Times to pray for the Prophet

4-4-2005 | IslamWeb

Question:

There is a Hadeeth in Riyaadh-us-Saaliheen quoted from Abu Daawood that Aws Ibn Aws said something to the effect that the Muslims should increase their Salawaat on the Prophet, sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam, on Fridays, and is ranked Hassan. Based on this, can the Muslim choose a time, (for example, after 'Asr or after Salaatudh-dhuhaa in the morning) and recite a selected number of Salawaat a certain number of times on Fridays? Can he also do this on other days but a lesser number of times so as to be consistent with Fridays being assigned the greater number of Ssalawaat?
Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger. We ask Allaah to exalt his mention as well as that of his family and all his companions.

 

It is desirable to exalt the mention of the Prophet sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah exalt his mention ) on Friday. The Prophet sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah exalt his mention ) said: "The best of your days is Friday, as it is the day when Aadam may Allaah exalt his mention was created, and the day he died, it is the day when the trumpet will be blown and the day when everybody [who are in the heavens and on the Earth will swoon away], so exalt me on this day as your exaltations are presented to me." [Ahmad, An-Nasaa'ee and Abu Daawood]

As regards choosing a particular time to exalt the Prophet's sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah exalt his mention ) mention, like choosing a free time when one is not busy and the like, then there is no harm in this, however, if one chooses a special time to exalt the Prophet sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah exalt his mention ) believing that it is better than another time to say these exaltations, then this is not permissible. Because there is no evidence from the Sunnah of the Prophet sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah exalt his mention ) about the excellence of any particular time on Friday to exalt his mention. Exalting his mention after 'Asr and after Fajr daily is substantiated by evidence, however this applies to Friday and other days as he sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah exalt his mention ) said: "Whoever exalts my mention ten times in the morning (i.e. after Fajr) and ten times in the early evening (i.e. after 'Asr), he will receive my intercession on the Day of Judgment." [At-Tabaraani] Besides, we do not know any evidence of exalting the Prophet sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah exalt his mention ) a particular number of times on Friday. He sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah exalt his mention ) said: "Increase exalting my mention on this day…" and he did not specify exactly how many number of times. So specifying a number of times that a person should not exceed is a kind of altering the Islamic Law, so this should not be done.

To conclude, exalting the mention of the Prophet sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah exalt his mention ) and increasing the number of exaltations is a permissible act in any day and at any time as the Prophet sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah exalt his mention ) said: "Whoever exalts my mention one time, Allaah will exalt his mention ten times." [Muslim] So increasing his exaltation on Friday is something required as previously illustrated, even if a Muslim exalts the Prophet's mention more on other days than on Friday, that is also permissible and there is no harm on him.

Allaah knows best.

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