Reflecting Over the Tahiyyāt | Shaykh

'Abdurrazzāq al-Badr

O noble, beloved brothers, I titled the talk of tonight’s

gathering: Reflecting Over the Tahiyyat.

What I mean by the Tahiyyat is that which the Muslim recites

at the end of his prayer, after standing bowing and prostrating.
Then, at the completion of the prayer he sits in this
tremendous position in front of the Lord of all that exists.

Commencing this sitting with his statement: At-Tahiyyatu

lillahi… until the end of what is mentioned.

And that which I will speak about in regards to the Tahiyyat is

not from an aspect of teaching, rather it is from an aspect of
reminding.

I am reminding myself firstly and reminding those that are

present listening. We ask Allah SWT to bless us all.

So, I am not a teacher. Rather, I am one who is reminding,

reminding myself firstly and reminding all my brothers. We ask
Allah for success and uprightness.

It comes in the Sahihayn, from the Hadith of ‘Abdillah ibn

Mas’ud (may Allah be pleased with him), he said: When we
used to pray behind the prophet SAW, we would say As-Salam
upon Allah from his slaves, As-Salam upon Jibril and Mika’il,
As-Salam upon So and So and we would name the people one
by one.
So the Prophet SAW said: Don’t say Al-Salam upon Allah. Verily,
Allah is Al-Salam. However, Say At-Tahiyyat, As-Salawat and At-
Tayyibat is for Allah. As-Salam and Allah’s Mercy and Blessings
be upon you O Prophet. As-Salam upon us and the righteous
slaves of Allah. If you say this, this includes every righteous
slave that is in the heavens and that is on the earth. I testify
that there is nothing worthy of worship but Allah, alone
without any partners, and I testify that Muhammad is His slave
and messenger.

This is a tremendous Hadith in mentioning this tremendous

Tahiyyat that the Prophet SAW taught his Ummah.

We take from this an important piece of benefit. We see from

the beginning of the Hadith the independent judgment of the
companions in regards to the Tahiyyah. They used to say Al-
Salam upon Allah.
And we know who they are in regards to virtue and nobility.
However, the Prophet SAW corrected them and taught them.

We will go over the description of how to send the Salat upon

him. They said: we know how to send the Salam upon you. So
teach us how to send the Salat upon you SAW.

So, we take from this an important piece of benefit, which is

that affair of supplication and remembrance is like the affairs
of the religion, and that is that it must be learned from the
Prophet SAW.

Regarding these religious affairs, if an individual relies on his

independent judgments, he will err and fall into mistakes.
However if he took from the Prophet SAW, then everything
from the prophet is infallible and there are no mistakes in any
of them.

So behind the Prophet SAW they used to say: As-Salam upon

Allah SWT. Salam is a supplication. A supplication for well
being for the one you are supplicating for.

Allah SWT, he is Al-Salam. He is the one who Salam is

requested from, for his slaves.

And As-Salam is one of His Names as it comes at the conclusion

of Surah al-Hashr:

He is Allah than whom none has the right to be worshipped but

He, the King, the Holy, As-Salam… (59:23)

As-Salam is one of his names.

This name is from the names that negate any type of deficiency,
imperfection or likening to the creation, like Al-Quddus and
Al-Subh. These all, are names that negate any deficiency.

They negate everything that unbefitting for his Majesty, His

Perfection and his Greatness.

So it is not correct to say Al-Salam upon Allah, because He Is

Salam, and he is the one who gives it and we ask him for Salam.

Don’t say Al-Salam upon Allah because He is As-Salam and

from him is Salam and it is from him that we request it.
However, Say At-Tahiyyat, As-Salawat and At-Tayyibat for
Allah.

At-Tahiyyat: all types of magnification in all of its forms solely

for him, from humility, submission, bowing and prostrating.
This is the sole right of Allah SWT alone. It is not directed to
anyone but him.

As-Salawat: it is said the prayer which entails bowing and

prostrating. And it is said that what is intended is its linguistic
meaning which is supplication. And there is nothing that
prevents this from compromising both affairs. It is all for Allah.

