11) Hadith Al-Salat: The Family of Ibrahim And The Family Of Muhammad
The family of Muhammad, sallallahu ‘alaihi wa alihi, in our Ummah mainly mirrors the family of Ibrahim, ‘alaihi al-salam, in his Ummah. This fundamental fact is explicitly mentioned in authentic Sunni ahadith. Imam al-Bukhari (d. 256 H), for instance, records:
حدثنا قيس بن حفص وموسى بن إسماعيل قالا حدثنا عبد الواحد بن زياد حدثنا أبو قرة مسلم بن سالم الهمذاني قال حدثني عبد الله ابن عيسى سمع عبد الرحمن بن أبي ليلى قال : لقيني كعب بن عجرة فقال ألا أهدي لك هدية سمعتها من النبي صلى الله عليه و سل؟ فقلت بلى فأهدها لي فقال سألنا رسول الله صلى الله عليه و سلم فقلنا يا رسول الله كيف الصلاة عليكم أهل البيت فإن الله قد علمنا كيف نسلم عليكم؟ قال قولوا اللهم صل على محمد وعلى آل محمد كما صليت على إبراهيم وعلى آل إبراهيم إنك حميد مجي اللهم بارك على محمد وعلى آل محمد كما باركت على إبراهيم وعلى آل إبراهيم إنك حميد مجيد
Qays b. Hafs and Musa b. Isma’il - ‘Abd al-Wahid b. Ziyad - Abu Qurrah Muslim b. Salim al-Hamdani - ‘Abd Allah b. ‘Isa - ‘Abd al-Rahman b. Abi Layli:
Ka’b b. ‘Ujrah met me and said, “Shall I not give you a present I got from the Prophet, peace be upon him?” I said, “Yes, give it to me.” He said, “We asked the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, and said, ‘O Messenger of Allah! What is the manner of the salat upon you, Ahl al-Bayt, for Allah has taught us how to send salam you (Ahl al-Bayt)?’ He replied, ‘Say: O Allah! Send salat upon Muhammad and upon the family of Muhammad, in exactly the same manner as You sent salat upon Ibrahim and upon the family of Ibrahim. You are the Most Praiseworthy, the Most Glorious. O Allah! Bless Muhammad and the family of Muhammad, in exactly the same manner as You blessed Ibrahim and the family of Ibrahim. You are the Most Praiseworthy, the Most Glorious.’”
This is the mutawatir version of the hadith, as anyone who has done research on this matter can easily confirm
. There are a few shadh reports which either removes or replaces the phrase “the family of Muhammad”. However, such odd riwayat cannot in any way harm a mutawatir hadith.
Al-Bukhari also documents:
حدثنا آدم حدثنا شعبة حدثنا الحكم قال سمعت عبد الرحمن بن أبي ليلى قال : لقيني كعب بن عجرة فقال ألا أهدي لك هدية؟ إن النبي صلى الله عليه و سلم خرج علينا فقلنا يا رسول الله قد علمنا كيف نسلم عليك فكيف نصلي عليك؟ قال قولوا اللهم صل على محمد وعلى آل محمد كما صليت على آل إبراهيم إنك حميد مجيد .اللهم بارك على محمد وعلى آل محمد كما باركت على آل إبراهيم إنك حميد مجيد
Adam - Shu’bah - al-Hakam - ‘Abd al-Rahman b. Abi Layli:
Ka’b b. ‘Ujrah met me and said, “Shall I not give you a present? Verily, the Prophet, peace be upon him, came to us and we said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, we already know how to make salam on you. But, how do we make salat on you?’ He replied, ‘Say: O Allah! Send salat upon Muhammad and upon the family of Muhammad, in exactly the same manner as You sent salat upon the family of Ibrahim. You are the Most Praiseworthy, the Most Glorious. O Allah! Bless Muhammad and the family of Muhammad, in exactly the same manner as You blessed the family of Ibrahim. You are the Most Praiseworthy, the Most Glorious.’”
