Islamic honorifics

List of honorifics

God (Allah)

Following the mention of God (Allah), including by pronoun (e.g., 'him' or 'his'), or by one of the names bestowed upon him, one of the below honorifics are said or written:

Muhammad

Muhammad's name, reference to him through a pronoun (e.g., 'his' or 'him'), or the use of one of his titles (e.g., 'the messenger of Allah') is followed by one of the below honorifics. The honorific "Blessings of Allah be upon him as well as peace" is the most widely used. The use of the word "blessings" (ṣallā, صَلَّى) can be used for all Islamic prophets (and Shia Imams) equally, however it is almost exclusively used with Muhammad.

Muhammad's companions

Honorifics used for Muhammad's companions (aṣ-Ṣaẖābah) ask for Allah's pleasure with them. Muhammad's companions include men (Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, Ali, etc.) and women (e.g., Fatima bint Muhammad, Aisha bint Abu Bakr, Asma bint Abu Bakr, etc.), and are accorded the properly gendered honorifics.

Prophets, messengers, and Ahl al-Bayt

Some honorifics apply to the archangels (Jibril, Mikhail, etc.) as well as any other Islamic prophets preceding Muhammad (e.g., Isa, Musa, Ibrahim etc.). A group of modern scholars from Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University, Yemen, and Mauritania has issued fatwa that the angels should be invoked with blessing of alayhi al-salām, which also applied to human prophets and messengers. This fatwa was based on the ruling from Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya.

Some major hadith collections such as Sahih al-Bukhari, Sunan Abi Dawud, and Sunan al-Tirmidhi include narrations where members of the Ahl al-Bayt (the family of Muhammad), including Ali, Fatima, Hasan, and Husayn, are mentioned with ʿalayhi/ʿalayhā/ʿalayhim al-salām.

In Shia Islam, Muhammad's progeny, referred to as Ahl al-Bayt (Arabic: أَهْل ٱلْبَيْت, lit. 'people of the house'), are addressed with the same honorifics as messengers.

Revered men and women

Some honorifics apply to highly-revered Islamic scholars and people thought to be of high spiritual rank. When that person has died, honorifics ask for Allah's mercy upon or pleasure with him or her. When that person is still living, honorifics customarily ask for Allah's preservation or relief.

Scriptural and hadith basis

Qur'ān

The honorifics for Muhammad are enjoined by Surat al-Ahzab:

إِنَّ ٱللّٰهَ وَمَلَـٰٓىِٕكَتَهُۥ يُصَلُّونَ عَلَى ٱلنَّبِىِّ ۚ يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ صَلُّوا۟ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلِّمُوا۟ تَسْلِيمًا
'Surely Allah (God) and His angels bless the Prophet; O you who believe! Send blessings on him and salute him with a (becoming) salutation.'
^{[Quran 33:56 (Translated by Shakir)]}

Hadiths from Sunni Islam

Al-Tirmidhi recorded that Abu Hurairah said, "The Messenger of Allah said, 'May he be humiliated, the man in whose presence I am mentioned and he does not send Salaam upon me; may he be humiliated, the man who sees the month of Ramadan come and go, and he is not forgiven; may he be humiliated, the man whose parents live to old age and they do not cause him to be granted admittance to Paradise.'" Al-Tirmidhi said that this hadith was ḥasan gharib, "good but only reported once".

In Sahih Muslim, Sunan Abu Dawood, Jami' at-Tirmidhi and al-Sunan al-Sughra, four of the six major hadith collections recorded that Abu Hurairah said, "The Messenger of Allah said: 'Whoever sends one Salaam upon me, Allah will send ten upon him.'"

Ahmad ibn Hanbal reported in his Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal that the Companion of Muhammad, Abu Talha ibn Thabit, said:

One morning the Messenger of Allah was in a cheerful mood and looked happy. They said, "O Messenger of Allah, this morning you are in a cheerful mood and look happy." He said, "Of course, just now someone [an angel] came to me from my Lord [Allah] and said, 'Whoever among your Ummah sends Salaam upon you, Allah will record for him ten good deeds and will erase for him ten evil deeds, and will raise his status by ten degrees, and will return his greeting with something similar to it.'"

Al-Bayhaqi reports that Abu Hurairah said that Muhammad said, "Send the Salaam on Allah's messengers and prophets for Allah sent them as He sent me."

This point is further founded in the saying by Muhammad, "The miser is the one in whose presence I am mentioned, then he does not send the Salam upon me." This was recorded in Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal.

Anas bin Malik said, "The Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said: 'Whoever sends salah upon me once, Allah (SWT) will send salah upon him tenfold, and will erase ten sins from him, and will raise him ten degrees in status.'"

— Collected by Al-Nasa'i, Al-Sunan al-Sughra, Book 13, Hadith 119

Criticism of abbreviations

Scholars of the Salafi branch of Islam practiced in Saudi Arabia have instructed their followers not to abbreviate the salawat upon Muhammad, but to instead write the full form. For example, Abd al-Aziz ibn Baz, the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, said:

As it is prescribed to send prayers upon the Prophet (peace and prayers of Allah be upon him) in prayer when saying the tashahhud, and it is prescribed when giving khutbahs, saying Du'a and praying for forgiveness, and after the Adhan, and when entering and exiting the mosque, and when mentioning him in other circumstances, so it is more important to do so when writing his name in a book, letter, article and so on. So it is prescribed to write the prayers in full so as to fulfil the command that Allah has given to Muslims, and so that the reader will remember to say the prayers when he reads it. So one should not write the prayers on the Prophet (peace and prayers of Allah be upon him) in short form such as writing (S) or (SAWS) etc, or other forms that some writers use, because that is going against the command of Allah in His Book, where He says (interpretation of the meaning):

صَلُّوا۟ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلِّمُوا۟ تَسْلِيمًا

Send blessings on him and salute him with a (becoming) salutation."^{[Quran 33:56 (Translated by Shakir)]}

And that (writing it in abbreviated form) does not serve that purpose and is devoid of the virtue of writing "salla Allaahu 'alayhi wa sallam (May Allah send prayers and peace upon him)" in full. Moreover the reader may not take notice of it and may not understand what is meant by it. It should also be noted that the symbol used for it is regarded as disapproved by the scholars, who warned against it.

Official religious bodies such as Egypt’s Dar al-Iftaa and Jordan’s General Iftaa’ Department have also discouraged the use of abbreviations. Egypt’s Dar al-Iftaa classifies the use of abbreviations as a 'prohibited matter' according to scholars, viewing it as a sign of laziness to obtain rewards and rudeness toward Muhammad. Similarly, Jordan’s Iftaa’ Department states that while abbreviations should be avoided in writing, if they are used in a case of necessity, the practitioner must still pronounce the full blessing verbally.

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