Virtue of Sending Blessings (Durūd Sharīf) in Light of the Qur’an and Authentic Hadiths

Allah’s Statement Regarding the Honor of His Prophet ﷺ​

﴿وَرَفَعْنَا لَكَ ذِكْرَكَ﴾ — “And We raised high your remembrance.”
(Al-Sharḥ 94:4)

The scholars mention three interpretations:

1. 
   [] Allah elevated the rank of the Prophet ﷺ with the everlasting honor of prophethood and messengership.
   [] He will exalt his mention in the Hereafter as He did in this world.
2. The Prophet’s name will always be mentioned alongside the name of Allah.

Jibrīl (عليه السلام) came to me and said: “Your Lord says: Do you know how I have raised your remembrance?”
The Prophet ﷺ replied: “Allah knows best.”
He said: “When I am mentioned, you are mentioned with Me.”

Reference: Tafsīr al-Ṭabarī 30/235; graded ṣaḥīḥ by Ibn Ḥibbān (no. 3382)

Sending blessings and peace upon the Prophet ﷺ is the right of every believer, greater even than the right of one’s parents. It is obedience to Allah’s command and a sign of true love and devotion to the Messenger ﷺ. The lover constantly mentions the beloved, and only the heedless are deprived of this remembrance. This act is the practice of Allah and His angels.

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The Virtue of Sending Blessings in the Light of the Qur’an​

﴿إِنَّ اللّٰهَ وَمَلَائِكَتَهُ يُصَلُّونَ عَلَى النَّبِيِّ يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا صَلُّوا عَلَيْهِ وَسَلِّمُوا تَسْلِيمًا﴾
“Indeed, Allah and His angels send blessings upon the Prophet. O you who believe, send blessings upon him and greet him with peace.”
(Al-Aḥzāb 33:56)

It may be said that Allah shows mercy to the Prophet ﷺ, and His angels pray for him and seek forgiveness for him.

Reference: Tafsīr al-Ṭabarī 19/174

The meaning of sending blessings upon the Prophet ﷺ is to honor him.
When we say: “Allāhumma ṣalli ‘alā Muḥammad,” we mean, “O Allah, honor Muhammad.”
In this world, it means exalting his remembrance, making his religion prevail, and preserving his law; in the Hereafter, it means increasing his reward, granting him intercession for his ummah, and showing his superiority through al-Maqām al-Maḥmūd.
Thus, Allah’s command, ﴿صَلُّوا عَلَيْهِ﴾, means: ask your Lord to honor him.

Reference: Fatḥ al-Bārī 11/156

The commanded ṣalāh upon the Prophet ﷺ is in reality a request from Allah to grant him what He has already decreed for him — praise, honor, nearness, and elevation.
It contains both information (praise) and supplication (request).
Our prayer for blessings is called ṣalāh for two reasons:
First, because it includes praise of the Prophet ﷺ and love for Allah’s honoring him;
second, because we are asking Allah to send His blessings upon him.
Allah’s ṣalāh upon the Prophet ﷺ means praising and exalting him, while our ṣalāh means asking Allah to do so.

Reference: Jalā’ al-Afhām, p.162

The purpose of this verse is to inform the servants about the Prophet’s lofty status in the heavenly realm — that Allah praises him before the closest angels, and the angels invoke blessings upon him.
Then Allah commands the people of the earthly realm to send blessings and peace upon him, so that praise for him comes from both the heavenly and earthly worlds together.

Reference: Tafsīr Ibn Kathīr 6/457, Maktabah Islāmiyyah

 

[Danial]

Virtues of Sending Blessings in the Light of Authentic Hadiths​

[/B] Abu Hurayrah (رضي الله عنه) narrated that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:

Whoever sends one blessing upon me, Allah sends ten mercies upon him.

Reference: Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim: 408

Another wording:

Whoever sends one blessing upon me, Allah the Mighty and Majestic writes for him ten good deeds.

Reference: Musnad Aḥmad: 2/262 (isnād ḥasan); authenticated by Ibn Ḥibbān: 905

[/B] Anas ibn Mālik (رضي الله عنه) narrated that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:

Whoever sends one blessing upon me, Allah sends upon him ten blessings, removes from him ten sins, and raises him ten degrees.

Reference: Musnad Aḥmad: 3/102, 261; al-Nasā’ī, ʿAmal al-Yawm wa’l-Laylah: 62 (his wording); isnād ḥasan. Ibn Ḥibbān: 904 “ṣaḥīḥ”; al-Ḥākim: 1/550 “ṣaḥīḥ al-isnād”; al-Dhahabī concurred

Al-Mustadrak wording:

Whoever sends one blessing upon me, Allah sends ten blessings upon him and removes ten sins from him.

