Home > Blessings on the Prophet
Sending blessings on the Prophet (as-salat 'ala an-nabi) means asking Allah to bestow blessings upon the Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) and to greet him with peace, as the Quran commands: "Indeed, Allah and His angels send blessings upon the Prophet. O you who believe, send blessings upon him and greet him with a worthy greeting" (surah al-Ahzab, 56). It is one of the most frequent acts of worship in a Muslim's life: within the prayer, after the call to prayer, on Friday, within supplication, and every time the Prophet's name is mentioned.
The authentic collections dedicated whole chapters to this worship: Muslim in his Sahih, at-Tirmidhi in his merits chapter, al-Bayhaqi in as-Sunan al-Kubra, and an-Nawawi in the Riyadh as-Salihin. This page gathers the essentials; every point is developed in the dossier pages below, with the texts and their grades of authenticity.
On this page
Updated on 27 September 2026 at 3:04 AM
📖 3 min read"Sending blessings upon someone" does not mean the same thing depending on who does it. Coming from Allah, the blessing is mercy and praise: Allah extols His Prophet before His angels and covers him with His grace. Coming from the angels, it is seeking forgiveness in his favor. Coming from the believers, it is a formulated supplication: "O Allah, bestow blessings upon Muhammad". at-Tirmidhi reports the scholars' explanation: "the Lord's blessing is mercy, and the angels' blessing is forgiveness" (485).
Indeed, Allah and His angels send blessings upon the Prophet. O you who believe, send blessings upon him and greet him with a worthy greeting.
Surah al-Ahzab, 56
The full meaning, verse by verse and word by word, is developed in the page meaning of sending blessings on the Prophet.
The Companions knew how to greet him, but they asked: "We know how to greet you; how do we send blessings upon you?" The Prophet dictated to them the complete formula, known since as the Ibrahimite salat:
Say: "O Allah, bestow blessings upon Muhammad and upon the family of Muhammad as You bestowed blessings upon the family of Ibrahim; and bestow grace upon Muhammad and upon the family of Muhammad as You bestowed grace upon the family of Ibrahim; indeed You are Praiseworthy, Glorious."
Muslim in his Sahih (406); same meaning in al-Bukhari and Muslim
اللَّهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلَى مُحَمَّدٍ وَعَلَى آلِ مُحَمَّدٍ، كَمَا صَلَّيْتَ عَلَى آلِ إِبْرَاهِيمَ إِنَّكَ حَمِيدٌ مَجِيدٌ. اللَّهُمَّ بَارِكْ عَلَى مُحَمَّدٍ وَعَلَى آلِ مُحَمَّدٍ، كَمَا بَارَكْتَ عَلَى آلِ إِبْرَاهِيمَ إِنَّكَ حَمِيدٌ مَجِيدٌ
The short form "Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad" (O Allah, bestow blessings upon Muhammad) satisfies the general command. The Companions' variants, the detailed transliteration and the tashahhoud's place are in the page how to send blessings on the Prophet.
The best-known reward is the ten for one:
"Whoever sends one blessing upon me, Allah sends ten blessings upon him."
Muslim (408); at-Tirmidhi (485): "hadith hasan sahih"
Added to it are closeness on the Day of Resurrection ("the people most worthy of my nearness are those who sent the most blessings upon me", at-Tirmidhi 484, "hasan gharib") and the presentation of the community's blessings to the Prophet every Friday (Abu Dawud 1047, isnad graded authentic by an-Nawawi). The widely circulated hadith "whoever forgets to send blessings on me misses the path to Paradise" is however graded weak by the specialists: we cite it as such in the page the merits of sending blessings on the Prophet.
The base rule: every time his name is mentioned. The moments carrying a precise textual foundation:
The complete proofs are in the page when to send blessings on the Prophet.
Writing "SAW", "sws" or the letter "ص" instead of the full formula is a usage blamed by the hadith scholars: Ibn as-Salah in his Muqaddima, an-Nawawi in at-Tibyan, then as-Sakhawi in Al-Qawl al-badi (an entire work on the subject) taught that the formula must be written out in full, for an abbreviation does not fulfill the command of the Quran and the Sunna. The symbol ﷺ falls under the same ruling.
What may be written: the full Arabic formula (صلى الله عليه وسلم), the Latin transcription (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam), or the translation ("peace and blessings be upon him"). The details and all spellings are in the page sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
Click the card or the button: each click moves to the next formula, with its Arabic text, its pronunciation and its translation together.
"May Allah bestow blessings upon him and greet him with peace": coming from Allah, the blessing is mercy and praise; the believer asks Allah to honor His Prophet. The formula is written صلى الله عليه وسلم in Arabic.
The complete formula taught by the Prophet: "Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammadin wa 'ala ali Muhammad, kama sallayta 'ala ali Ibrahim, innaka Hamidun Majid; Allahumma barik 'ala Muhammadin wa 'ala ali Muhammad, kama barakta 'ala ali Ibrahim, innaka Hamidun Majid" (Muslim, 406). The short form "Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad" also suffices.
Ten blessings from Allah for one (Muslim, 408), the erasure of wrongs and the record of good deeds per al-Hakim's version (al-Mustadrak, 2018), and the greatest closeness to the Prophet on the Day of Resurrection (at-Tirmidhi, 484).
Every time his name is mentioned, after the adhan, in the prayer's tashahhud, on Friday day and night, and at the opening and closing of every supplication.
The hadith scholars (Ibn as-Salah, an-Nawawi, as-Sakhawi) blamed the abbreviation: write the formula out in full, in Arabic, in Latin letters or translated ("peace and blessings be upon him").
The quotes on this dossier come from the authentic collections available on Moustaqim: the Sahihs of al-Bukhari and Muslim, the Sunans of Abu Dawud, at-Tirmidhi, an-Nasa'i and Ibn Majah, al-Bayhaqi's as-Sunan al-Kubra, al-Hakim's al-Mustadrak and the Riyadh as-Salihin. Each grade of authenticity is given as the collections state it; weak reports are identified as such.