The End

The Salah Series

Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV | Part V | Part VI | Part VII | Part VIII | Part IX | Part X | Part XI | Part XII | Part XIII | Part XIV | Part XV | Part XVI | Part XVII | Part XVIII | Part XIX | Part XX | Part XXI | Part XXII | Part XXIII | Part XXIV | Part XXV | Part XXVI | Part XXVII | Part XXVIII

If the Prophet ﷺ was saying the first tashahhud, he would get up for the third rak’ah with takbeer (saying Allahu Akbar) [Bukhari/Muslim[. If he was at the last tashahhud, he would then say:

“O Allah, send prayers on Muhammad ﷺ, and on the family of Muhammad ﷺ, as you sent prayers on [Ibrahim, and on] the family of Ibrahim; You are indeed Worthy of Praise, Full of Glory. O Allah, send blessings on Muhammad ﷺ, and on the family of Muhammad ﷺ, as you sent blessings on [Ibrahim, and on] the family of Ibrahim; You are indeed Worthy of Praise, Full of Glory.” (Bukhari/Muslim)

Now let’s take a closer look at the meanings:

• Send prayers (salim) on Muhammad ﷺ: You are asking Allah to exalt him and raise his rank, as noted by Ibn Hajar.
• Send blessings (baarik) on Muhammad ﷺ: You are asking Allah to increase blessings for the Prophet ﷺ, meaning to give the Prophet ﷺ the good which Allah granted to Ibrahim (as) as well as its multiplying and increase.

The Prophet ﷺ told us about the virtues of passing salaams on him. He ﷺ has said:

“If anyone of my community says one prayer on me, Allah blesses him ten times, ten good actions are written down for him and ten bad actions are effaced from him.” (Nisa’i, sahih)

After sending prayers on the Prophet ﷺ

When the Prophet ﷺ heard a man glorifying and praising Allah, and sending prayers on the Prophet ﷺ in prayer, he said to him: “Supplicate, and you will be answered; ask, and you will be given.” [Nasa’i]

Notice how the tashahhud follows the same sequence of the etiquette of getting our adeyah answered: praising Allah, passing peace and blessings on His Prophet ﷺ, and then we are given the opportunity to make du`a’, which the Prophet ﷺ has told us Allah will answer insha’Allah.

He then told us what to say: “When one of you has finished the [last] tashahhud, he should seek refuge with Allah from four things saying:

“‘O Allah! I truly seek refuge with You from the punishment of the grave, and from the punishment of Hellfire, and from the trials of living and dying, and from the evil [trials] of the Dajjal.’ Then he should supplicate for himself with what occurs to him.” [Muslim]

If we have just met with someone, and are departing, we ask “Do you want anything from me?” Allah’s Mercy is infinitely more bountiful. At the end of our brief meeting, it as though He is telling us “Is there anything else you want?” by granting us this final du`a’.

The Tasleem

Next, the Prophet ﷺ would salute to his right saying:

“May Peace and Allah’s Mercy be on you and he would turn to his left and say the same.” [Tirmidhi]

Sometimes, he would add to the greeting on the right:

“…and His blessings (be on you).” [Abu Dawud]

After the prayer

The Prophet ﷺ would then seek forgiveness three times – we should do this to seek forgiveness for our shortcomings in prayers. There are many other du`a’ to say, and they can be found here.

But there is something we should be wary of, and this was something the Prophet ﷺ feared for us too. He said:

“If you did not sin, I would have feared for you what is greater; and that is self-admiration [‘ujb].” (Bayhaqi)

Meaning, now that we have improved our prayer insha’Allah and have a heightened khushoo’, we should not regard ourselves as better than others. Ibn Al-Qayyim has said that self-admiration even invalidates our acts! We should remember all of those past prayers that we prayed badly, and know that whatever good we are able to do, it is from Allah, as He has said in the Qur’an:

“And whatever you have of favor – it is from Allah…” [16:53]

And all this that we have said, is not even a drop in the ocean in relation to the secrets and pleasures of prayer.

May we put into practice all that we learned, and regard each prayer as a sacred, beautiful meeting with Allah. Ameen.