Reference: Ibn Ḥibbān: 907 “ṣaḥīḥ”

[/B] ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf (رضي الله عنه) narrated:

I met Jibrīl and he gave me glad tidings, saying: “Your Lord says: Whoever sends blessings upon you, I will bless him; and whoever sends salām upon you, I will grant him peace.” So I prostrated to Allah in thanks.

Reference: al-Mustadrak: 1/550; isnād ḥasan. Al-Ḥākim: “ṣaḥīḥ al-isnād”; al-Dhahabī: “ṣaḥīḥ”

[/B] Abū Ṭalḥah al-Anṣārī (رضي الله عنه) narrated:

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ came one day and joy was visible on his face. We said, “We see joy on your face.” He said, “An angel came to me and said: O Muḥammad, your Lord says: Are you not pleased that none from your ummah sends blessings upon you except that I send ten blessings upon him, and none sends salām upon you except that I grant him ten greetings of peace?”

Reference: Musnad Aḥmad: 4/29–30; Sunan al-Nasā’ī: 1283, 1295; isnād ṣaḥīḥ. Also authenticated by Ibn Ḥibbān: 915 and al-Ḍiyā’ al-Maqdisī (al-Fatḥ al-Kabīr no. 142); al-ʿIrāqī graded its chain “jayyid” (Takhrīj Aḥādīth al-Iḥyā’, no. 1004). Narrator Sulaymān, the client of al-Ḥasan b. ʿAlī, is thiqah; his reliability is affirmed by Ibn Ḥibbān, al-Ḥākim, and al-Ḍiyā’

[/B] A supporting report (shāhid) from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf (رضي الله عنه) also exists with a ḥasan chain.

Reference: Musnad Aḥmad: 1/191; authenticated by Ibn Ḥibbān: 810; al-Ḥākim: 1/345 “ṣaḥīḥ on the conditions of al-Bukhārī and Muslim”; al-Dhahabī concurred

Regarding its narrator Abū al-Ḥuwayrith ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Muʿāwiyah: the majority consider him “ḥasan al-ḥadīth.” Despite criticism by Mālik, al-Nasā’ī, and Abū Ḥātim, the endorsements of Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal, Ibn Khuzaymah, Ibn Ḥibbān, al-Ḥākim, and al-Ḍiyā’ take precedence. Of the two conflicting statements from Yaḥyā b. Maʿīn, the one aligning with the majority that declares him reliable is accepted.

Reference: Citations: al-Kāmil (Ibn ʿAdī) 4/309; al-Jarḥ wa-l-Taʿdīl 5/284; Ibn Khuzaymah: 145; al-Thiqāt (Ibn Ḥibbān): 406; al-Mustadrak: 3/72; al-Aḥādīth al-Mukhtārah: 930; Tārīkh Ibn Maʿīn (dārimī rec.): 603

[/B] ʿAbdullāh b. Masʿūd (رضي الله عنه) narrated that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:

Indeed, Allah has roaming angels on earth who convey to me the salām from my ummah.

Reference: Musnad Aḥmad: 1/387, 441, 452; al-Nasā’ī al-Ṣughrā 3/44, no. 1282; al-Kubrá 6/22; isnād ḥasan. Graded “ṣaḥīḥ” by Ibn Ḥibbān: 914 and “ṣaḥīḥ al-isnād” by al-Ḥākim: 2/456; al-Dhahabī concurred

Note: Sufyān al-Thawrī is not performing tadlīs here, as explicit audition is established. In Faḍl al-Ṣalāh ʿalā al-Nabī by Qāḍī Ismāʿīl (p. 21) and Musnad al-Bazzār (no. 1924), Yaḥyā b. Saʿīd al-Qaṭṭān narrates from Sufyān only with explicit “ḥaddathanā/ḥaddathanī.”

Reference: Aḥmad, al-ʿIlal wa Maʿrifat al-Rijāl: 1/517

[/B] Abū Hurayrah (رضي الله عنه) narrated that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:

No one sends salām upon me except that Allah returns my soul to me so that I may return his salām.

Reference: Abū Dāwūd: 2041. Graded “ṣaḥīḥ” by al-Nawawī (Khilāṣat al-Aḥkām 1/441, no. 1440), Ibn Taymiyyah (Iqtiḍā’ al-Ṣirāṭ al-Mustaqīm, p. 324), Ibn al-Qayyim (Jalā’ al-Afhām 1/53), Ibn al-Mulqin (Tuḥfat al-Muḥtāj 2/190), and others; graded “jayyid” by al-ʿIrāqī (Takhrīj Aḥādīth al-Iḥyā’ 1013). Also authenticated by al-Sakhāwī (al-Maqāṣid al-Ḥasanah 1/587) and al-ʿAjlūnī (Kashf al-Khafā’ 2/194)

This applies to one who comes to the Prophet’s ﷺ grave in the chamber of ʿĀ’ishah (رضي الله عنها) and offers salām there.