So one doesn’t prostrate or bow except to Allah. Likewise, one

doesn’t supplicate except to Allah.

And who is more astray than one who invokes beside Allah,
such as will not answer him till the Day of Resurrection, and
who are (even) unaware of their invocations to them? (46:5)

At-Tayyibat: is described for a description that is removed.

The context points to this.
From the names and attributes, statements, actions, intentions,
all of this is for Allah SWT.
All of Allah’s names are Tayyibah.

He is Tayyib.

He SAW said: Allah is Tayyib. And he doesn’t accept anything

except that which is Tayyib.

All characteristics that are Tayyib are for him.

Actions, speech and intentions that are Tayyibah is for Allah
SWT alone because he is Tayyib and everything that is for him
is Tayyib.

Therefore, if an individual is Tayyib in his actions, speech and

intentions seeking nearness to Allah by way of them, on the
day of judgment he will be from those that it will be said to
them:

(tibtum) You have done well, so enter here to abide therein…

(39:73)

At-Tayyibat is for Allah… from statements, actions, intentions,

as well as his beautiful names and lofty attributes, they are all
for Allah SWT.
And all of this is taken from the other Hadith: Allah is Tayyib
(in his names and attributes). And he doesn’t accept anything
except that which is Tayyib.

After this Tahiyyah and magnification for Allah SWT, the

Prophet SAW is singled out with an exclusive Salam before the
rest of the slaves

As-Salam and the Mercy and the Blessings of Allah upon you O
Prophet…

And this shows that the prophet SAW has exclusive rights upon
the whole Ummah and all of the slaves.

This is because, by way of him, Allah saved the people from the
darkness to the Light and guided them to the straight path.

Verily there has come to you a messenger from amongst

yourselves. It grieves him that you should receive any injury or
difficulty. He is anxious over you, for the believers (he is) full of
pity, kindness and mercy. (9:128)

The Prophet is more worthy of the believers than themselves…

(33:6)

If he is more worthy of the believer than his own self, then he is

given precedence even in this Tahiyyah and in this Salam
As-Salam and the Mercy and the Blessings of Allah upon you O
Prophet…

After this appropriation for him SAW, comes something

specific for the one praying, the one sending the Salam.

As-Salam and the Mercy and the Blessings of Allah upon you O
and As-Salam upon us…

After this appropriation for the Prophet SAW, which takes

precedence over his own self because he is more worthy of
yourself than you. This is because he SAW is more diligent and
wants good for you more than you do.

Therefor, he SAW is more worthy of your love than yourself

and your love of him SAW, takes precedence over your love for
yourself.

And this precedence in Salam is from this affair, which is:

The prophet is more worthy of the believers than themselves…

(33:6)

So Salam upon him SAW takes precedence over Salam upon

himself.
As-Salam and the Mercy and the Blessings of Allah upon you O
and As-Salam upon us…

Afterwards, it becomes general: and upon the righteous slaves

of Allah.
When the Prophet SAW taught them this statement, he said: If
you say this, this includes every righteous slave that is in the
heavens and that is on the earth.
Take heed now, when a Muslim says: As-Salam upon us and
upon the righteous slaves of Allah.

The companions would say: As-Salam upon so and so, and so

and so, They used to say As-Salam upon Mika’il and Jibra’il, but
there are other angels that exist.
The companions would say: As-Salam upon So and So, So and
So, So and So and would specify the individuals by their names.
If this was legislated in the Tahiyyah, who would we remember
and who would we forget and leave out.
If, for every prayer, we would enumerate the names of the
angels, the names that we know, and the names of the
righteous who have rights over us, how many would we
enumerate?

This reminds me of an affair. I will allude to it and return back

to the topic.

