Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Part 1: The meaning of "Salaah upon the Prophet" - Shaikh al-`Uthaymeen

بـسـم الله والحـمـد لله والـصلاة والـسـلام عــلى رسـول الله، وبـعـد

Shaikh Muhammad Ibn Saaleh al-`Uthaymeen رحمه الله said:

His (the author’s) saying: “صلِّ على محمد” (Sallee `alaa Muhammad). It is said that Salaah from Allaah means: “Mercy”; and from the Angels means: “Seeking (Allaah’s) forgiveness (for him)”; and from the mankind means: “supplicating (to Allaah) for him”.

If it is said: “The Angels have sent their Salaah upon him”, it means: they supplicated (to Allaah) for his forgiveness. 

And when it is said: “The Khateeb (Imaam) has sent the Salaah upon him”, it means: he made Du`aa to Allaah for him.

And when it is said: “Allaah has sent His Salaah upon him”, it means: (Allaah sends His) Mercy upon him.

And this is famous among the people of knowledge, but the true meaning is different than this. The Salaah is more specific than Mercy; that is why there is consensus among the Muslims that it is permissible to supplicate Allaah’s Mercy for ever Believer. But they differed on: Should the Salaah be send upon other than the Prophets? If the meaning of Salaah was “Mercy” then there would have been no difference between them. So, we pray for Mercy for someone, we could also send Salaah upon him.

Moreover, Allaah تعالى said:

﴿أُولَئِكَ عَلَيْهِمْ صَلَوَاتٌ مِنْ رَبِّهِمْ وَرَحْمَةٌ وَأُولَئِكَ هُمُ الْمُهْتَدُونَ﴾

{They are those on whom are the Salawat (i.e. blessings, etc.) (i.e. who are blessed and will be forgiven) from their Lord, and (they are those who) receive His Mercy, and it is they who are the guided-ones.} [Surah al-Baqarah (2): 157]

In this verse, the word “Mercy” is joined with “Salaah” using a conjunction و (waw – and), and the use of conjunction depicts that their meaning is different. So, the evidence from this Verse makes it clear, as well as the scholars’ رحمهم الله use of Salaah in one situation and Mercy in another, that the meaning of Salaah is different from Mercy.

The best what has been said regarding the meaning of Salaah is what has been reported from Abu al-`Aaliyah رحمه الله that صلاةَ الله على نبيِّه “Salaatu-llaahi `alaa Nabiyyihee” means: “Allaah’s Compliments to him before the Angels.”

So the meaning ofاللَّهمَّ صَلِّ عليه  “Allaahumma Salli `alaih” is: “O Allaah mentioning his praises before the Angels”, meaning the Angels which are at the highest level and closer to Allaah.

If someone says: This meaning is farther from the original meaning of the word, because the word Salaah linguistically means: “Du`aa” and not “Praise”.

The answer for this is: The word Salaah is also derived from the word “as-Silah” (tie/bond/connect) and there is no doubt that the praise of the Messenger of Allaah صلى الله عليه وسلم in the highest company is from the greatest forms of bonding. Sometimes, getting mentioned (in a group) is more important to a person than anything else. So getting praised is from the greatest form of bonding.

Therefore we can conclude that the most correct opinion is: “Salaah upon him” means: “(O Allaah!) Praise him before the highest company of the Angels.”

[Sharh al-Mumti`u (3/163-164)]

No comments:

Post a Comment