[/B] ʿAbdullāh b. Masʿūd (رضي الله عنه) narrated that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:

The people closest to me on the Day of Resurrection are those who send the most blessings upon me.

Reference: Tirmidhī: 484 (isnād ḥasan gharīb); Ibn Ḥibbān: 911 “ṣaḥīḥ”; al-Baghawī, Sharḥ al-Sunnah: 686

[/B] Aws b. Aws (رضي الله عنه) narrated that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:

Among the best of your days is Friday. On it Adam was created, on it the trumpet will be blown, and on it the violent blast will occur. So send abundant blessings upon me on that day, for your blessings are presented to me.

A man asked: “O Messenger of Allah, how will our blessings be presented to you after your passing, when your body has decayed?” He replied:

Indeed Allah has forbidden the earth to consume the bodies of the prophets.

Reference: Musnad Aḥmad: 4/8; Abū Dāwūd: 1047, 1531; al-Nasā’ī: 1375; Ibn Mājah: 1085, 1636; Qāḍī Ismāʿīl, Faḍl al-Ṣalāh: 22; isnād ṣaḥīḥ. Declared “ṣaḥīḥ” by Ibn Khuzaymah: 1733, Ibn Ḥibbān: 910, and Ibn al-Qaṭṭān al-Fāsī (Bayān al-Wahm wa-l-Ibhām: 5/574). Al-Ḥākim: 1/278 “ṣaḥīḥ on al-Bukhārī’s condition,” with al-Dhahabī’s agreement; al-Nawawī also graded it “ṣaḥīḥ” (Riyāḍ al-Ṣāliḥīn: 1399; Khilāṣat al-Aḥkām: 2/814; 1/441). Ibn al-Qayyim wrote: “Whoever examines its isnād will not doubt its authenticity, due to the trustworthiness and fame of its narrators and the acceptance of their ḥadīths by the imāms.” (Jalā’ al-Afhām: 81)

[/B] ʿAbdullāh b. ʿAmr b. al-ʿĀṣ (رضي الله عنهما) said that he heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say:

When you hear the mu’adhdhin, say what he says, then send blessings upon me, for whoever sends one blessing upon me, Allah will send ten upon him. Then ask Allah to grant me al-Wasīlah. It is a station in Paradise that is befitting only for one servant of Allah, and I hope that I am that one. Whoever asks al-Wasīlah for me, my intercession becomes lawful for him.

Reference: Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim: 384

[/B] ʿAbdullāh b. Masʿūd (رضي الله عنه) used to say:

When you send blessings upon the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, do it well, for you do not know—perhaps it will be presented to him.

They said: “Teach us.” He said:

Say: O Allah, send Your blessings, mercy, and blessings of abundance upon the Master of the Messengers, the Leader of the God-fearing, and the Seal of the Prophets, Muḥammad Your servant and Messenger, the Imām of good, the leader of good, and the Messenger of mercy. O Allah, raise him to the Praised Station at which the first and the last will envy him. O Allah, send blessings upon Muḥammad and upon the family of Muḥammad, as You sent blessings upon Ibrāhīm and the family of Ibrāhīm. Indeed, You are Praiseworthy, Glorious. O Allah, bless Muḥammad and the family of Muḥammad, as You blessed Ibrāhīm and the family of Ibrāhīm. Indeed, You are Praiseworthy, Glorious.

Reference: Sunan Ibn Mājah: 906; al-Ṭabarānī, al-Muʿjam al-Kabīr: 9/115, no. 8594; Musnad al-Shāshī: 611; al-Bayhaqī, al-Daʿawāt al-Kabīr: 177; isnād ṣaḥīḥ

 

[Danial]

Weak Narrations About the Virtues of Sending Blessings​

First narration
Attributed to Abū al-Dardā’ (رضي الله عنه):

Whoever sends blessings upon me ten times in the morning and ten times in the evening will attain my intercession on the Day of Resurrection.

Reference: Majmaʿ al-Zawāʾid 1/491, 10/120; al-Targhīb wa’l-Tarhīb 1/233; Ibn al-Qayyim, Jalāʾ al-Afhām, p. 63

This chain is weak because Khālid b. Maʿdān did not hear from Abū al-Dardā’. Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal negated direct hearing.

Reference: Ibn Abī Ḥātim, al-Marāsīl, p. 52; al-ʿAlāʾī, Jāmiʿ al-Taḥṣīl, p. 206

Al-ʿIrāqī: “There is a disconnection.”

Reference: Takhrīj Aḥādīth al-Iḥyāʾ 3/398

Al-Sakhāwī: “There is an interruption, for Khālid did not hear from Abū al-Dardā’; Ibn Abī ʿĀṣim also narrated it with a weak chain.”

