Ismaili.NET - Heritage F.I.E.L.D.

The Arabic word salat is for the prayer provided the action comes from the man. The phrase salla ala means to pray for is found for example in the Koran (9:103), where the Prophet is told to pray for misdoers, who have at length entered the fold of Islam. It also means the blessing or effusion of grace (or salawat), if the action comes from God, such as, "Verily, God and His angels call down blessing on (yusalluna ala) the Prophet. O ye who believe! call down blessing on him and greet him with a worthy salutation" (33:56). In other words, when the Prophet prays for other people, the verb in the Koran is salla (to pray), and the preposition is ala (on). But when God is the actor, this same verb and preposition are used in the sense of "to bless." In sum, salat means to gratitude God, while salawat means the showering of God's gratitude upon the mankind. Ibn Arabi writes that "The salat from God is mercy, and from human beings, angels and jinn, it is bowing and prostration and petition and praise" (Fathu al-Makki, p. 15).

It is narrated in the Sawa'iq Muhariqa that once the Companions recited salawat upon the Prophet in these words: Allahumma salli ala Muhammad (O'God! May Your peace be on Muhammad), the Prophet said, "Do not send an incomplete salawat upon me." The Companions asked, "Which are the complete and incomplete salawat?" The Prophet said, "The incomplete salawat is Allahumma salli ala Muhammad (O'God! May Your peace be on Muhammad), and the complete salawat is Allahumma salli ala Muhammadin wa A'li Muhammad (O'God! May Your peace be on Muhammad, and the descendant of Muhammad). C.E. Padwick writes that, "While the overwhelming mass of this devotion is reserved for Muhammad, its pattern sentence "O God! Call down blessing on Muhammad and on his family," opens the door for a wider use" (Muslim Devotions, London 1961, p. 157). Once Ali bin Abu Talib said, "The Koranic verse (33:56) contains both zahiri and batini meanings. The zahiri meaning is that the God says salu alaiha (call down blessing) and batini meaning is wa salemu taslima (and greet him with a worthy salutation), means obey one whom the Prophet has declared his successor."

Suyuti writes in al-Hirzu'l-mani that a number of the Maliki school said, "The calling down of blessing on the Prophet is an ordinance of Islam, to which no numerical limit has been set and no fixed time has been alloted."

Abu Huraira relates that the Prophet said, "One who recites salawat on me, the angels keep on showering blessings on him as long as he recites salawat" (Masnad, 5:82). Jabir al-Jufi reported on the authority of Imam Muhammad al-Bakir that the Prophet said, "He who performs a prayer and does not ask God to bless me and my family, his prayer is not accepted from him" (al-Khilaf, 1:131). Imam Jafar Sadik said, "Every invocation sought from God is barred by the sky unless it is coupled with the salawat, the benediction upon the Prophet of God and his descendants" (Usul-i Kafi, 2:493).

The Ismailis have been exhorted to recite constant salawat and that too only on the Prophet and the Imams. On August 10, 1960, the Present Imam made it clear in his message to the Ismailia Association for Pakistan that, "It is incorrect to take the names of any people other than the Prophet and the Imams with salawat."