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said:

Allah's Greatest Benefactor Upon Us

Allah is our greatest benefactor and the ihsan and the favours of Allah upon us are innumerous and we cannot count the amount of favours of Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم upon us. And from the entire creation, Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم is our greatest benefactor. The ihsan and the favour of Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم exceeds even the favours of our parents upon us, because it is through Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم and it is through the sacrifices of Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم that we have the greatest ni'mah, and that is iman. If it were not for Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم, we would not have recognised who Allah is, we would not have recognised the teachings of Allah, we would not have recognised and understood the purpose of our creation.

So Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم was sent as a prophet and as a mercy for the entire universe. And Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم — in the Shama'il it comes — that Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم had constant worry and concern for his ummah. And since the day he became a prophet, there was no rest in his life. Constantly Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم was worried and concerned: how can every single member of his ummah be safe from the hellfire?

The Parable of the Moth and the Fire

That is why in a hadith, Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم gave an example of himself: that my example and your example is like a person who lit a fire, and the butterflies and the moths and the insects started falling into this fire because they found the brightness of the fire to be very attractive — so this lured them and they started falling into the fire. And this person, knowing that this is the means of their destruction and knowing that this will kill them, was trying his best to repel them and push them away.

Likewise, Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم is saying: I am grabbing you by your waist and I am trying to push you away from the hellfire. But you find sinning and disobedience to Allah — you find pleasure in it, and it is very attractive, it is something that lures you. But me, being the Prophet of Allah, I know that your destruction lies in it. Therefore I am grabbing you by the waist and I am pushing you away. But unfortunately you are slipping away from my hand due to not understanding the consequences of sinning and disobedience to Allah, because you — oh human being — you are oppressive. You oppress yourself by sinning and disobeying Allah. And why do you do this? Because you are unaware and you are ignorant of the consequences of the disobedience of Allah.

So Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم was that merciful being who sacrificed for us. Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم cried for us, he bled for us, he sweat for us. There is no sacrifice that Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم did not do for his ummah. That is why it is impossible for us to repay Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم. If we spent our entire lives praising Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم in order to repay the favour and the sacrifices of Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم for our sake, this would not be enough.

How to Repay the Prophet — Sending Salawat

That is why, through the mercy of Allah, Allah himself taught us a way that we can try to repay Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم. Allah in the Quran taught us a practice, an action that we can do and that we should do to try to repay Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم for all the sacrifices and for all the favours upon us. And what is that? By sending salutations upon Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم.

So Allah commands us to send salutations and peace upon Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم. Why? Not because Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم needs us to send salutations upon him — the mala'ika, Allah and the mala'ika are sufficient. Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم doesn't need our salawat and our salam. But we are sending salat and salam upon Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم because we are in need of it, because it is our moral responsibility to try to repay Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم for all of the favours and sacrifices that he did for us.

The Warning for Neglecting Salawat

That is why Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم, while mentioning one of the warnings for not sending salawat, said that the actual miser and the actual low life is that person who, when my name is mentioned, doesn't have the decency to send salawat upon me. So this is the height of miserliness, this is the height of lowliness, this is the height of disgrace — that our greatest benefactor, that being whose favours upon us are greater than any other creation of Allah, but in lieu of his sacrifice, we do not even have the decency to say salawat on Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم — whereas this requires no effort, it requires no money being spent. That is why Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم said that this person is the actual coward, this person is the actual miser, this person is the actual low life, the actual disgraceful human being.

The poet says that that person who does not send salawat on Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم — he is a miser, he is a coward, he is a low life, he is a disgraceful human being.

The Hadith of Ka'ab bin 'Ujra — The Three Steps of the Minbar

The warnings for not sending salawat on Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم are very severe. To such an extent that we learn from a hadith that the curse of Jibril عليه السلام is upon a person who does not send salawat on Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم when his name is mentioned. This is the famous hadith of Ka'ab bin 'Ujra رضي الله عنه.

Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم once instructed the Sahabah to come close to the minbar, and then he ascended the first step of the minbar and he said: "May that person be far from the mercy of Allah…" — and this is the meaning of la'na: when we say la'na, it means that this person is far from the mercy of Allah.

There are a lot of words that we use in our conversations — like inshallah, mashallah — and many commonly used Islamic words whose true meaning we do not know. So what is the meaning of la'na? When we say the la'na of Allah is upon a person, the la'na of Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم is upon a person, it means that this person is far from the mercy of Allah. And a person who is far from the mercy of Allah — there is no mercy in the world that can show him mercy, because Allah's mercy is the ultimate mercy. So a person cannot find any shade to save himself from the la'na of Allah. May Allah protect all of us.

And then Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم ascended the second step of the minbar and he said: "May that person be far from the mercy of Allah — that when my name is taken before him, he doesn't have the decency to send salah upon me." And then Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم said ameen.

