Allah-May His Glory be exalted- commanded believers to recite this prayer which is an expression of faith and affection to Hadrat Muhammad. In the Noble Quran Allah The Most High declares as follows:

 “Allah and His angels send blessings on the Prophet: O ye that believe! send ye blessings on him and salute him with all respect.” (1)

 In this verse Allah states that He Himself and the angels salute Hadrat Muhammad-May Allah commend and salute him- and also Allah commands believers also to salute him. This verse renders to read the prayer calling Allah's benediction on Hadrat Prophet as a duty. Also the holy verse explains that Allah made the life and death of Hadrat Prophet honored and He exalted his degree.

 Concerning this verse Mawdudi says: “It is easy to understand from the content why this point is touched. This era was a time that the enemies of Islam envied the peace of Muslims. They planned to stain the religion and to cast a shadow upon the ethical maturity of Muslims which caused them to be more powerful day by day. That was the situation when Allah The Most High revealed this verse. This holy verse implies that, although infidels, polytheists and hypocrites tried for the failure of the mission of Hadrat Prophet, tried to have fall him out of favor with slanders, finally they will face their own failure and disgrace. Because I am Merciful toward my Prophet and the angels who mange the universe are the supporters of him. His enemies can not attain anything by belittle him because I exalt his name and the angels continuously show respect and love towards him. While My Compassion and Blessing is upon him, while angels are praying night and day saying “O the Lord of The universe, exalt Prophet Muhammad to higher degrees, spread and improve his religion”, infidels can not do any harm against My prophet with their mischief intrigue.

 Imam Kurtubi says that: “According to the narrative, about the commentary of this holy verse a hadith is mentioned: Companions of The Prophet asked to The Apostle of Allah - peace be upon him-that: “O! The Apostle of Allah! Can you explain us the verse of Ahzab Sura which starts with the expression of:

 “Allah and His angels send blessings on the Prophet: O ye that believe! send ye blessings on him and salute him with all respect.

(1) Chapter Ahzab, 33/56

 Hadrat Prophet declared: “The question you asked is about hidden knowledge. If you did not ask I would not explain it to you. Allah The Most High charges two angels for me. When my name is mentioned near a believer, if he read salvele for me then these angels pray for him that “May Allah forgive you” and other angels say “amen” to strengthen this pray. And Allah accepts this pray.

 When my name is mentioned near a believer and if he doesn't read salvele for me those two angels curse him by saying “May Allah not forgive you”. Other angels say “amen” to this malediction. And Allah accepts this.

 Salavat abd salavat-ı sherife is the plural of the word salatusselam -calling Allah's benediction on The Prophet- which is mentioned in this holy verse. As it is understood form the verse, salatusselam is of three group; salatusselam of Allah, of angels and of believers.

•  Salatusselam of Allah for His Prophet: That means His compassion for The Prophet, His help to him, exalting his name by spreading the Islamic religion which is communicated by The Prophet, His blessing for the deeds of The Prophet, His giving rewards to him in the other world and His acceptance of the salat read for the Prophet by believers.

•  Salatusselam of Angels: Angels have a great affection towards Hadrat Muhammad-May Allah commend and salute him-. They pray to Allah for the spread of his religion and state, they ask for forgiveness and wish The Compassion of Allah for the people who read salat for him.

•  Salatusselam of Believers: Showing respect towards him without fail in their prayers. They prayer Allah for strengthening the religion that he communicated , exalting his name and pray for his having Makam-i Mahmud in and the right for intercession for his people.

 The verse which explains the necessity of reciting salatusselam for The Apostle of Allah is explained as follows: “O the People who are guided to the true path with the religion of The Apostle Muhammad! You should appreciate his importance and feel grateful to him because of his great favor for you. Before him you were lost in the darkness of ignorance, he guided you to the light of knowledge. You were morally collapsed. He brought you high ethics and today other people envy you because of this. You were absorbed by brutality; he guided you to the highest civilization. Infidels became enemy to him because he has done those favors to you. Otherwise personally he never gave harm to anybody.

