Reciting the Ayah 'Allah sends His Salah on the Prophet, and also His Angels'

Q 1: If a Muslim sends the blessings of Allah (Exalted be He) on the Prophet (peace be upon him) by reciting the following Ayah (Qur'anic verse): Allâh sends His Salât (Graces, Honours, Blessings, Mercy) on the Prophet (Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم), and also His angels (ask Allâh to bless and forgive him). O you who believe! Send your Salât on (ask Allâh to bless) him (Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم), and (you should) greet (salute) him with the Islâmic way of greeting (salutation i.e. As-Salâmu ‘Alaikum ) ?

A: If a Muslim recites the Ayah mentioned above to draw the attention of others to the merit of sending peace and blessings on the Prophet (peace be upon him) so that they would do so in order to (Part No. 24; Page No. 146) attain the abundant rewards of Allah (Exalted be He), this will not be regarded as a Bid`ah. Rather, a person who does so will be praised and rewarded by Allah (Exalted be He). The concerned person will even receive the same reward of those who hear him if they send blessings on the Prophet (peace be upon him). Proof for this is the Hadith in which the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "Anyone who guides to something good has a reward similar to that of its doer." (Related by Muslim in his Sahih (authentic) Book of Hadith)However, if the concerned person makes a habit of reciting the Ayah mentioned above whenever they like to send blessings on the Prophet (peace be upon him), they have to abandon such a practice as it was not followed at the time of the Prophet (peace be upon him), his Sahabah (Companions of the Prophet), or the leading Salaf (righteous predecessors). Q 2: A Muslim says after the Adhan (call to Prayer): O Allah! Lord of this most perfect Call (to Prayer) and of the Prayer that is to be established, grant our Master, Muhammad, the Wasilah (a position in Paradise) and a rank of distinction, and resurrect him to the lauded position that You promised him. Verily, You never break Your Promise. Is his saying, "Verily, You never break Your Promise" considered a Bid`ah? A: the basic rule regarding Adhkar (invocations and remembrances said at certain times on a regular basis) is that they are tawqifiy (bound by a religious text and not amenable to personal opinion). Proof for this is the following Hadith related by Al-Bukhari and others on the authority of Al-Bara' ibn `Azib (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "When you want to go to bed, perform Wudu` (ablution) as you do for Salah (Prayer), then lie down on your right side, and say: O Allah! I surrender to You, entrust all my affairs to You, and depend upon You both with hope and fear of You. There is no fleeing from You, and there is no place of protection and safety except with You. O Allah! I believe in Your Book (the Qur’an) which You have revealed and in Your Prophet whom You have sent. (Part No. 24; Page No. 147) If you die at that night after reciting this, you will die on the Fitrah (natural disposition) (i.e. As a Muslim); so let these words be the last you say (before going to bed). Al-Bara' said, "While I was memorizing it, I said, 'in Your Messenger whom You have sent.'" The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "No, say, 'in Your Prophet whom You have sent.'" Thus, the Prophet (peace be upon him) forbade Al-Bara' ibn `Azib from using the words 'Your Messenger' instead of the words 'Your Prophet' while saying the Adhkar before going to bed. Regarding the phrase "Verily, You never break Your Promise," it was not related by the Six Hadith Compilers (Al-Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Dawud, Al-Tirmidhy, Al-Nasa'y, and Ibn Majah) amongst the Du`a' (supplications) to be said after the Adhan in which we ask the Wasilah to be granted to the Prophet (peace be upon him). Nevertheless, the same phrase was related by Al-Bayhaqy in his Sunan (Hadith compilations classified by jurisprudential themes) on the authority of `Aly ibn `Ayyash who said, "Shu`ayb ibn Abu Hamzah told us on the authority of Muhammad ibn Al-Munkadir from Jabir ibn `Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with them both)...," then the narrator mentioned the previous Du`a' with the following addition to its end: Verily, You never break Your Promise. Accordingly, adding such a phrase to the concerned Du`a' is not a Bid`ah. Q 3: If a Muslim says after finishing Salah: O Allah, You are the Grantor of peace, and peace comes from You. Blessed are you, O Owner of Majesty and Honor and added: (Part No. 24; Page No. 148) (... And peace returns to You), will such addition be regarded as a Bid`ah? A: It has been stated in our answer to the second question that the basic rule regarding Adhkar and other acts of worship is that they are tawqifiy. Thus, they may not be subjected to any decrease or increase in their formulas. Moreover, the authentically related narration in the Six Hadith Compilations (Books of Al-Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Dawud, Al-Tirmidhy, Al-Nasa'y, and Ibn Majah) reads: O Allah, You are the Grantor of peace, and peace comes from You. Blessed are You, O Owner of Majesty and Honor. Another narration reads: Blessed are You, Owner of Majesty and Honor. The addition of (... And peace returns to You) or (... And to You is peace) were not related except in Sunan Al-Bayhaqy, as far as we know, on the authority of Dawud ibn Rashid who said, "Al-Walid ibn Muslim told us that Al-Awza`y told him on the authority of Ibn `Ammar from Abu Asma'...," the narrator then mentioned the Hadith quoted above with the addition of (... And to You is peace). The Sanad (chain of narrators) of the Hadith containing the concerned addition includes Al-Walid ibn Muslim Al-Qurashy who was one of the prominent scholars of Sunnah (whatever is reported from the Prophet) though he used to practice Tadlis Taswiyah (omitting a weak narrator from a chain of narration). Al-Daraqutny said, "Al-Walid would practice Irsal (narrating a Hadith with no Companion of the Prophet in the chain of narration) by narrating from Al-Awza`y Hadith that Al-Awza`y would narrate from Da`if (weak) shaykhs who would narrate the same from other shaykhs who witnessed the time of Al-Awza`y. Thus, the latter would omit the names of the weak narrators and make the chain of narrators begin from Al-Awza`y from Nafi` or from `Ata'." In the same context, Salih ibn Muhammad said: I heard Al-Haytham ibn Kharijah saying, "I said to Al-Walid: You have given wrong information about the Hadith narrated on the authority of Al-Awza`y. He said, "What do you mean?" I said: "You narrate on the authority of Al-Awza`y from Nafi` and on the authority of Al-Awza`y from Al-Zuhry and Yahya ibn Sa`id (Part No. 24; Page No. 149) while other narrators include, in the chain of narrators, `Abdullah ibn `Amir between Al-Awza`y and Nafi` `Abdullah ibn `Amer and Ibrahim ibn Murrah and Qurrah etc, between Al-Awza`y and Al-Zuhry. Why do you do so?" Al-Walid replied, "I deem Al-Awza`y far above those Da`if narrators." I said, "If Al-Awza`y narrates from such Da`if narrators whose Hadith are Munkar (rejected Hadith reported by a weak narrator whose narration conflicts with an authentic Hadith) and you omit such Da`if narrators and make the Hadith as being narrated initially by Al-Awza`y from the Thiqah (trustworthy) narrators, Al-Awza`y himself will be regarded as a Da`if narrator." Al-Haytham said: "But he did not pay attention to my words." Consequently, the foregoing addition in the narration is not a valid proof and saying it in the Du`a' mentioned above is a Bid`ah.May Allah grant us success. May peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and Companions.