In the Name of Allaah, may
the Salaah and
Salaam of Allaah be upon
His Final Messenger, to
proceed:
Muslims are obliged to send
Allaah's Salaah and Salaam upon Muhammad (sallallaahu
'alayhe wa sallam) when
his name is mentioned.
Allaah has commanded us :
(
Verily Allaah and His Angels
send salaah on the
Prophet. O you who believe!
Invoke salaah upon
him, as well as a complete
salaam! )
And the Messenger of Allaah
(sallallaahu 'alayhe wa
sallam) said:
"For each time someone
invokes salaah upon
me, Allaah writes for him
ten good rewards because of
it."
And the Prophet (sallallaahu
'alayhe wa sallam) had
described the one who does
not send salaah upon
him when he is mentioned as
"the stingiest of people."
[6] And he exclaimed
"Aameen!"
to Jibreel's supplication,
"May Allaah repel the one
who hears mention of you and
does not invoke any salaah
upon you!"
So here is the issue that
needs to be clarified:
Many people use the
abbreviation "SAWS"
or "PBUH" to fulfill
this obligation in their
writing. Is this something
that fulfills the obligation
of sending the salaah
and salaam on the
Messenger? Let us look now
to some of the statements of
the scholars regarding this
practice.
The Committee of Major
Scholars in Saudi Arabia
headed by 'Abdul-'Azeez ibn
'Abdillaah ibn Baaz issued
the following verdict when
asked about the validity of
abbreviating the salaah
on the Prophet (sallallaahu
'alayhe wa sallam):
"The Sunnah is to write the
entire phrase "sallallaahu 'alayhe
wa sallam," since it is a
kind of supplication, and
supplication is worship, (in
one's writing) just as it is
in one's speech. So to
abbreviate it using the
letter SAAD or the word
SAAD-LAAM-'AYN-MEEM is not a
supplication nor it is
worship, whether it occurs
in speech or writing. For
this reason, this
abbreviation was not used by
the the first three
generations, those that the
Prophet (sallallaahu 'alayhe
wa sallam) testified to
their goodness."
"SAAD" and "SAAD-LAAM-'AYN-MEEM"
are often used in some
'Arabic books. The English
equivalents of these
abbreviations would be: SAW,
SAWS, SAAWS, PBUH, and the
likes.
Al-Fayrooza-abaadee said,
"It is not appropriate to
use symbols or abbreviations
to refer to salaah and
salaam, as some of the lazy
ones do, as well as some
ignorant people and even
some students of knowledge -
they write 'SAAD-LAAM-'AYN-MEEM'
instead of writing 'sallallaahu
'alayhe wa sallam.'"
Ahmad Shaakir said, "It
is the absurd tradition of
some of the later
generations that they
abbreviate the writing of 'sallallaahu
'alayhe wa sallam.'"
Wasee Allaah 'Abbaas said,
"It
is not permissible to
abbreviate the salaams in
general in one's writing,
just as it is not
permissible to abbreviate
the salaah and salaam on the
Prophet (sallallaahu 'alayhe
wa sallam). It is also not
permissible to abbreviate
either of these in one's
speech."
And Allaah knows best. May
the most perfect and
complete salaah and
salaam be upon our
beloved Messenger, and upon
his noble family and
companions.
This
article was taken fr
