Islamic Studies Prayer

The End

The Salah Series

Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV | Part V | Part VI | Part VII | Part VIII | Part IX | Part X | Part XI | Part XII | Part XIII | Part XIV | Part XV | Part XVI | Part XVII | Part XVIII | Part XIX | Part XX | Part XXI | Part XXII | Part XXIII | Part XXIV | Part XXV | Part XXVI | Part XXVII | Part XXVIII

2822846819_9495c3bce0_bIf the Prophet ﷺ was saying the first tashahhud, he would get up for the third rak’ah with takbeer (saying Allahu Akbar) [Bukhari/Muslim[. If he was at the last tashahhud, he would then say:

اللهم صلي على محمد وعلى آل محمد كما صليت على إبراهيم وعلى آل إبراهيم إنك حميد مجيد اللهم بارك على محمد وعلى آل محمد كما باركت على إبراهيم وعلى آل إبراهيم إنك حميد مجيد

“O Allah, send prayers on Muhammad ﷺ, and on the family of Muhammad ﷺ, as you sent prayers on [Ibrahim, and on] the family of Ibrahim; You are indeed Worthy of Praise, Full of Glory. O Allah, send blessings on Muhammad ﷺ, and on the family of Muhammad ﷺ, as you sent blessings on [Ibrahim, and on] the family of Ibrahim; You are indeed Worthy of Praise, Full of Glory.” (Bukhari/Muslim)

Now let’s take a closer look at the meanings:

 

 

 

 

 

  • Send prayers (salim) on Muhammad ﷺ: You are asking Allah to exalt him and raise his rank, as noted by Ibn Hajar.
  • Send blessings (baarik) on Muhammad ﷺ: You are asking Allah to increase blessings for the Prophet ﷺ, meaning to give the Prophet ﷺ the good which Allah granted to Ibrahim (as) as well as its multiplying and increase.

 

 

The Prophet ﷺ told us about the virtues of passing salaams on him. He ﷺ has said:

من صلى عليَّ صلاة واحدة، صلى اللَّه عليه عشر صلوات، وحُطت عنه عشر خطيئات، ورُفعت له عشر درجات

“If anyone of my community says one prayer on me, Allah blesses him ten times, ten good actions are written down for him and ten bad actions are effaced from him.” (Nisa’i, sahih)

After sending prayers on the Prophet

When the Prophet ﷺ heard a man glorifying and praising Allah, and sending prayers on the Prophet ﷺ in prayer, he said to him: “Supplicate, and you will be answered; ask, and you will be given.” [Nasa’i]

Notice how the tashahhud follows the same sequence of the etiquette of getting our adeyah answered: praising Allah, passing peace and blessings on His Prophet ﷺ, and then we are given the opportunity to make du`a’, which the Prophet ﷺ has told us Allah will answer insha’Allah.

He then told us what to say: “When one of you has finished the [last] tashahhud, he should seek refuge with Allah from four things saying:

اللهم إني أعوذ بك من عذاب القبر وعذاب النار وفتنة المحيا والممات وشر (فتنة) المسيح الدجال

“‘O Allah! I truly seek refuge with You from the punishment of the grave, and from the punishment of Hellfire, and from the trials of living and dying, and from the evil [trials] of the Dajjal.’ Then he should supplicate for himself with what occurs to him.” [Muslim]

If we have just met with someone, and are departing, we ask “Do you want anything from me?” Allah’s Mercy is infinitely more bountiful. At the end of our brief meeting, it as though He is telling us “Is there anything else you want?” by granting us this final du`a’.

The Tasleem

Next, the Prophet ﷺ would salute to his right saying:

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله

“May Peace and Allah’s Mercy be on you and he would turn to his left and say the same.” [Tirmidhi]

Sometimes, he would add to the greeting on the right:

وبركاته

“…and His blessings (be on you).” [Abu Dawud]

After the prayer

The Prophet ﷺ would then seek forgiveness three times – we should do this to seek forgiveness for our shortcomings in prayers. There are many other du`a’ to say, and they can be found here.

But there is something we should be wary of, and this was something the Prophet ﷺ feared for us too. He said:

لو لم تكونوا تذنبون لخفت عليكم ما هو أكبر من ذلك العُجْب العُجْب

“If you did not sin, I would have feared for you what is greater; and that is self-admiration [‘ujb].” (Bayhaqi)

Meaning, now that we have improved our prayer insha’Allah and have a heightened khushoo’, we should not regard ourselves as better than others. Ibn Al-Qayyim has said that self-admiration even invalidates our acts! We should remember all of those past prayers that we prayed badly, and know that whatever good we are able to do, it is from Allah, as He has said in the Qur’an:

وما بكم من نعمة فمن الله

“And whatever you have of favor – it is from Allah…” [16:53]

And all this that we have said, is not even a drop in the ocean in relation to the secrets and pleasures of prayer.

May we put into practice all that we learned, and regard each prayer as a sacred, beautiful meeting with Allah. Ameen.