He again records:
حدثني سعيد بن يحيى حدثنا أبي حدثنا مسعر عن الحكم عن ابن أبي ليلى عن كعب بن عجرة رضي الله عنه قيل :يا رسول الله أما السلام عليك فقد عرفناه فكيف الصلاة ؟ قال قولوا اللهم صل على محمد وعلى آل محمد كما صليت على إبراهيم إنك حميد مجيد اللهم بارك على محمد وعلى آل محمد كما باركت على إبراهيم إنك حميد مجيد
Sa’id b. Yahya - my father - Mas’ar - al-Hakam - Ibn Abi Layli - Ka’b b. ‘Ujrah, may Allah be pleased with him:
It was said, “O Messenger of Allah, we have already known how to make salam on you. But, how do we make salat?’ He replied, ‘Say: O Allah! Send salat upon Muhammad and upon the family of Muhammad, in exactly the same manner as You sent salat upon Ibrahim. You are the Most Praiseworthy, the Most Glorious. O Allah! Bless Muhammad and the family of Muhammad, in exactly the same manner as You blessed Ibrahim. You are the Most Praiseworthy, the Most Glorious.’”
Imam Muslim (d. 261 H) too documents:
حدثنا يحيى بن يحيى التميمي قال قرأت على مالك عن نعيم بن عبدالله المجمر أن محمد بن عبدالله بن زيد الأنصاري (وعبدالله بن زيد هو الذي كان أري النداء بالصلاة) أخبره عن أبي مسعود الأنصاري قال أتانا رسول الله صلى الله عليه و سلم ونحن في مجلس سعد بن عبادة فقال له بشير بن سعد أمرنا الله تعالى أن نصلي عليك يا رسول الله فكيف نصلي عليك ؟ قال فسكت رسول الله صلى الله عليه و سلم حتى تمنينا أنه لم يسأله ثم قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه و سلم قولوا اللهم صل على محمد وعلى آل محمد كما صليت على آل إبراهيم وبارك على محمد وعلى آل محمد كما باركت على آل إبراهيم في العالمين إنك حميد مجيد والسلام كما قد علمتم
Yahya b. Yahya al-Tamimi - Malik - Na’im b. ‘Abd Allah al-Mujmar - Muhammad b. ‘Abd Allah b. Zayd al-Ansari - Abu Mas’ud al-Ansari:
The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, came to us while we were in the assembly of Sa’d b. ‘Ubadah. So, Bashir b. Sa’d said, “Allah the Most High ordered us to make salat upon you, O Messenger of Allah. So, how do we make salat upon you?” The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, kept silent so much we wished he had not asked him. Then, the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said: “Say: ‘O Allah! Send salat upon Muhammad and upon the family of Muhammad, in exactly the same manner as You sent salat upon the family of Ibrahim and bless Muhammad and the family of Muhammad, in exactly the same manner as You blessed the family of Ibrahim THROUGHOUT THE WORLDS. You are the Most Praiseworthy, the Most Glorious.’ As for the salam, it is as you have been taught.
Imam Ahmad (d. 241 H) has this riwayah as well:
حدثنا عبد الله حدثني أبي حدثنا عثمان بن عمر انا مالك عن نعيم المجمر عن محمد يعني بن عبد الله عن أبي مسعود قال قيل يا رسول الله كيف نصلي عليك فقال قولوا اللهم صل على محمد وعلى آل محمد وبارك على محمد وعلى آل محمد كما باركت على إبراهيم في العالمين انك حميد مجيد
‘Abd Allah (b. Ahmad) - my father (Ahmad b. Hanbal) - ‘Uthman b. ‘Umar - Malik - Na’im al-Mujmar - Muhammad b. ‘Abd Allah - Abu Mas’ud:
It was said, “O Messenger of Allah, how do we make salat upon you?” So, he replied, “Say: ‘O Allah! Send salat upon Muhammad and upon the family of Muhammad and bless Muhammad and the family of Muhammad, in exactly the same manner as You blessed Ibrahim THROUGHOUT THE WORLDS. You are the Most Praiseworthy, the Most Glorious.’”
Shaykh al-Arnaut comments:
إسناده صحيح على شرط مسلم
Its chain is sahih upon the standard of (Imam) Muslim.
There are a number of points that need to be highlighted here. First, this was what Ka’b b. ‘Ujrah said to the Messenger of Allah:
يا رسول الله كيف الصلاة عليكم أهل البيت فإن الله قد علمنا كيف نسلم عليكم
O Messenger of Allah! What is the manner of the salat upon you, Ahl al-Bayt, for Allah has taught us how to send salam upon you (Ahl al-Bayt)?
