Respect

Now around the muslim world

there are many ways that people celebrate

the life of the Messenger,

through events such as those celebrating his birthday,

but by far the most common

are the calling down of God's blessings on the Messenger,

that can be heard frequently repeated on the lips of muslims every day.

This praise,

Tasliya,

can be heard along with the adzan before prayer times,

and is an intrinsic part of most people's Sala,

and is constantly voiced by speakers and listeners alike

after the mention of the Messenger's name.

It is said that the Messenger told those around him

to echo the words of the call to prayer when they heard it,

and to follow that by calling down blessings upon himself,

and that for each blessing they called down on him

they would receive ten blessings for themselves,

The Tasliya was often added to the adzan itself,

but this was not made a general practise until the end of the 1st century after the Hijra.

Similarly, a form of the Tasliya was commonly included within the Sala,

but it was not until the time of as-Sh'arani,

almost a thousand years after the death of the Messenger,

that the insertion of the Tasliya after the final Shahada of the Sala,

began to be considered as a legal requirement.

But for many

this calling down of blessings on the Messenger was a constant practise,

not confined to prayer times.

The instruction to make the Tasliya

is contained in the Qur'an itself

in Sura 53, we are told

that God and the angels themselves

call down blessings on the Messenger,

and that we should do the same,

and send him a greeting of “Peace”,

and the traditional words to do this were rapidly expanded

to include the Messenger's holy family,

his companions and followers in his community,

as well as other Messengers such as Abraham.

Over the centuries there has been much discussion as to the meaning of the words “sala 'ala”,

with as-Suyuti tracing back to Ibn Abbas that it means

that God praises the Messenger, and forgives him

and commands the angels to ask forgiveness for him.

And Al-Hirzu 'l-Mani suggests that

God praises him with the sala of the angels for him,

and instructs us to offer sala and a greeting of peace

so that the people of both worlds,

above and below,

might unite in his praise.

He also points out that God's honouring of Muhammad

is greater than God's honouring of Adam

when commanding the angels to prostrate themselves,

as God did not participate in that angelic honouring.

Meanwhile Ali al-Makki says that

the sala of God is mercy

and a willingness to please by praise,

while for angels and men it means

asking for blessing and forgiveness.

Ali al-Makki also explains that the reason why we call on God,

rather than just praising the Messenger ourselves,

is due to our being unworthy,

it being inappropriate for one full of blemishes and failings

to give blessing on a pure Newsbringer,

free of blemish and failing.

And Ibn 'Arabi tells us that sala from God is mercy,

and from human beings and others,

angels and jinn,

it is bowing and prostration

and petition and praise,

while from birds and other creatures it is simply praise.

But as we trace muslim history

through its many different cultures,

we find many variations in the words muslims use in praise of the Messenger,

expanding our understanding of what is meant by the simple Tasliya.

Ahmad al-Tijani describes it as

the calling down of blessing by the Beloved on [Hu]'s beloved,

Muhammad,

the Opener of what was closed,

the Seal of what went before,

the Provider of truth through truth,

and the Guide to the straight path.

One of the best known forms of the calling down of blessings

is that voiced by Abd al Qadir al Jilani, who said

“My God,

make every one of these blessings of the Prophet

to exceed and excel the blessing of him

by all the people of the heavens and of the earths who have ever blessed him,

exceed and excel these as he excels all the rest of humankind

through the excellence with which You have favoured him.”

As was said by Ash-Sharani

“O God bless Muhammad at the beginning of our speech.

O God bless Muhammad during our speech.

O God bless Muhammad at the ending of our speech.”