About the author

Jinan Yousef

Jinan Yousef

Jinan's main interests within the field of Islamic Studies are the Names of Allah, the life and character of the Prophet ﷺ, tazkiya and Muslim personalities.

29 Comments

  • Beautiful. Timely post, something we can inshallah put into practise this Shaban, just one question is it possible to get hold of the duas in arabic? For non-native Arabic speakers myself it would be helpful to get the pronounciation correct to get the most out of the dua,

    May Allah swt bless you this Shaban and Ramadan.

    • I see that I was mistaken – this was last part of the series. Just wanted to extend a final, big Jazak’Allahu Khairan to Sr. Jinan for the series. May Allah (swt) Reward her for her sincere effort in helping us improve our Salah. Ameen. Looking forward to her future contributions to the site. This was truly a special and much appreciated series to say the least.

  • Ameen.. I feel sad that this series is coming to an end. 🙁 May Allaah favored all muslimeen His will for us to be able to practice all these in our salah.

    Anyhow, i saw some sources, saying that the tasleem is directed to the angels. While other sources saying that is to all muslimeen. Which one is the right one? :/ Hope that maybe you can tell the beauty behind it too if there’s any other. Jazakallaah 🙂

  • I have a question. Excuse me for being ignorant, but I have been praying the dua by Prophet Ibrahim [Rabbi-ja’alni muqeem musalati….]after sending prayers on the Prophet Muhammad. Does it mean that I can pray any other duaa after in place of the duaa I have been saying? Thanks!

  • Assalam,

    Here is a subtlety I remember reading from Imam Sabooni’s tafseer in regards to the salah on the Prophet.

    He states that Allah commanded us to send praise upon the Prophet, and it would have been sufficient to say (sallayna ‘alayhi), or ‘I praise him’, so why do we say ‘Allahumma salli ‘ala Muhammad’?

    Answer: When Allah commanded us to send salah upon the Prophet He did not convey to us the required amount that is due – that we have left it to Allah and we say, ‘Allahummah salli ANTA ‘ala Muhammad’ (O Allah we ask You to send salah upon the Prophet), because You are more knowledgeable of what befits him (the Prophet) of praise, for we are unable to properly fulfil that right, and we are not aware of the required and complete praise that is required and which befits the majesty of the Prophet. And thus we have left this to someone capable and aware.

    Allah knows best.

  • salam Jinan, and everyone else on here, masha Allaah, I have only recently discovered this website, and i thank Allaah (swt) for it is a very beneficial source of information. I have a request for Jinan. I want to study politics at SOAS and then do a GDL to eventually practise law insha Allaah. Could you please inform me why you chose to specialise in, i think its international public law and particular interest in palestine, how you came to that decision and what you wish to do with it? I need guidance on a future career path, i wish to serve the ummah but do not know how to, the deen is nasihah, so please advise me, your miskeen brother, salam

  • p.s. Subhan Allaah, and may Allaah (swt) bless abundantly His beloved messenger Muhammad (saw) for telling us:

    لو لم تكونوا تذنبون لخفت عليكم ما هو أكبر من ذلك العُجْب العُجْب
    “If you did not sin, I would have feared for you what is greater; and that is self-admiration [‘ujb].” (Bayhaqi)

    this made even my heart tremor, and i am by no means a good muslim
    please make dua for me and the ummah, for this ramadan i make a sincere intention to rectify my recurring faults and to seriously struggle to remain on the clear high road, insha Allaah, salam wrwb

  • […] Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV | Part V | Part VI | Part VII | Part VIII | Part IX | Part X | Part XI | Part XII | Part XIII | Part XIV |  Part XV | Part XVI|Part XVII | Part XVIII | Part XIX | Part XX | Part XXI | Part XXII | Part XXIII | Part XXIV |Part XXV | Part XXVI | Part XXVII […]

  • […] Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV | Part V | Part VI | Part VII | Part VIII | Part IX | Part X | Part XI | Part XII | Part XIII | Part XIV | Part XV | Part XVI | Part XVII | Part XVIII | Part XIX | Part XX | Part XXI | Part XXII | Part XXIII | Part XXIV | Part XXV | Part XXVI | Part XXVII | Part XXVIII […]

  • It’s something extremely beautiful but somewhat saddening that Allah (swt) rewards us so much for not saying much at all. In other words, I had no idea I was being blessed, my deeds increased, and my sins effaced by saying “Salat il Ibrahimiye” at the end of my daily 5 prayers. After reading this, I realized that I need to take it upon myself to understand more about my sins and deeds. May Allah (swt) bless the author and Suhaib Webb for allowing us to access these pieces.

  • Dear Sis Jinan,

    This is my favourite series. Though you wrote it years back, I only came across it more recently. I can’t thank you enough for writing this series which I have benefitted lots from. It was exactly what I was seeking out. Thank you!

  • Excellent piece of writing. This is really what i wanted to learn and Alhamdulillah found it on your website. May Allah bless you. I am going to further share this in the form of hard copy with my family. I am also thinking of translating it in Urdu and then spread it to muslims overhere.

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