And then Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم ascended the third step and he said: "May that person be far from the mercy of Allah who found one of his parents in old age, or both of them — but his parents, or one of his parents, was not a cause for him to go into Jannah." Meaning he didn't take the opportunity to serve them, to look after them and earn their du'as, by which he was not able to go to Jannah. And unfortunately, if we look at how children treat their parents nowadays — we shouldn't be shedding tears, we should be shedding blood from our eyes. May Allah protect all of us. So when a ni'ma is lost, when we lose a ni'ma, then we realise the value of it. So we will truly realise the value of our parents once we lose them and once we have our own children. May Allah protect us.

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 3546)

In another hadith, Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم said the word jafa — meaning to be harsh — it is very harsh and unpolite and very rude that my name is mentioned in front of someone but he doesn't send salawat on me. So this person is a very rude person.

Why We Send Salawat — Three Reasons

That is why we have to understand the significance of salawat on Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم. We send salawat upon Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم for three reasons:

Firstly, in order to try to repay him for all of the sacrifices that he did for us.

Secondly, we send salawat on Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم in order for Allah to raise the status of Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم in Jannah.

Thirdly, we send salawat on Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم as a token and sign of our love for Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم and our love for Allah. Because if we truly love Allah, we will love the Habib and the Beloved of Allah. And when we love Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم, we will constantly mention his name, and every time we mention his name we will send salawat on Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم — because when you love something, you excessively mention it.

The Unique Distinction of Salawat

And if there was no other virtue of sending salawat on Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم — and there are many virtues in the hadith — just for the significance of salawat on Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم, if we keep in mind that this is the only action that Allah himself does, this itself is sufficient to show how significant it is. Because there is no other good deed that Allah himself does. Allah does not pray, Allah does not fast, Allah does not do Hajj — but Allah sends salawat on Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم. And Allah did not only command the angels to send salawat on Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم — Allah himself does it.

And there is no doubt that Allah himself sends salawat on Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم. That is why in this verse, Allah uses the word إِنَّ with emphasis — and إِنَّ is a harf of ta'keed, meaning there is no doubt that Allah does this action. And secondly, Allah uses the verb يُصَلُّونَ, which is a fi'l mudari' denoting the present tense and the future tense — that Allah and the mala'ika continue to send salawat on Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم and will continue to do so until the Day of Judgement.

And then Allah commands the believers: this is such a great action that not only did Allah command the mala'ika to do it, but Allah himself does it — therefore you also participate in this noble act.

So the honour that Allah granted to Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم is greater than the honour that He granted to Adam عليه السلام. Because Allah commanded the angels to make sujood to Adam عليه السلام, but Allah himself did not make sajda — which is obviously not possible. But Allah commanded the angels to send salawat on Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم, and Allah himself sends salat on Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم. So when we send salat on Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم, we are doing ourselves a favour.

Why We Say "Allahumma Salli" Instead of "Usalli"

Someone might ask: when we send salat on Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم, why do we say اللَّهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلَى مُحَمَّد? اللَّهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلَى مُحَمَّد means: Oh Allah, you send salat on Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم. So Allah is telling us in the Quran: you send salat on Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم. So we are supposed to be saying أُصَلِّي عَلَى مُحَمَّد, أُصَلِّي وَأُسَلِّمُ عَلَى مُحَمَّد. But we are asking Allah to send salat on Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم.

So the scholars say that Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم is tahir and tayyib — Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم is pure and clean. And we are full of sins, we are full of deficiencies, we are full of defects. And Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم is free from all defects, from all deficiencies. And the only being who is also tahir and tayyib is Allah. So that is why we invoke the clean, pure being to send salat and salutations upon the pure, clean being. Because we do not regard ourselves worthy enough to send salat on Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم directly. Therefore we ask Allah to send salat on our behalf.

The Ruling on Salat and Salam Together

Although from a fiqh perspective, if someone just sends salat on Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم without sending salam, it is permissible — but it is not preferable. It is not a sin, and it is also not makrooh; it is only khilaf al-awla. But a person who has love for Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم will send salat and salam every time he mentions Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم's name, every time he hears Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم's name, every time he writes Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم's name.

So the ruling of writing صلى الله عليه وسلم is the same as saying صلى الله عليه وسلم. Just like when we hear the name of Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم, we should say صلى الله عليه وسلم completely — when we write the name Muhammad, we should not write any abbreviations such as "SAW" or "SWSALAM". We should actually write صلى الله عليه وسلم in English or in Arabic.

Inspiring Stories About the Power of Salawat

The Dream of Sufyan bin 'Uyayna

It is said that Imam Sakhawi rahimahullah, in his book Al-Qawl al-Badi', mentions a story of Sufyan bin 'Uyayna rahimahullah, who was a great muhaddith. He once saw in his dream that his classmate had passed away. He saw his classmate was in Jannah, running and wearing new green clothes, running in Jannah very happily. So he asked him: "You are my classmate and we studied Hadith together — what action did you do that gave you such a great honour?"

So he said: "Me and you, we were both classmates and we studied Hadith together. But the difference was that every time you wrote a Hadith and Rasulullah's name came, you said صلى الله عليه وسلم with your tongue only — you didn't write صلى الله عليه وسلم. But I wrote صلى الله عليه وسلم, I said صلى الله عليه وسلم, and I also wrote صلى الله عليه وسلم every time I wrote the name of Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم. That is why Allah has given me this honour."