We know from this that the Sahabah used to send salam upon members of the Ahl al-Bayt. In fact, it was Allah Himself Who taught them to send salam upon the Ahl al-Bayt. Sending salam upon a male member of the Ahl al-Bayt, for instance, is to say “alaihi al-salam” (peace be upon him), “salamullah ‘alaihi” (peace of Allah be upon him), or similar statements containing “salam” (peace) after mentioning or writing his name.
The Sahabah used to do it, as Ka’b testified. Some of the early Sunnis - from all fields of knowledge - also did it to a good extent. Examples abound galore in their classical books. However, in order to conserve space, we will be citing only a few, from Sahih al-Bukhari. Concerning Amir al-Muminin, ‘alaihi al-salam, Imam al-Bukhari writes:
قال علي عليه السلام الذاريات الرياح
‘Ali, ‘alaihi al-salam, said: “Al-Dhariyat are the winds”.
With regards to his wife, the blessed daughter of the Messenger of Allah, ‘alaiha al-salam, al-Bukhari also states:
فقالت فاطمة عليها السلام ….
Fatimah, ‘alaiha al-salam, said….
About Imam al-Hasan, ‘alaihi al-salam, al-Bukhari is no different either:
ووهب الحسن بن علي عليهما السلام لرجل دينه
Al-Hasan b. ‘Ali, ‘alaihima al-salam, waived the debt of a man.
Imam al-Husayn, ‘alaihi al-salam, the martyr of Karbala, is treated likewise by al-Bukhari:
حسين بن علي عليهما السلام أخبره
Husayn b. ‘Ali, ‘alaihima al-salam, informed him
He also says:
أتي عبيد الله بن زياد برأس الحسين بن علي عليه السلام
The head of al-Husayn b. ‘Ali, ‘alaihi al-salam, was brought to ‘Ubayd Allah b. Ziyad
Even Imam Zayn al-‘Abidin, ‘Ali b. al-Husayn, ‘alaihi al-salam, is given the same recognition by al-Bukhari:
وقال علي بن الحسين عليهما السلام ….
‘Ali b. al-Husayn, ‘alaihi al-salam, said….
This Sunnah, unfortunately, is resisted by a lot of modern Sunnis. It is primarily the Shi’ah who still keep it alive. May Allah set our Ummah aright.
Secondly, the salat upon the Prophet is also the salat upon his Ahl al-Bayt. Note these words of the Sahabah:
يا رسول الله كيف الصلاة عليكم أهل البيت
O Messenger of Allah! What is the manner of the salat upon you, Ahl al-Bayt?
And:
يا رسول الله قد علمنا كيف نسلم عليك فكيف نصلي عليك
O Messenger of Allah, we already know how to make salam on you. But, how do we make salat on you?
To both questions, he gave the same answer. Whether you want to make salat on the Prophet or the Ahl al-Bayt, you must mention him together with them. ‘Allamah al-Albani (d. 1420 H) confesses to this as well:
قد علمت مما سبق أن صيغ الصلاة على النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم فيها كلها الصلاة على أهل بيته صلى الله عليه وسلم وآله؛ ولذلك فلا ينبغي الاكتفاء بالصلاة عليه صلى الله عليه وسلم وحده، بل لا بد من إضافة الآل إليه، بل لا بد من إتمام الصيغة من أولها إلى آخرها؛ كما وردت؛ تقيُّداً بقوله صلى الله عليه وسلم: "قولوا: اللهم! صل على محمد، وعلى آل محمد " إلخ، حين سألوه عن كيفية الصلاة عليه صلى الله عليه وسلم
You have known from our previous discussions that in all the methods of making salat upon the Prophet, peace be upon him, there is mention of his Ahl al-Bayt and his family. This is why it is incorrect to make salat upon him, peace be upon him, alone. Rather, one must attach the family to him. In fact, one must mention the complete method from its beginning to its end, as it has been narrated, bound by his statement, peace be upon him “say: O Allah, send salat upon Muhammad and upon the family of Muhammad….” when they asked him about the method of making salat upon him, peace be upon him.
Interestingly, even our ‘Allamah does not conform with that same Sunnah in his statements above!
