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"Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam" is the formula a Muslim pronounces whenever the name of the Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) is mentioned: "may Allah bestow blessings upon him and greet him with peace." It appears written in many ways, in Arabic, in Latin letters, or abbreviated: this page fixes its meaning, pronunciation, acceptable spellings and usages to avoid.
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Updated on 27 September 2026 at 3:04 AM
📖 2 min readThe Arabic formula صلى الله عليه وسلم breaks down as: salla (he bestows blessing), Allahu (Allah), alayhi (upon him), wa (and), sallam (he greets him). The most faithful rendering: "may Allah bestow blessings upon him and greet him with peace." From the believer's mouth it is a supplication: he asks Allah to praise His Prophet before His angels and to cover him with His peace.
English also renders it as "peace and blessings of Allah be upon him", or simply "peace be upon him". The exact meaning of the word "blessing" applied to Allah, the angels and humans is explained in our page on the meaning of sending blessings on the Prophet: mercy from Allah, forgiveness sought by the angels, supplication made by the believers.
Transcribed into Latin letters, the formula has no single spelling. The most common ones, all correct, are:
All these spellings designate the same Arabic formula; the differences come from how the vowels and the doubled "l" are rendered. In Arabic it is written: صلى الله عليه وسلم.
You will often see the formula abbreviated as "SAW", "sws", "SAWS" or the single Arabic letter "ص". The hadith scholars blamed this usage: Ibn as-Salah in his introduction to the sciences of hadith, an-Nawawi in at-Tibyan, then as-Sakhawi in Al-Qawl al-badi (an entire work devoted to blessings on the Prophet) taught that the formula must be written out in full, for the command of the Quran and the Sunna is to send blessings on the Prophet and greet him, and an abbreviation does not fulfill that command: it is a shortfall toward the very one being honored.
The symbol ﷺ, widespread on social media, falls under the same ruling: it is an abbreviation of the same kind, with the same objection. What may be written without blame: the full Arabic formula (صلى الله عليه وسلم), the complete Latin transcription (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam), or the translation ("peace and blessings be upon him"). The same respect applies to parallel formulas: "azza wa jal" after Allah's name or "radia Allahu anhu" after a Companion's name are written out in full, not as isolated letters.
The simple rule: every time the Prophet's name is spoken or written. The hadiths make deliberate omission a sign of a stingy heart ("the miserly one is he before whom I am mentioned without him sending blessings on me", reported by Muslim and at-Tirmidhi) and announce an immense reward for saying it (ten blessings from Allah for one, per Muslim). The specific moments (after the adhan, on Friday, within supplication, in the tashahhud) are detailed in our page when to send blessings on the Prophet.
The Prophet said: "Whoever sends one blessing upon me, Allah sends ten blessings upon him."
Muslim in his Sahih (408); at-Tirmidhi (485), graded "hasan sahih"
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The formula is written صلى الله عليه وسلم (salla Allahu alayhi wa sallam). It is preferable to write it out in full rather than abbreviate it with ص or ﷺ.
All transcriptions are acceptable: sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, salallahu alayhi wa salam, sallallahou alayhi wa sallam. What matters is saying or writing the full formula.
SAW (or sws) abbreviates "Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam". The hadith scholars (Ibn as-Salah, an-Nawawi, as-Sakhawi) blamed the abbreviation: the formula should be written out in full.
It is another form of the same invocation: alayhi as-salat wa as-salam, "may blessings and peace be upon him". It is equivalent and used after the Prophet's name.