Now, some visitors come to Madinah to visit the Prophet’s

Masjid, the norm in many countries is that they will ask the one
who will visit the Masjid to send the Salam to the Prophet SAW
for them.
Whoever knows he will be traveling, they would burden him
with this trust. How many of their names was he supposed to
remember? Some of them have informed me that from their
wanting good for those people, they wrote all of their names
down on a paper.
A questioner once came to me and said: ‘O Shaikh, I was made
to bear the burden of sending Salam upon the prophet SAW
and I wrote the names on them on a piece of paper and they
were a lot.’
He wanted to stand and send the Salam for so and so, so and so
etc. and said he lost the paper.
So he asked about the paper and what he was to do about it
and burdened himself with something he wasn’t ordered to do.

The Prophet SAW said: Indeed Allah has angels who travel
around. They convey to me the Salam of my Ummah.

A man doesn’t need to wait for someone from his country to

travel to Madinah so that he could convey their Salam to the
Prophet SAW.
The similarities between the two stories is that enumeration
causes a great burden upon the individual.

If this was legislated for the one who visited Madinah…

Now, when a person is traveling to another place we say send
our Salam to those you meet, our loved ones, the brothers and
our relatives. If he was to burden himself with this, it would be
a problem.

However, similar to this, the benefit that we can derive from

this Tahiyyah is that this is not what is intended. Even if one
were to say: Send Salam. What is not intended is that you
follow up one by one.

However, in general gatherings, so that kinship and

communication remain by conveying the Salam.
Returning to the Hadith;

“As-Salam upon us and the righteous slaves of Allah. If you say

this, this includes every righteous slave that is in the Heavens
and on Earth.”

Look at this tremendous virtue.

With this you are supplicating for every righteous slave on the
earth and in the heavens with this concise statement that Allah
has sufficed his slaves from having to do without long
statements that wouldn’t be possible to fulfill.
This reminds us of an affair that firmly connects us to the
narrated supplications of the prophet SAW, which is that the
prophet SAW was given concise speech with an abundance of
meaning.

And the supplications narrated from him, despite their

conciseness, they combines all the good.

After: As-Salam upon us and the righteous slaves of Allah… is

the two testimonies of faith, the testification of Allah’s Oneness
and the testification for the Prophet SAW in conveying Allah’s
message.

I bare witness that there is no one worthy of worship except

Allah.

This is the Tawhid of Allah because this is a testification of the

oneness of Allah and sincerity to Him SWT.

I testify in Allah, in his oneness and singling him out in

worship. And he is the only one worthy of worship and there is
nothing else worthy of my devotion.
And the testimony of faith is established upon two pillars.
There is nothing worthy of worship except Allah. Negation and
affirmation, negating worship for anything other than Allah
and affirming worship in all its forms for Allah alone.

This is Tawhid.

Tawhid is negation and affirmation. Negating without affirming

isn’t Tawhid vice versa. It must compromise both in order for it
to be Tawhid. Negation that is general and affirmation that is
specific.

Negation of worship that is general in everything other than

Allah and affirmation of worship in all of its forms for Allah,
alone with sincerity and singling him out in worship.

The second testimony is the testimony for the prophet SAW in

conveying Allah’s message. And this is also Tawhid. The
scholars say that Tawhid is of two types.
Tawhid for the one sending, Allah, by making the religion
sincerely for him.

And Tawhid for the one being sent, by following him. We

follow him alone. We take from him alone and we learn the
religion from him alone.

So the religion is what comes by way of him SAW. This is

because he is the one conveying the message from Allah to the
people.

Nor does he speak of (his own) desire. It is only an inspiration

that is inspired
(53:34)
This testimony combines his description of worship and
conveying of Allah’s message.
So he SAW is a slave and a slave in not to be worshipped but he
is also a messenger and is not to be disbelieved in. Rather he is
to be obeyed and followed.

And the one who actualizes this becomes balanced and falls
between the two extremities of exaggeration and negligence.

He doesn’t go into exaggeration in regards to the status of the

prophet SAW because they both are slaves, he doesn’t give him
(SAW) the rights and attributes of Allah, because he is a slave
and slaves are not worshipped.
But SAW is a messenger so he believes in him and follows him.
He obeys him.

We sent no messenger, but to be obeyed by Allah’s leave.