And after that dream, until the end of his life, Sufyan bin 'Uyayna rahimahullah would write صلى الله عليه وسلم every time he wrote the name of Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم.

The Dream of Ibrahim al-Nasafi

And it is said regarding Ibrahim al-Nasafi rahimahullah, who was a great scholar and a great 'abid of his time, that he once saw Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم in his dream and Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم looked very displeased. So he ran up to Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم and kissed his hand and said: "Oh Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم, why do you look so displeased?"

He said: "Oh Ibrahim, every time you send salah upon me, you only say صلى الله عليه — you don't say صلى الله عليه وسلم. You only send salah upon me but you do not send salam upon me."

So after this, Ibrahim al-Nasafi rahimahullah says it became part of his practice to say salam also — to send salam upon Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم.

Special Emphasis on Salawat on Fridays

And because today is Friday, special emphasis came in the Hadith for sending excessive salawat on Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم. In a Hadith, Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم said:

Excessively send salawat upon me on Friday. And then Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم said: because your salah is presented to me every Friday. Whosoever sends the most salawat upon me on Friday, he will be the most closest to me on the Day of Judgement.

Imam al-Shafi'i's Dream

Imam al-Shafi'i rahimahullah, when he passed away, one of his students saw him in a dream and asked him: "How did Allah deal with you?" He said: "Allah forgave me." Then his student asked: "What was the reason for your forgiveness?" He said: "Two actions — and both of these pertain to salawat upon the Prophet."

He said: "It was my habit that every Friday night I would send salawat upon the Prophet — a specific salawat upon the Prophet that comprised of five sentences — and I would be reciting this salawat the entire night:"

And then he said: "The second action was that I wrote a specific salawat in my book, Al-Risala:"

"So it is because of this salawat upon Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم that Allah forgave me."

The Barakah of Mawlana Fayd al-Hasan Saharanpuri

And it is said regarding Mawlana Fayd al-Hasan Saharanpuri rahimahullah that when he passed away, for one month the fragrance was coming out of the room that he passed away in. And Mawlana Qasim Nanotwi rahimahullah, who was a very close friend of his, was asked: "What is the reason? Why is fragrance coming out of his room for one month?"

So Mawlana Qasim Nanotwi rahimahullah replied: "This is the barakah of sending salawat upon Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم. It was the habit of Mawlana that he would send salawat on Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم the entire night on Friday. That's all he would do."

And Friday night in Islam actually starts after Maghrib. So Friday night according to us is actually Thursday night, because in Islam the day starts after Maghrib, after sunset.

Dedicating Time for Salawat — The Hadith of Ka'ab bin 'Ujra

May Allah give us tawfiq. And I will conclude with one hadith of Ka'ab bin 'Ujra رضي الله عنه to highlight the significance of taking out some time from our busy schedule just to send salawat on Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم. So it should become a daily practice that we take out some time to just send salawat on Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم.

So Ka'ab bin 'Ujra رضي الله عنه said: "How much time should I dedicate to send salawat upon you, O Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم? I have dedicated a time for my adhkar — in this time of adhkar, how much salawat should I send upon you?"

So Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم said: مَا شِئْتَ — as you wish, how much you want.

Then the Sahabi said: الرُّبُعَ — should I spend one fourth of my time in sending salawat upon you?

Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم said: مَا شِئْتَ، فَإِنْ زِدْتَ فَهُوَ خَيْرٌ لَكَ — how much you want, and if you dedicate more time then this is better for you.

And then he said: should I dedicate half of the time? Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم said: if you dedicate more time then this is better for you.

Then he said: should I dedicate two thirds of my time? Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم said: فَمَا شِئْتَ، إِنْ زِدْتَ فَهُوَ خَيْرٌ لَكَ — whatever you want; if you dedicate more time, this is better for you.

Then he said: أَجْعَلُ لَكَ صَلَاتِي كُلَّهَا — I will dedicate my entire time in sending salawat upon you, O Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم.

And then what did Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم say?

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2457)

In that case, all of your worries will be removed, and Allah will forgive all of your sins.

Practical Action: 100 Salawat Daily

So may Allah give us tawfiq to dedicate some time to send salawat upon Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم. We can start by sending salawat upon Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم 100 times in the morning and evening. In a hadith, Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم said:

Whosoever sends salawat upon me 100 times — Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم is saying in the hadith — Allah will inscribe between his eyes, on his forehead: بَرَاءَةٌ مِنَ النِّفَاقِ وَبَرَاءَةٌ مِنَ النَّارِ. This person is immune from hypocrisy. This person is immune from the hellfire.

So this hadith does not mean that this will actually be written on our forehead and we can actually see it. But it means that Allah, through the barakah of sending salawat upon Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم 100 times, will give a person the tawfiq to do such a'mal that he will be safe from hypocrisy, and these a'mal will save him from the hellfire.

May Allah give us tawfiq. Ameen.