Will you give information about salawat with a hundred thousand or a hundred million effects?

- My question is about salawat with a hundred thousand or a hundred million effects, and even a salawat as much as the greatness of Allah for the Prophet.

- Will you give information about those salawat? Will you give examples?

Dear Brother / Sister,

- Very few of salawat exist in the hadiths of the Prophet (pbuh).

For example, salawat in tashahhud is one of them.

Once, somebody asked the Prophet (pbuh) how to say salawat (ask for blessings on the Prophet). The Prophet (pbuh) told him to say salawat as follows:  

“Allahumma salli ala Muhammadin wa ala ali Muhammad(in), kama sallayta ala Ibrahima wa ala ali Ibrahim(a) innaka hamidun majid.  Wa barik ala Muhammadin wa ala ali Muhammad(in) kama barakta ala Ibrahima wa ala ali Ibrahim(a) innaka hamidun majid. (O Allah! bestow Your blessings upon Muhammad and the family of Muhammad, as You bestowed Your blessings upon Ibrahim and the family of Ibrahim. Assuredly, You are All-Praised, All-Illustrious. And send Your abundant gifts and favors unto Muhammad and the family of Muhammad, as You sent them unto Ibrahim and the family of Ibrahim. Assuredly, You are All-Praised, All-Illustrious.)” (Kanzul-Ummal, h. no:3993)

- Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya wrote a book called “Jalaul-afham fi fadlis-salati ala Muhammadin khayril-anam” in which he evaluated various types of hadiths and the degree of soundness of narrations. The types of salawat which are famous among people and some salawat existing in some books of supplication such as “Dalailul-Khayrat”, “Majmuatul-Ahzab” and “Jawshan” are not included in it.

- A different type of salawat included in that book is as follows: According to the information reported from Ibn Majah, Abdullah b. Masud said to some people, “When you utter salawat for the Messenger of Allah, say it in a nice way because your salawat may be presented to him; you cannot know it. (There are also other hadiths regarding the issue.)” Thereupon, they said, “How shall we say it?” Thereupon, Ibn Masud told them to utter salawat as follows:

“Allahummaj’al salataka wa rahmataka wa barakataka ala sayyidil-mursalin wa imamil-muttaqin wa khatamin-nabbiyyin Muhammadin abdika wa rasulika, imamil-khayri wa qaidil-khayri wa rasulir-rahmati, Allahummab’athhu maqaman mahmudan aghbituhu bihil-awwalun wal-akhirun. (O Allah! Send Your blessing, mercy and abundance to Muhammad, who is the master of the prophets, the imam of pious people, the seal of the prophets, Your slave and messenger, the imam of goodness, the leader of goodness and the prophet of mercy.  O Allah! Revive him on maqam mahmud; those who coming before and after him covet it.)” (see Jalaul-Afham, 1/59)

- Some of the thawabs related to salawat included in sound hadith narrations are as follows: Bara b. Azib narrates: The Prophet (pbuh) stated the following:

“If a person utters salawat (no matter how) for me, ten thawabs are written for him, he is elevated ten degrees and he is regarded to have freed ten slaves.” (Jalaul-Afham, 1/94)

- In our opinion, the thawabs mentioned in sound hadith narrations like the ones above are enough to encourage us to utter salawat a lot.

- Muslims are ordered to utter salawat for the Prophet (pbuh) in the Quran. The form of salawat is not mentioned in the Quran. Salawat and greetings are expressed in general; the form is left to people. There are some expressions confirming the command of the Quran and some types (forms) of salawat in sound hadiths.  

- Thus, it is understood that people can utter salawat as they wish as long as they befit the Prophet (pbuh) except in prayer (salah) since its form was determined by the Prophet (pbuh).

- Seen in this light, we can say that different forms of salawat included in different supplication books are all permissible. People tried to show their love and respect to the Prophet (pbuh) and praised him in a way that fitted him. They regarded salawat as a means of attaining his intercession.

For example, the following salawat exists in Jawshan supplication:

“Allahumma salli ala sayyidina Muhammadin minal azali ilal abadi adadi ma fi ilmillahi wa ala alihi wa ashabi wa sallim.”

(O Allah! Bless our master Muhammad, his family and Companions from pre-eternity to post-eternity as much as the knowledge of Allah.)

- We have not been able to find any information in hadith sources about salawat “with a hundred thousand or a hundred million effects” mentioned in the question.

- There is also another salawat repeated eighteen times, belonging to Abdulghani an-Nablusi: “Alfu alfi salatin wa alfu alfi salamin ala rasulillahi Muhammadin (One million blessings and one million greetings be upon the Messenger of Allah Muhammad)”. (see Gümüşhanevi, Majmuatul-Ahzab, Ibn Arabi Volume, pp. 534-536)

- Badiuzzaman Said Nursi uttered salawat as follows: “Alfu alfi salatin wa alfu alfi salamin alayka ya rasululallah... (one million blessings and one million greetings be upon you O Messenger of Allah!)" (see Jawshan, last part of Dalailun-Nur)

Badiuzzaman Said Nursi explains the mood in which he uttered salawat above as follows:

“...I saw that the world of the night is like a newly opened dwelling of the world. I entered it during ‘Isha, the prayer at nightfall. Since man is connected to all the world, through an extraordinary expansion of the imagination I saw the mighty world that night as a dwelling. Living creatures and men became so tiny they were invisible. I observed with the imagination that the only thing that inhabited the dwelling and made it familiar, and filled it with light, was the collective personality of Muhammad (UWBP). As a person greets those present when he enters a house, I was overwhelmed with the desire to say: “Endless peace be upon you, O Messenger of Allah!”… (Lem'alar, p. 271 -272)

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