(4:64)

Therefore, the reality of testifying for him in conveying Allah’s

message is obedience in what he commands, belief in what he
reports and abandoning what he prohibits and rebukes.

The Ibrahimiyyah prayer comes after this and it has many

different forms. However, the most comprehensive form is the
form that comes in the Sahihayn, from Abdurrahman ibn Abi
Layla. He said:

K’ab ibn Ujrah (May Allah be pleased with him) met me and
said: “Should I give you a gift…?”

If a person were to say: Should I give you a gift…? Most people

would wait for them to take something out of their pocket to
give to them.
K’ab ibn Ujrah said: “Should I give you a gift…?”

Abdurrahman ibn Abi Layla replied: “Of course, gift it for me.”

K’ab ibn Ujrah said: “We said to the Messenger of Allah SAW:
We know how to send the Salam upon you. How do we send
the Salat upon you?
This question comes more than once in different Ahadith from
more than one companion. They said: How do we send the
Salat upon you?

This question clarifies to us what I want to allude to and clarify

which is that the companions, despite their knowledge and
eloquence of the Arabic language and their understanding of
the religion, don’t they have a beautiful way or form of sending
salutations upon the prophet SAW? They have the ability to
create the most beautiful way or form of sending the Salat
upon the prophet SAW!
However, not one of them created anything that they would
recite on a regular basis.

They said how do we send the salat to you?

Nowadays, there are several books available that comprises of

fabricated Salawat upon the prophet SAW. And they
aggrandize it, meanwhile they are fabricated.

Despite the lofty status of the companions, their eloquence,

their knowledge of the religion, being near the prophet SAW,
learning directly from him, despite all of this, they didn’t create
their own way of sending the Salat upon the prophet.
After he taught them how to sent the Salat upon him, what did
they do? They took it and acted upon it.

He SAW said: Say: Allahuma Salli Ala Muhammd Wa Alla Ali

Muhammad Kama Sallayta Ala Ibrahim innaka Hamidun Majid
Wa Barik ala Muhammad wa ala Ali Muhammad kama Barakta
ala Ibrahim wa ala Ali Ibrahim innaka Hamidun Majid.

He taught them this way of sending the salat upon him and
they took it from him. And there comes other types of forms of
sending the salat upon the prophet SAW that are similar.
However, this is the most comprehensive.

So any way of sending the salat upon the prophet SAW that is
narrated will establish what is intended.
In summary, that which is after the Tahiyyat and the
Tashahhud, the individual sends the Salat upon the prophet
SAW. This tremendous Salat that combines the Salat, mercy
and blessings.

Allahuma Salli Ala Muhammad… Afterwards: Allahumma barik

ala Muhammad…

Al-Salat upon him from Allah SWT is praising him in the

highest gathering. The Salat of the believers and the angels
upon him…

Allah sends hish Salat oh the prophet and also his angels too. O
you who believe! Send your Salat on him, and (you should)
greet him with the Islamic way of greeting. (33:56)

It is a request for that. As for the blessing, it means growth and

increase. So this is a request for the Salat and blessings to be
Upon him SAW.
What comes after this affair?

The slave stands in front of Allah, makes the takbir, makes the
opening supplication, recites the Fatihah and whatever he is
able to afterwards, bows, raises, prostrates until he reaches the
end of the prayer and sits in this position.

After these tremendous affairs that Allah has honored him

with, he begins this sitting with the Tahiyyah, magnifying Allah,
sensing the Salam upon the prophet SAW, upon the righteous
slaves of Allah. The Ibrahimmiya prayer.

What comes after all this? The door becomes open for
supplications to be answered. It is from the greatest doors for
supplications to be answered!

And the most anticipated times of having supplications

answered is in the middle of the night and at the end of the
prayer before the Taslim.

Therefore, he SAW said in the Hadith:

Afterwards, let him choose whichever supplications he would like

to supplicate with.

This is because it is a door where supplications are answered.

One of the imams spoke about those who were praying behind
him, that he came to him afterwards and said: O Sheikh you
made the Tashahhud too long. I recited it behind you twice.

