Islamic Honorifics
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Islam uses a number of conventionally complimentary phrases praising Allah (e.g., ), or wishing good things upon
Muhammad Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد;  570 – 8 June 632 Common Era, CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Muhammad in Islam, Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet Divine inspiration, di ...
or other
prophets In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the s ...
(e.g., ). These phrases are encompassed by a number of terms: Prayers upon Muhammad may be referred to simply as ar, صَلَوات, ṣalawāt, "prayers", fa, , dorud, "greetings", or ur, , durūd.


Applied to God

After mentioning one of the
names of God There are various names of God, many of which enumerate the various qualities of a Supreme Being. The English word '' god'' (and its equivalent in other languages) is used by multiple religions as a noun to refer to different deities, or spec ...
, such as ''Allah'', an expression of worship is used as opposed to the phrases of supplication used for regular individuals. These include:


Applied to Muhammad and his family

In the above, ar, عليه, ʿalayhi "upon him" may be replaced by ar, عليه وعلى آله, ʿalayhi wa-ʿalā 'ālihi "upon him and upon his family." Usually, or "blessings" is used exclusively for Muhammad to distinguish between him and other prophets (and Imams in Shia Islam), but theoretically, it is used for all prophets equally.


Scriptural and hadith basis for prayers upon Muhammad


Qur'ān

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


Ahadith

Al-Tirmidhi Abū ʿĪsā Muḥammad ibn ʿĪsā as-Sulamī aḍ-Ḍarīr al-Būghī at-Tirmidhī ( ar, أبو عيسى محمد بن عيسى السلمي الضرير البوغي الترمذي; fa, , ''Termezī''; 824 – 9 October 892 CE / 209 - 2 ...
recorded that
Abu Hurairah Abu Hurayra ( ar, أبو هريرة, translit=Abū Hurayra; –681) was one of the companions of Islamic prophet Muhammad and, according to Sunni Islam, the most prolific narrator of hadith. He was known by the ''kunyah'' Abu Hurayrah "Fathe ...
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 , "good but only reported once". In , , and , four of the
six major hadith collections The ''Kutub al-Sittah'' ( ar-at, ٱلْكُتُب ٱلسِّتَّة, al-Kutub as-Sittah, lit=the six books) are six (originally five) books containing collections of ''hadith'' (sayings or acts of the Islamic prophet Muhammad) compiled by six S ...
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 Ahmad ibn Hanbal al-Dhuhli ( ar, أَحْمَد بْن حَنْبَل الذهلي, translit=Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal al-Dhuhlī; November 780 – 2 August 855 CE/164–241 AH), was a Muslim jurist, theologian, ascetic, hadith traditionist, and ...
reported in his that the Companion of Muhammad, Abu Talha ibn Thabit, said: 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 .


Salafi ruling on abbreviating prayers upon Muhammad

Scholars of the Salafi branch of Islam practised in
Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...
have instructed their followers not to abbreviate the upon Muhammad. For example,
Abd al-Aziz ibn Baz Sheikh Abd al Aziz ibn Abdullah ibn Baz ( ar, عبد العزيز بن عبد الله بن باز, ʿAbd al ʿAzīz bin ʿAbdullāh bin Bāz, 21 November 1912 – 13 May 1999) was a Saudi Arabian Islamic scholar who served as the Grand Mufti of ...
, the
Grand Mufti The Grand Mufti (also called Chief Mufti, State Mufti and Supreme Mufti) is the head of regional muftis, Islamic jurisconsults, of a state. The office originated in the early modern era in the Ottoman empire and has been later adopted in a num ...
of Saudi Arabia, said:


Applied to angels and prophets

Some honorifics apply to the archangels (
Jibril In Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam), Gabriel (); Greek: grc, Γαβριήλ, translit=Gabriḗl, label=none; Latin: ''Gabriel''; Coptic: cop, Ⲅⲁⲃⲣⲓⲏⲗ, translit=Gabriêl, label=none; Amharic: am, ገብር ...
, Mikhail, etc.) as well as any other Islamic prophets preceding Muhammad ( Isa as,
Musa Musa may refer to: Places * Mūša, a river in Lithuania and Latvia * Musa, Azerbaijan, a village in Yardymli Rayon * Musa, Iran, a village in Ilam Province * Musa, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, Iran *Musa, Kerman, Iran * Musa, Bukan, West Azerbaija ...
as,
Ibrahim Ibrahim ( ar, إبراهيم, links=no ') is the Arabic name for Abraham, a Biblical patriarch and prophet in Islam. For the Islamic view of Ibrahim, see Abraham in Islam. Ibrahim may also refer to: * Ibrahim (name), a name (and list of people ...
as etc.). Group of modern scholars from
Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University (IMSIU) (), commonly known as Al-Imam University, is a public university in Baladiyah al-Shemal in northern Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It was founded in 1953. represented by the College of Sharia Sciences (no ...
, Yemen, and Mauritania has issued fatwa that the angels should be invoked with blessing of , which also applied to human prophets and messengers. This fatwa was based on the ruling from
Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya Shams al-Dīn Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Abī Bakr ibn Ayyūb al-Zurʿī l-Dimashqī l-Ḥanbalī (29 January 1292–15 September 1350 CE / 691 AH–751 AH), commonly known as Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya ("The son of the principal of he school ...
. * ( ar, عليه السلام) ** Translation: "Peace be upon him" ** Abbreviation: "AS" * ** Translation: "On him are the blessings and the peace of Allah" ** Abbreviation: "ASW"


Applied to companions of Muhammad

Some honorifics are used after companions () of Muḥammad: * ( ar, رضي الله عنه) **Translation: "May Allāh be pleased with him" **Abbreviation: "RA" **Example: * ( ar, رضي الله عنها) **Translation: "May Allāh be pleased with her" **Example: * ( ar, رضي الله عنهم) **Translation: "May Allāh be pleased with them" **Example:


Applied to enemies of Muhammad

Some honorifics are not used in the sense of "honoring" a person, and are instead used after the mention of the enemies ( ar, العَدُوّ, al-'aduww) of Muḥammad: * ( ar, لعنة الله عليه) **Translation: "May Allāh curse him" **Example:


Applied to scholars and saints

Some honorifics apply to highly revered scholars and people thought to be of high spiritual rank who have died: * ( ar, رَحْمَةُ الله عليه)/ ( ar, رَحِمَهُ الله) **Translation: "May Allah's mercy/ blessing be upon him" **Example: * ( ar, رَحْمَةُ الله عليها)/ ( ar, رَحِمَها الله) **Translation: "May Allah's mercy/ blessing be upon her" **Example: * ( ar, رَحْمَةُ الله عليهم) **Translation: "May Allah's mercy/ blessing be upon them" If a revered scholar is still alive, the following is custom: * ( ar, حفظه الله) **Translation: "May Allah preserve him" * ( ar, فرج الله عنه) **Translation: "May Allah grant him relief"


Unicode


See also

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Islamic Honorifics Arabic words and phrases