It is obvious that the holy Prophet himself taught Muslims to bless him. When the following verse was revealed: “Surely Allah and His angels bless the Prophet; O, ye who believe! Call for (Divine) blessings on him and salute him with a (becoming) salutation.” (33:50), the Muslims asked the Prophet, “How shall we salute you?”
– “Don’t salute me incompletely,” the Prophet answered.
-“How, then, shall we salute you?” they repeated.
– “Say,” he replied, “O Lord, bless your apostle Muhammad and his descendants.”[1]
Saluting Muhammad’s descendants is so important that Shafi’i, in his famous poem says:
“O descendants of our holy Prophet! Loving you is a precept recommended by God in the Qur’an. Of the importance and elevation of your position it suffices to say that whoever salutes you not, has performed no prayers.”[2]
[1] Ibn Hajar, Al-Sawa’iq al-Muhriqah, book 11, chap. 1, p. 146; al-Durr al-Manthur, vol. 5; commenting on verse 56 of Chapter al-Ahzab, the traditionists as well as the authors of Sihah and Masanid (anthologies of traditions) such as ‘Abd al-Razzaq, Ibn Abi-Shaybah, Ahmad, al-Bukhari, Muslim, Abu-Dawud, al-Tirmidhi, al-Nasa’i, Ibn Majah, Ibn Mardawayh-all quoted similar statements from Ibn ‘Ajrah, who himself quoted from the Holy Prophet.
[1] Ibn Hajar, Al-Sawa’iq al-Muhriqah, book 11, p. 148; al-Shabrawi, al-Ithaf, p. 29; al-Hamzawi al-Maliki, Mashariq al-Anwar, p. 88; al-Zarqani, al-Mawahib, p. 119; Sabban, al-Is’af, p.119.