This reflects how bad the situation has become among the Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jama’ah. It is mainly the Shi’ah who keep this Sunnah, while Sunnis invent and follow their own bid’ah in this matter. Whenever Shi’is intend to send salat upon the Prophet - especially in books, writings and speeches - they say “sallallahu ‘alaihi wa alihi” (“salat of Allah be upon him and his family” but often translated as “peace be upon him and his family”).
Sunnis, by contrast, traditionally delete the phrase “and his family” from their own salat! In fact, some of them go as far as actively opposing the Sunnah in order to justify their bid’ah. ‘Allamah al-Albani expresses his frustration on this matter too:
وإن من غرائب هذا العصر أن يتجرأ بعض الناس على إنكار ما ثبت عنه صلى الله عليه وسلم من طرق مستفيضة صحيحة؛ ألا وهو الصلاة على النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم وعلى آله معاً، مع اطلاعه ووقوفه عليها في كتب السنة {عن جمع من الصحابة؛ منهم كعب بن عجرة، وأبو حميد الساعدي، وأبو سعيد الخدري، وأبو مسعود الأنصاري، وأبو هريرة، وطلحة ابن عبيد الله، وفي أحاديثهم أنهم سألوا النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم: " كيف نصلي عليك؟"، فعلمهم صلى الله عليه وسلم هذه الصيغ}، ألا وهو: الأستاذ محمد إسعاف النشاشيبي في كتابه "الإسلام الصحيح" (ص 177 - 189)، وحجته في ذلك أن الآية: {يا أيها الذين آمنوا صلوا عليه وسلموا تسليما}؛ لم يُذكر فيها غيرَ النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم أحدٌ. وبناء على ذلك رد الأحاديث الصحيحة كلها
One of the strange things of this time is how a person denies what is authentically transmitted from him, peace be upon him, through several, sahih chains - that is, the salat upon the Prophet, peace be upon him, and his family together with him, despite having seen and read it in the books of the Sunnah {from a number of the Sahabah, among them Ka’b b. ‘Ujrah, Abu Hamid al-Sa’di, Abu Sa’id al-Khudri, Abu Mas’ud al-Ansari, Abu Hurayrah and Talhah b. ‘Ubayd Allah; and in their ahadith, they asked the Prophet, peace be upon him, “How do we make salat upon you?”, and he, peace be upon him, taught them this method}.
That person is Prof. Muhammad Is’af al-Nashashibi in his book al-Islam al-Sahih (“The Correct Islam”), pp. 177-189, and his proof in that is that the verse {O you who believe! Make salat upon him and send salam upon him perfectly} does not mention anyone else apart from the Prophet, peace be upon him. On this basis, he denies all the sahih ahadith.
It is our humble contention that this ugly situation was created by the extremely troubled history of Sunni Islam with the offspring of the Prophet of Allah. We will have more to say on this, later in this book.
In the salat upon the Messenger, we pray Allah to do two things:
To send His salat upon Muhammad and his family in exactly the same manner as He sent salat upon Ibrahim and his family.
To bless Muhammad and his family in exactly the same manner as He blessed Ibrahim and his family.
So, what does it mean that Allah sends salat upon someone? Al-Hafiz Ibn Kathir (d. 774 H) gives us the answer:
قال البخاري : قال أبو العالية : صلاة الله : ثناؤه عليه عند الملائكة ، وصلاة الملائكة : الدعاء
Al-Bukhari said: Abu al-‘Aliyah said: “The salat of Allah is His praise of him among the angels, and the salat of the angels is al-du’a (the supplication).”
In other words, we pray Allah to praise Muhammad and his family among His angels in exactly the same manner as He praised Ibrahim and his family among them. In that case, how did Allah praise Ibrahim and his family among the angels? To avoid prolonging the research, we will restrict ourselves to Ibrahim alone. The Qur’an has mentioned about him:
ما كان إبراهيم يهوديا ولا نصرانيا ولكن كان حنيفا مسلما وما كان من المشركين
Ibrahim was neither a Jew nor a Christian, but he was an absolutely pure Muslim monotheist, and he was not one of the polytheists.
This is a praise of our dear Prophet, Ibrahim, for his unadulterated Islamic faith. Allah also says:
إن إبراهيم لحليم أواه منيب
Verily, Ibrahim was, without doubt, forbearing, used to invoke Allah with humility, and was repentant.