 Because of this reason, as a remark of gratitude and indebtedness to him, you should exalt and respect him more powerfully than the enmity and grudge of others. Against their will of badness you should ask his goodness more sincerely and pray for him as angels do night and day. “O! The Lord of The Universe, Just as Your Prophet do innumerable favor and kindness to us, please show endless Compassion towards him, give him the highest degree in this world and also the honor of being the closest person to you, in the next world.”

 The word salam mentioned in the verse has the sense of praying to Allah for being safe from all kinds of calamities and deficiencies. To salute the Prophet is similar to the salutation between believers, this is to salute him while we visit his sacred tomb and salute him when his name is mentioned. Salvele includes the meaning to salute and to salute him is also to pray for the obedience of people to him and practice the rules of his religion.

 In the pray of “ettehiyyatu” which is recited in the second and the fourth rekat of namaz, the sentence of eyyuhen nebiyyu ve rahmetullahi ve berekâtuh” is a salute to Hadrat Prophet-May Allah commend and salute him-. The believers who read this pray perform the duty of salutation to The Prophet.

 The verse on salavat implies that to recite salavat for Hadrat Prophet-May Allah commend and salute him- is a binding duty. But in the verse repetetion of it is not touched. There are a few opinions about the requirement of reciting salatusselam to The Prophet. The Muslim savants wrote books on the rule, quantity, requirement and the meaning of salatusselam.

 We may summarize the opinions on the requirement of reciting salatusselam to Hadrat Prophet-May Allah commend and salute him-:

•  According to the opinion which is widely accepted, it is a binding duty to read salat when the name of Hadrat Prophet is mentioned. There are a lot of hadiths concerning this topic. Some of those hadiths are as follows: Hadrat Prophet-peace be upon him- declared : “The people who will be closest to me in the day of Last Judgment and who will deserve my intercession are the ones who recite much salavat for me. “ (1)

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(1) Tirmizi, Vitir/21.

 “The faces of the ones who do not read salavat for me although my name is mentioned near them to rub on the ground and they are to be insulted” (1) Allah will show mercy for ten times who recites one salavat for me. (2) The most stingy person is the one who do not read salatusselam for me while my name is mentioned near him. (3) The most virtuous and good of the days is Friday. Recite many salavat for me on that day. Since your salavats and selams are presented to me by and angel.

 The Companions of The Prophet asked:

 -O The Apostle of Allah, how our salavats will be presented to you. Because, your body will decay. The Most Generous Apostle -May Allah commend and salute him- said: Allah prohibited the bodies of The Prophets to the earth (4) There is no doubt that Allah gives back my soul to me to receive the salute of the person who recite salavat for me. (5)

 Ibn-i Ebi Leyla said: I met to Ka'b b Ucre and he told me: Shall I give a present to you that I heard from The Prophet-peace be upon him-. Our Prophet came near to us. We said:

 -O The Apostle of Allah! We've learned that how to recite salute to you. But how we will read “salat” to you? The Apostle of Allah said:

 “Allahümme salli ala Muhammedin ve alâ âli Muhammedin kema salleyte ala ibrahime ve ala âli ibrahim. inneke hamidün mecid.”

 “O! My God! Exalt Muhammad and the family of Muhammad as You did exalt Abraham and the family of Abraham. Verily You are Praiseworthy and Glorious.”

 “Allahumme barik ala Muhammedin ve ala âli Muhammedin, kema barekte ala İbrahime ve ala ali İbrahim, inneke hamidun mecid.”

 “O! My God! Bless Muhammad and the family of Muhammad, as You did bless Abraham and the family of Abraham. Verily You are Praiseworthy and Glorious.” (6)

 This prayer that is recited in ritual prayer-namaz- also was communicated with slightly different words. But all salavats have the same meanings although their words are different. Those topics should be understood well concerning salavats:

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(1) Tirmizi, Deavat/100.

(2) Muslim, Salat/70.

(3) Musned, 1/201

(4) Ebu Davud, Salat/201

(5) Ebu Davud, Menasık/96.