Reference: al-Qawl al-Badīʿ, p. 121

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Second narration
Attributed to Anas b. Mālik (رضي الله عنه):

Whoever sends blessings upon me eighty times on Friday, Allah will forgive him the sins of eighty years. It was asked: How should we send blessings upon you, O Messenger of Allah? He said: Say, “Allāhumma ṣalli ʿalā Muḥammad ʿabdika wa-nabiyyika wa-rasūlika al-nabiyyi al-ummī,” and count them one by one.

Reference: Tārīkh Baghdād 13/463; Ibn al-Jawzī, al-ʿIlal al-Mutanāhiyah 1/468, no. 796; al-Dhahabī, Mīzān al-Iʿtidāl 3/351

This chain is weak. About its narrator Wahb b. Dāwūd b. Sulaymān Abū al-Qāsim, al-Khaṭīb said: “He was blind and not trustworthy.”

Reference: Tārīkh Baghdād 13/463

Ibn al-Jawzī: “This ḥadīth is not authentic.”

Reference: al-ʿIlal al-Mutanāhiyah 1/468

Al-Sakhāwī: “Al-ʿIrāqī graded it ḥasan, and before him Abū ʿAbdullāh b. al-Nuʿmān did so, but this requires further examination.”

Reference: al-Qawl al-Badīʿ, p. 199

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Third narration
Attributed to Anas b. Mālik (رضي الله عنه):

Whoever sends blessings upon me, his blessings reach me and I bless him in return, and in addition ten good deeds are recorded for him.

Reference: al-Muʿjam al-Awsaṭ (al-Ṭabarānī) no. 1642

Chain is weak for two reasons:

1. 
   [] Isḥāq b. Zayd b. ʿAbd al-Kabīr al-Khuṭabī is majhūl al-ḥāl; only Ibn Ḥibbān declared him reliable.
   Reference: al-Thiqāt 8/122
   
   [] Abū Jaʿfar al-Rāzī’s reports from Rabīʿ b. Anas are weak. Ibn Ḥibbān: “People avoid what Abū Jaʿfar narrates from him due to much disorder.”
   Reference: al-Thiqāt 4/228

Note: Aḥmad b. Naḍr b. Baḥr (al-Muqriʾ al-ʿAskarī), the teacher of al-Ṭabarānī in this isnād, is reliable.

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Fourth report
From ʿAbd al-Malik b. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz b. Jurayj:

I said to ʿAṭāʾ: If there is no one in the house (to greet), what should one say? He replied: Say, “Peace be upon the Prophet, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings. Peace be upon us and upon the righteous servants of Allah. Peace be upon the household and the mercy of Allah.”

Reference: Tafsīr al-Ṭabarī 17/379; another print 18/174

Chain is weak due to an unknown transmitter “Qāsim b. Ḥasan.”

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Fifth report
Imām Mālik said that it reached him:

When entering an uninhabited house, say: “Peace be upon us and upon the righteous servants of Allah.”

Reference: al-Muwaṭṭaʾ 2/962

Chain is weak because the transmitter reaching Mālik is unknown.

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Sixth report
Attributed in authoritative Ḥanafī works to Ibn ʿAbbās (رضي الله عنهما):

With every believer are five angels: one on his right writing good deeds, one on his left writing sins, one before him prompting good, one behind him repelling harm, and one at his forelock writing what he sends of blessings upon the Prophet ﷺ to convey them to the Messenger.

Reference: al-ʿInāyah 1/321; al-Jawhara al-Nayyarah 1/56; Tabyīn al-Ḥaqāʾiq 1/126; al-Baḥr al-Rāʾiq 1/256; Minḥat al-Sulūk, p. 142; Ḥāshiyat al-Ṭaḥṭāwī 1/275; Marāqī al-Falāḥ, p. 102

This is a baseless tale wrongly attributed to Ibn ʿAbbās.

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Seventh report
Claim: Ḥawwāʾ’s mahr was that Ādam (عليهما السلام) send blessings upon the Prophet ﷺ.

Reference: Ibn al-Jawzī, Bustān al-Wāʿiẓīn, p. 307; al-Majlisī (Shīʿī), Biḥār al-Anwār 15/33

No authentic chain exists for this story.

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Eighth report
Attributed by Muḥammad Zakariyyā (Tablīghī Deobandī) without critique:

(The Prophet ﷺ said “I attend to the plea of everyone who sends abundant blessings upon me.”

Reference: Tablīghī Niṣāb, p. 791

This dream-report is unsubstantiated and was used to argue for calling upon the Prophet ﷺ after his death, which is invalid.

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Ninth claim
Some claim no funeral prayer was performed for the Prophet ﷺ and that the Companions only entered in groups, sent blessings, and left.

This is false. Authentic reports and the consensus of the ummah affirm that the funeral prayer was performed, though without a single appointed imām; each group prayed individually.