And:
إن إبراهيم كان أمة قانتا لله حنيفا ولم يك من المشركين شاكرا لأنعمه
Verily, Ibrahim was (himself) an Ummah, obedient to Allah, an absolutely pure monotheist, and he was not one of the polytheists. He was thankful for His Graces.
And:
واذكر في الكتاب إبراهيم إنه كان صديقا نبيا
And mention in the Book Ibrahim. Verily, he was a man of truth, a prophet.
And:
واذكر عبادنا إبراهيم وإسحاق ويعقوب أولي الأيدي والأبصار إنا أخلصناهم بخالصة ذكرى الدار وإنهم عندنا لمن المصطفين الأخيار
And remember Our devout worshippers, Ibrahim, Ishaq and Ya’qub, owners of strength and understanding. Verily, We chose them with the remembrance of the Home (i.e. the Hereafter). And they are with Us, verily, of the chosen and the best.
And, finally:
وإبراهيم الذي وفى
And Ibrahim who thoroughly and faithfully fulfilled (the commandments of his Lord).
These, without doubt, were part of the praises of Allah for His noble Prophet, Ibrahim, which He mentioned to His angels. We beseech Allah - in our salat - to say these same things about Muhammad and his family too. Of course, He never flatters. Therefore, He must first bestow these noble qualities upon the Ahl al-Bayt, and must then assist them to achieve the virtues. It is only after doing all this that He would mention the praises of Muhammad and his family to the angels.
Billions of Muslims - since the time of Muhammad, and including Muhammad himself and millions of pious awliya - have beseeched Allah for more than 1400 years to praise Muhammad and his family in His heavens, countless times everyday. Moreover, this massive du’a is based upon His Own Command and Formula. Therefore, we have absolutely no doubt that our Lord accepted the salat during the lifetime of His Prophet, and has continued to honour it, and will never cease to do so till the Hour.
In other words, He granted all the qualities and virtues of Prophet Ibrahim to Muhammad and his family, and helped them in reaching the best acts and sacrifices, and then praised them throughout His heavens, among His purified legions.
As part of our salat, we further pray Allah to bless Muhammad and his family in exactly the same manner as He blessed Ibrahim and his family. This is perhaps the most important aspect of the whole du’a. We ask our Lord to grant the same blessings which He gave Ibrahim and his family to Muhammad and his family as well. So, what were Allah’s blessings upon Ibrahim and the family of Ibrahim? Well, one of them is mentioned in this verse:
إن الله اصطفى آدم ونوحا وآل إبراهيم وآل عمران على العالمين ذرية بعضها من بعض والله سميع عليم
Verily, Allah chose Adam, Nuh, the family of Ibrahim and the family of Imran above the worlds.
Therefore, Allah blessed Ibrahim and his family by choosing them above all the worlds. They were superior to all other creatures of our Lord, and none can be master over them except someone from amongst them. There is no doubt that Allah has blessed Muhammad and his family in this same way as too. He has chosen them above all the worlds, and none can be their leader in anything except someone from amongst them.
Concerning the same family, Allah declares:
فقد آتينا آل إبراهيم الكتاب والحكمة وآتيناهم ملكا عظيما
We have granted the Book and the Hikmah to the family of Ibrahim, and We gave them a great kingdom.
And:
أولئك الذين آتيناهم الكتاب والحكم والنبوة
They are those whom We gave the Book, the authority, and prophethood.
And:
ولقد آتينا بني إسرائيل الكتاب والحكم والنبوة ورزقناهم من الطيبات وفضلناهم على العالمين
And indeed, We gave the offspring of Israil the Book, and authority and prophethood, and We provided them with good things, AND WE MADE THEM SUPERIOR ABOVE THE WORLDS.
Our God fixed some five things within the family of Ibrahim: prophethood, scriptures, authority, and kingdom. None could be a prophet except someone from that blessed family. Moreover, none could receive divine scripture except he was one of them. None could legally exercise authority except a leader from their family; and - by extension - none could be a legitimate king except he was from them.
Above all, members of their family were the best of Allah’s creation in all their Ummahs. In the same manner, by virtue of Hadith al-Salat, Allah has fixed the same five blessings within the family of Muhammad too. Two of them - prophethood and the Book - got restricted to Muhammad himself alone due to his Lord’s Decree. As for the remaining three, however, they are in his family, and will continue among them only - till the Hour.
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Author: Toyib Olawuyi