(6) Buhari, Enbiya/10; Muslim, Salat/65,66

 Firstly, about all salavats Hadrat Prophet said that, the best way of reading salavat to him is to pray as: “O My Allah please give blessing to Hadrat Muhammad”. A person who prays this way accepts his weakness before Allah The Most High and indeed says: “O! My Allah, I can not salute Your Apostle properly. So I'm praying to you. Please salute him instead of me” (1)

 Secondly, Hadrat Prophet didn't make this prayer peculiar to himself he also includes his companions, wives, and the people who come from his lineage in this prayer. Also the word “Al” comprises everybody who follows him and obey his Sunna (practices and rules not laid down in the Noble Quran but derived from the Prophet's own habits and words), not only his family.

 Thirdly, in those prays and salute which were taught to believers by Hadrat Prophet, there is a prayer to Allah for giving the same blessing, compassion and abundance to the people of Hadrat Muhammad which was given to the people of Prophet Abraham before. Allah bestowed a favor to Prophet Abraham that He had not given anybody before. The people who accept Prophethood, Allah's revelation to Prophets and Holy Books as spiritual guidance , whether they are Muslim, Jews or Christian, they all accept the leadership of Prophet Abraham. Then with this prayer, Hadrat Muhammad wanted to tell is: O My Allah! As You made Hadrat Abraham as a shelter to all people who have a faith in all Prophets make me a shelter for all Prophets so that anybody who have a faith in Prophethood is not deprived of from the blessing of believing in my Prophethood.

 Other opinions about reading salatusselam to The Most Generous Apostle-May Allah commend and salute him- are as follows:

 It is a binding duty for a believer to read salavat for one time in life. It is necessary to read salavat for each mention of Hadrat Prphet's name. But when his name is mentioned many times in a meeting it is enough to recite salavat for one time.

 It is necessary to read salavat in ritual worship, namaz. According to Hanefi, Maliki and most of the Muslim savants reading salavat in namaz is a sunna and according to Imam Shafee and Ahmed b. Hanbel it is a binding religious duty. They said that if someone abandons reading salat his namaz is invalidated.

 At the beginning and at the end of a prayer reading salavat is necessary and it is condition for the acceptance of the prayer.

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(1) Mevdudi, Tefhimu'l-Kur'an.

 Here one may ask that “Does The Apostle of Allah have any need for our salat and selam” Certainly the answer to it, is “ No” But because of some reason people need to recite salavat and selam to him.

 Allah-May His Glory be exalted- commands believers to recite salat and selam for him. If it wasn't necessary for us He wouldn't command this. There is a Divine Wisdom for this as it is in all religious commandments and prohibitions.

 Salat ans selam is showing gratitude to Our Great Prophet who caused us to reach the Noble Quran and who taught us the ways of being happy in both this world and in the other world.

 There is a prayer of each Prophet which is accepted by Allah. Our Prophet stated that he will use his right to pray for intercession to his followers-umma- and more than a half of his umma will go to Paradise with this intercession. To recite salatusselam is a help for him to attain this right. Indeed this is a demand of interceding for ourselves. To read salat and selam for him is to strengthen our spiritual ties with him and increase enlightenment that we born servants have a need much.

 Because reading salatusselam for The Apostle of Allah Hadrat Muhammed, is a commandment of Allah, it is a sin not to recite salat when his name is mentioned.

 According to the communication of Abu Hureyre The Apostle of Allah-May Allah commend and salute him- declared as follows: “When you read salat, ask from Allah “vesile” for me.” The Companions of The Prophet asked:

 -O The Apostle of Allah what is “vesile” He declared:

 “Vesile is the highest degree of The Paradise. Only one person will be exalted up to this place. I hope that I am that person” (1)

 Asking “vesile” for Our Prophet is a cause for us to attain his intercession. Our Prophet-peace be upon him- gave the good new that with the permission of Allah he will intercede to the believers who read salat after azan-call to prayer- and ask “vesile” for him.

 Because of that in Islamic books after the name of Our Prophet the initial letters of the pray “Sallallahu aleyhi vesellem” -May Allah commend and salute him- is written.

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(1) Musned, 2/265.