Question : A question was asked regarding [the validity of] speaking (jahr) aloud salawat sharifa over the Prophet (peace be upon him) after the call to prayer.

Fatwa in Brief: Offering prayers for the Prophet should not be made out loud after the call to prayer, because it was never explicitly mentioned in any authoritative text.

The Permanent Committee, 6/101-102

Response:

[It is universally accepted that] Offering prayers for the Prophet (upon him be peace) immediately after the call to prayer (adhan) is not forbidden. There is nothing in the Sunna that prohibits this from happening; and the meaning of the general (‘umum) and [authoritative] texts do not oppose it.

Commentary:

Historically, what is known is that, on finishing the call to prayer, Bilal would stand by the door of the Messenger of God (upon him be peace) and say: “al-salamu alayka, O Messenger of God”, or perhaps, he would say: “upon you be peace (al-salamu alayka), O Messenger of God, you are closer to me than my father and mother, rouse yourself and hasten unto prayer, rouse yourself and hasten unto prayer, upon you be peace.[1]

When Abu Bakr (r.a.) was Caliph, the caller to prayer was Sa‘d al-Qurtuzi. This latter figure would stand by his [Abu Bakr’s] door and say: “upon you be peace, O Caliph of the Messenger of God, God’s Mercy and Blessings upon you (rahmat allahi wa barakatuh), rouse yourself and hasten unto prayer, and prosperity (hay ‘ala al-salah wa hay ‘ala al-falah). [Hasten to] The prayer, O’ Caliph of the Messenger of God. When ‘Umar (r.a.) then became Caliph, Sa‘d used to stand by his door and say to him what he had previously said to Abu Bakr. When ‘Umar addressed the people by declaring: “you are the believers and I am your commander (amir)”, he was [thereafter] called “the Commander of the Faithful” (Amir al-Mu’minin). After the call to pray, the caller began to say: “Peace be Upon You, O Commander of the Faithful” (al-salamu ‘alayka ya amir al-mu’minin). This also happened in the case of ‘Uthman, when he became leader of the Muslims. [Not long after this] The callers to prayer began to salute the Caliphs on finishing the adhan; after doing so, they would call the believers to prayer. [And, in those times] The Caliph or Emir would ultimately lead his people in praying.

This happened in the days of the Umayyads and ‘Abbassids in Egypt, Syria/Lebanon (al-Sham), Arabia, and in a number of other places. In Egypt, when the [Shi‘ite] Fatimid Empire ruled, Jawhar al-Siqilli ordered that the adhan should be performed according to the acts/work of “Ahl al-Bayt”, [Prophet’s immediate family: ‘Ali, Fatima, al-Hasan, and al-Husayn], so he added to it: “hasten to perform great works”. Thereafter, the caller to prayer would stand by the castle and say “upon you be peace, O Commander of the Faithful”, or perhaps he would say “upon you, and upon your pure ancestors be peace, O Commander of the Faithful”. When, eventually, the Fatimid Empire fell, and the Ayyubids seized power, Salah al-Din rejected Fatimid jurisprudence. He [Salah al-Din] banned the pronouncement of peace (salam) upon the Caliphs, and ruled instead that believers should pronounce peace only upon the name of God’s Messenger. This being the case, after his call to pray, the caller [from the time of Salah al-Din] began to say: “peace be upon you, O Messenger of God, and His Mercy and Blessings [also be upon you]”; or perhaps he would say “[May His] blessings and peace be upon you”.

This only happened in “the Castle of the Emirate”, which means that it happened in the Sultan’s mosque, and in other such places. King Najm al-Din Ayyub, the last of the Ayyubids, ordered all the callers to prayer in Egypt and Cairo to stand on the minarets and, after the adhan, declare to the Muslims “Blessings and Peace upon you, O Messenger of God, and His Mercy and Bounty [also be upon you]”. And this was only to be done after the last adhan of the night prayer (salah al-‘isha). This process continued until the days of al-Mansur Haji Ibn al-Ashraf Sha‘ban ibn Husayn ibn al-Nasir Muhammed ibn Mansur Qalawun, who stipulated that, instead of including these words only for the night prayer, they should also be said after the adhan of the dawn (fajr) prayer, and, indeed, after all the call to all prayers, except those in the evening (maghrib). It has remained this way ever since.[2]

From the above, we deduce that there is no harm in calling for God’s Blessings to be on the Prophet (upon him be peace) after the adhan. Indeed, it may be considered an act worthy of reward, like other such acts that arrived later than the time of the Prophet. For, it draws people’s attention to the fact that the time of prayer has arrived. And those things/acts that Muslims [in general] perceive as good are also perceived as good by God. According to the four law schools of [Sunni] Islam, it is known that the Successors (khalaf) added things after the call to prayer, such as: “Blessings on the Prophet, upon you be peace”; and they also added things before the prayer, such as the “tasbih” saying [Subhan allahi wal-hamdu li-llahi wa la illaha illa allah, wa Allahu akbar], and the supplication for help from God (istigathat), before the night prayer, and so on.

And such additions are for the good [i.e they are mustahsana innovations], as there is nothing in the Sunna that prohibits them, and the general meaning of the texts supports their inclusion.[3]

Accordingly, one should not heedlessly rush to condemn a practice as innovation [and reprehensible innovation at that]. Rather it is ones responsibility to carefully and patiently research the matter so that Muslims do not split over a legal judgment over such marginal issue that jurists and scholars have debated for centuries.

Dr. Ahmad ‘Id