Almighty Allaah enjoins upon us as follows:

"God and His Angels send blessings on the Messenger.
O ye that believe! Send ye blessings on him, and salute him with all respect."
(Al Qur’aan Ch 33 V 56)

Allama Abdullah Yusuf Ali, in his commentary on the above verse, writes as follows:

"God and His angels honour and bless the holy Prophet as the greatest of men. We are asked to honour and bless him all the more because he took upon himself to suffer the sorrows and afflictions of this life in order to guide us to God’s Mercy and the highest inner life."

Below are some of the Ahadith quoted by Ibn Kathir in his Tafsir on the above verse:

Abu Al-'Aliyah said:

"Allah's Salah is His praising him before the angels, and the Salah of the angels is their supplication"

Sufyan Ath-Thawri and others said:

"The Salah of the Lord is mercy, and the Salah of the angels is their seeking forgiveness."

Ka'b bin 'Ujrah said:

"It was said: He said:

Say: 'O Allah, send your Salah upon Muhammad and upon the family of Muhammad, as you sent your Salah upon the family of Ibrahim, verily You are the Most Praiseworthy, Most Glorious.'

Ibn Abi Layla said that Ka'b bin 'Ujrah met him and said:

'Shall I not give you a gift. The Messenger of Allah came out to us and we said: 'O Messenger of Allah! We know how to send Salam upon you, but how can we send Salah?'

He said:

'Say: O Allah, send your Salah upon Muhammad and upon the family of Muhammad, as You sent Your Salah upon the family of Ibrahim, verily You are the Most Praiseworthy, Most Glorious. O Allah, send Your Blessings upon Muhammad and upon the family of Muhammad, as You sent Your Blessings upon the family of Ibrahim, verily You are Most Praiseworthy, Most Glorious.'

Fadelah bin 'Ubayd said:

"The Messenger of Allah heard a man making supplication in his prayer when he had not praised Allah or said Salah upon the Prophet. The Messenger of Allah said: 'This man is rushing'. Then he called him over and said to him or to someone else: 'When any of you supplicates, let him start by praising and glorifying Allah, may He be exalted, then let him send Salah upon the Prophet, and after that let him make supplication as he wishes.'"

Abu Talhah said that the Messenger of Allah came one day happy. They said:

'O Messenger of AllAh, we see that you look happy.'

He said:

'The angel came to me and told me "O Muhammad, would it not please you if your Lord, may He be glorified,, says: "No member of your Ummah sends Salah upon you but I send Salah upon him tenfold, and no member of your Ummah sends greetings of Salam upon you but I send blessings of Salam upon him tenfold.' I said: "Of course."

Abu Hurayrah that the Prophet said:

'Send Salah upon me, for this is zakah for you, and ask Allah to grant me Al-Wasilah, for it is a position in the highest part of Paradise which only one man will attain, and I hope that I will be the one.'

Al-Husayn bin 'Ali said that the Messenger of Allah said:

"The miser is the one in whose presence I am mentioned, then he does not send Salah upon me."

'Umar bin Al-Khattab said: Aws bin Aws Ath-Thaqafi said:

‘The Messenger said:

'One of your best days is Friday; on this day Adam was created and died; on this day the trumpet (Sur) will be blown and all will have swoon away. So on this day send plenty of Salah upon me, for your Salah will be presented to me.'

They said:

'O Messenger of Allah, how will they be shown to you after your body has dispersed into the earth.'

He said:

'Allah has forbidden the earth to consume the bodies of the Prophets.'

(Z.A.K)

~End~