بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Of recent, there have been discussions concerning reciting salat was salam (durood) after Asr on a Friday. There are two extreme views on this issue. Some call for a total abandonment while others consider reciting a particular wordings of the durood an established Sunnah. The reality of the matter is that reciting abundant durood on Fridays is an established Sunnah. One may use any wordings he wishes. If one uses the wordings:
اللهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلَى مُحَمَّدِنِ النَّبِيِّ الأُمِّيِّ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَسَلِّمْ تَسْلِيْمًا
without the intention that these specific words are established in the hadith, then there is no harm. Rather, all the rewards promised in authentic narrations for reciting salat was salam will be acquired and achieved, Allah willing. Below we reproduce an explanation written by the muhaddith of his era Hazrat Shaikhul Hadith Maulana Zakariyah Kandhalvi رحمه الله concerning reciting durood after Asr on Fridays in his book ‘Fadhail Durood’ translated by Mualana Irfan Adalat.
Hazrat Shaikhul Hadith Maulana Zakariyah Kandhalvi رحمه الله said:
عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ قَالَ رسول اللهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم : الصَّلَوةُ عَلَيَّ نُوْرٌعَلَى الصِّرَاطِ وَمَنْ صَلَّى عَلَيَّ يَوْمَ الْجُمُعَةِ ثَمَانِيْنَ مَرَّةً غُفِرَتْ لَهُ ذُنُوْبُ ثَمَانِيْنَ عَامًا ذكره قَالَ رَسُوْلُ السخاوي من عدة روايات ضعيفة بألفاظ مختلفة
Sayyidunā Abū Hurayrah رضي الله عنه narrates that the Messenger of Allāh صلى الله عليه وسلم said, “Conferring blessings upon me will be a light on the Bridge. Whoever confers blessings upon me eighty times on Friday, eighty years of his sins are forgiven.”
Allāma Sakhāwī (may Allāh have mercy on him) has narrated this ḥadīth through many different chains of narration that have been declared weak (ḍaīf).
The author of Itḥāf (a commentary of Iḥyā _ūlūm al-Dīn) has also narrated this ḥadīth through different chains of narration. It is a principle of the ḥadīth scholars that a weak narration, especially when reported through varying chains of narrations, is acceptable when pertaining to virtues. It is most probably for this reason that this ḥadīth has been indicated as sound (ḥasan) in Al-Jāmi_al-Ṣaghīr on the authority of Sayyidunā Abū Hurayra رضي الله عنه. Mullā _Alī Qārī (may Allāh have mercy on him) has also qouted this ḥadīth from Ṭabrānī and Dāruquṭnī through the reference of Al-Jāmi_al-Ṣaghīr in his Sharhus Shifaa.
Allāma Sakhāwī (may Allāh have mercy on him) says that this ḥadīth has also been narrated on the authority of Sayyidunā Anas رضي الله عنه. In a ḥadīth of Sayyidunā Abū Hurayra رضي الله عنه, it is narrated that whoever confers the following blessings eighty times before getting up from his place after Aṣr prayers on Friday, eighty years of his sins will be forgiven and the reward of eighty years of worship will be written for him:
اللهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلَى مُحَمَّدِنِ النَّبِيِّ الأُمِّيِّ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَسَلِّمْ تَسْلِيْمًا
O Allāh, confer blessings upon Muḥammad, the unlettered Prophet, and upon his family and confer salutations.
Dāruquṭnī (may Allāh have mercy on him) has narrated in a ḥadīth that the Noble Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said, “Whoever confers blessings upon me eighty times on Friday, eighty years of his sins will be forgiven.” A person asked, “O Messenger of Allāh, how should we confer blessings?” The Noble Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) replied:
اللهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلَى مُحَمَّدٍ عَبْدِكَ وَنَبِيِّكَ وَرَسُوْلِكَ النَّبِيِّ الأُمِّيِّ
O Allāh, confer blessings upon Muḥammad, Your servant, Your Prophet and Your Messenger, the unlettered Prophet.
“Close one finger after saying this.” Closing one’s fingers mean counting using your fingers.
The ḥadīths encourage one to count using one’s fingers. The Noble Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said, “Count using your fingers, as they shall be given the power to speak on the Day of Judgement and shall be questioned.” (This subject has been discussed in detail under ḥadīth eighteen of Virtues of Dhikr, Chapter Two).
We use our hands to commit hundreds of sins. On the Day of Judgement when the hands and fingers will enumerate the thousands sins committed during one’s life, they should also be able to enumerate some good deeds carried out by them or that were counted with their aid. Ḥāfiẓ _Irāqī (may Allāh have mercy on him) has declared this ḥadīth ḥasan [a good chain of transmission].
Sayyidunā _Alī رضي الله عنه has narrated that the Noble Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said, “Whoever confers one hundred blessings upon me on Friday will be accompanied by such light on the Day of Judgement that it would suffice the whole creation were it to be distributed amongst them.”
It is narrated on the authority of Sayyidunā Sahl bin_Abdullāh (may Allāh have mercy on him) that whoever confers the following blessings eighty times after Aṣr ṣalāh on Friday will have eighty years of his sins forgiven:
اللهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلَى مُحَمَّدِ نِ النَّبِيِّ الأُمِّيِّ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَسَلِّمْ
O Allāh, confer blessings upon Muḥammad, the unlettered Prophet and upon his family and confer salutations.
Allāma Sakhāwī (may Allāh have mercy on him) narrates elsewhere on the authority of Sayyidunā Anas رضي الله عنه that the Noble Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said, “Whoever confers blessings upon me once that are subsequently accepted, eighty years of his sins are forgiven.”
In Zād al-Saīd, Shaykh Ashraf Alī Thānawī (may Allāh have mercy on him) has narrated this ḥadīth of Sayyidunā Anas رضي الله عنه on the authority of Al-Durr al-Mukhtār from Iṣbahānī.
Allāmah Shāmī (may Allāh have mercy on him) has discussed at length whether blessings on the Noble Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) are always accepted or not. Shaykh Abū Sulaymān Dārānī (may Allāh have mercy on him) is reported to have said that acts of worship have the possibility of being either accepted or rejected. However, blessings upon the Noble Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) are always accepted. Other ṣūfīs have also mentioned the same point.
يَا رَبِّ صَلِّ وَ سَلِّمْ دَائِماً أَبَدًا عَلَى حَبِيْبِكَ خَيْرِ الْخَلْقِ كُلِّهِمِ