Who said to you: recite the Tashahhud twice when there is an

opportunity to supplicate.
Afterwards, let him choose whichever supplications he would like
to supplicate with.

When the imam does the Taslim some people wish he would’ve
prolonged it for a bit longer so that they could complete their
supplications.

They understand the value of specific time in regards to

supplications.

And some people, if the imam were to prolong it a little bit,

they would wish that he would hasten his Taslim.

There is a difference between the two.

In summary, before the Taslim is a tremendous and precious

opportunity for you to supplicate.

Even if the individual is praying a supererogatory prayer, if he

has a need, he would hasten to the Taslim, Afterwards, he
would raise his hands and supplicate.

Your opportunity is before the Taslim to choose any

supplication you wish to supplicate with, as the prophet said,
Afterwards, let him choose whichever supplications he would like
to supplicate with.

However, there is a specific supplication which is the seeking

of refuge. It comes in the Sahihayn from the Hadith of Abi
Hurayrah that the Prophet SAW commanded us to seek refuge
from four.
Due to this command, some of the scholars viewed seeking
refuge from these four affairs as obligatory. Some of them,
which is the majority of the people of knowledge, view it as
recommended and not obligatory.
Regardless, the slave should be diligent in seeking refuge in
Allah from these four matters: the torment of the fire, the
torment of the grave, the trials of life and death and the trials of
the false Messiah.

These four matters return two affairs: the first is the torment
and in the Hadith there are two types: the torment of the fire
and the torment of the grave. And the punishment of the grave
is true as the prophet SAW said.

The grave could be a garden from the gardens of Paradise or a

pit from the pits of the hellfire, may Allah protect us from.

And the second affair are the trials, and they are also of two
types: major and minor. They are compromised in his SAW
statement: I seek refuge in you from the trials of life and death
and the trials of the false Messiah.
The major trial mentioned here is the trial of the false messiah
and the trial of death, why is this?

This is because the trial that occurs to the individual during his
death, he is not able to make amends because he is trialed and
then he dies. He dies while being trialed and Allah’s refuge is
sought.

And the second trial is the trial of the false messiah, and one
will also not be able to make amends from this trial.

And the trials of life are the minor trials. The trials that a
person is confronted with throughout his life and they are
minor trials because he has the opportunity to mend them.
But as for the trials of death and the False Messiah, you are not
able to make amends.

However, the minor trials that one is confronted with

throughout his life he is able to make amends. How many
people have been trialed with desires and doubts and Allah
protected them from it.

After seeking refuge, he chooses from any supplications he

wishes seeking from Allah the good of this worldly life and the
hereafter.

This is a concise summary regarding the topic, it is as a

mentioned a reminder.

I ask Allah SWT to benefit us all, to give us success in all that is

good and to guide us to the straight path.

There is something that is off-topic that I would like to allude

to.

It has something to do along the lines of history. But I see it as

something very beautiful.

The individual to my right is Shaykh Ali Muhanna (may Allah

bless him), he was my fathers classmate. They both studied
together in the faculty of Shariah in Riyadh.

The seats in their class used to be attached whereby three

students would sit together so their seats used to be together.

When they graduated the first one to graduate from the

students was my father and the second Sheikh Ali.
My father said to me: When the grades came out, I was in
Qasim. One of my classmates wrote a telegram to me
congratulating me.
If someone wanted to send a telegram, they would have to be
very brief and concise.

So he wrote a telegram to my father. He wrote: I congratulate

you, al-Mohanna and Arafah (who was the third to graduate)
on the occasion of being the first to graduate.

Sheikh Ali holds a place in my heart. I consider him like a

father. My talk in this gathering while he is present in reality is
an honor for me and I benefit from his advice. May Allah
reward him.

Oh Allah, glory and praise be to you. I testify that there is

nothing worthy of worship but you. I seek your forgiveness and
repent to you.
Oh Allah, send Salat and Salam upon your Slave and Messenger
our Prophet Muhammad, his family and companions.