Of Blessings And Salutations

Allah, The Almighty said in the Holy Quran: "Inna Allaha wamala-ikatahu yusalloona AAala alnnabiyyi ya ayyuha allatheena amanoo salloo AAalayhi wasallimoo tasleeman" [surah al-Ahzab 33:56] which in translation means: "For Verily! Allah and His angels send blessings on the Prophet: O ye that believe! Send ye blessings on him, and salute him with all respect."

This is a much recited verse of the Holy Quran - particularly as it is being read in our Mosques whilst the Khatib makes his way up the mimbar every Friday and on every Tahlil recitation. Upon hearing this commanding verse, or what is known in Arabic as fi'il 'amr, Muslims will then respond by reciting, in the least: "Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad", which means: O Allah! Please send your Blessings upon Muhammad.

It is interesting that if we look at the verse above, whilst Allah declared that He Himself and His Angels sends blessings on our Prophet and after commanding us (as believers) to do so, we then ask Him to send His Blessings instead, and not ours.

Of course a complete explanation of this would require many months of studying the Qur'an, ahadeeth and the seerah of our beloved Prophet (saw), but it makes one wonders what blessings would our blessed Prophet (saw) require from us which we have and he has not? Is it not the reverse instead? And that whilst Allah, The Almighty Judges, showers His Mercy and Forgives us, it is our Prophet (saw) that we look for in the beginning to obtain his intercession on the Day of Judgement?

For after all, just to quote a fraction of those blessings bestowed by Allah, The Almighty to our blessed Prophet (saw):

"Verily! We have given thee (O Muhammad) a manifest victory: That Allah may forgive thee of thy sin that which is past and that which is to come, and may perfect His favour unto thee, and may guide thee on a right path, And that Allah may help thee with powerful help" [surah al-Fath 48:1-3]

"Did He not find thee an orphan and give thee shelter (and care)? And He found thee wandering, and He gave thee guidance. And He found thee in need, and made thee independent" [surah ad-Dhuha 93:6-8]

And when faced with adversities, Allah, The Almighty said: "Have We not expanded thee thy breast? And removed from thee thy burden. The which did gall thy back?" [surah al-Inshirah 94:1-3].

It now leads us to this:

1. "Allah's Blessings" would refer to all the blessings showered by Him on His Creations, and it is impossible to narrate them one by one. But, I would always love to look at foundational matters for example:

(a) the fact that we were resurrected from our death yesterday (was being grateful the first thing that occurred to our minds upon waking up this morning?);

(b) the fact that we can walk to purify ourselves and take the ablution to perform the dawn prayer (have we been grateful for that this morning? - as there are many in this world who are unable to get up from their beds to fulfil this obligation);

(c) the fact that we can eat, drink normally and discharge wastes those not required by our body (have we been truly grateful for this as there are many people in the world lying in hospital beds having to consume liquids through needles poked through their veins and can only discharge themselves through another tube annexed to those beds);

(d) the fact that we have a job to sustain our living (how many of us leave our homes every morning lamenting about our jobs instead of being grateful to Allah for giving us a job so that we can serve Him?);

(e) the fact that we have working colleagues and friends to provide us with human warmth in our relationships (the fact that there are so many people in the world who are so alone without friends that they become impaired mentally and need psychiatric treatment?);

and the lists goes on and on...

2. "Angel's blessings" are their praying to Allah to perpetually bless us and forgive us. Look through any compendium of ahadeeth collection and you will see that Angel's service to mankind is in their seeking Allah for our forgiveness - be it whilst we are in circles of zikr or knowledge, while we are on the way to seek that knowledge, while waiting to pray congregational prayers in a mosque, by coming early to the mosques, whilst working for the sake of Allah, whilst being kind to a fellow human being etc

3. What then are "man's blessings"? That is why, when commanded to send our blessings and salutations to our Prophet (saw), our response is "O Allah! Please send your Blessings upon Muhammad". Wallahu'alam

I wish to conclude by sharing the following hadith:

Abu Huraira reported Allah's Apostle (saw) as saying Allah has mobile (squads) of angels, who have no other work (to attend to but) to follow the assemblies of Dhikr and when they find such assemblies in which there is Dhikr (of Allah) they sit in them and some of them surround the others with their wings till the space between them and the sky of the world is fully covered, and when they disperse (after the assembly of Dhikr is adjourned) they go upward to the heaven and Allah, the Exalted and Glorious, asks them although He is best informed about them: Where have you come from? They say: We come from Thine servants upon the earth who had been glorifying Thee (reciting Subhan Allah), uttering Thine Greatness (saying Allah o-Akbar) and uttering Thine Oneness (La ilaha ill Allah) and praising Thee (uttering al-Hamdu Lillah) and begging of Thee. He would say: What do they beg of Me? They would say: They beg of Thee the Paradise of Thine. He (God) would say: Have they seen My Paradise? They said: No, our Lord. He would say: (What it would be then) if they were to see Mine Paradise? They (the angels) said: They seek Thine protection. He (the Lord) would say: Against what do they seek protection of Mine? They (the angels) would say: Our Lord, from the Hell-Fire. He (the Lord) would say: Have they seen My Fire? They would say: No. He (the Lord) would say: What it would be if they were to see My Fire? They would say: They beg of Thee forgiveness. He would say: I grant pardon to them, and confer upon them what they ask for and grant them protection against which they seek protection. They (the angels) would again say: Our Lord, there is one amongst them such and such simple servant who happened to pass by (that assembly) and sat there along with them (who had been participating in that assembly). He (the Lord) would say: I also grant him pardon, for they are a people the seat-fellows of whom are in no way unfortunate. {Muslim}

SubhanAllah walhamdulillah...