What is the ruling on the imam who orders the people in the Friday sermon to send blessings upon the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) until the mosque is filled with the sound of it?

The questioner : The third issue: the issue of the imam ordering the people at the end of the sermon to send blessings upon the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). This is something that hardly any of our mosques is free from.

The Shaykh : Likewise, mosques in Syria and in Jordan are filled with the sound of sending blessings upon the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) when the imam orders them to do so. This is, without a doubt, as Imam al-Shatibi said, one of the additional innovations, because sending blessings upon the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is among the best of deeds, as came in the authentic hadith: But making this a completion of the sermon and a binding requirement, while they did not commit to the sermon of need, which we are always talking about, despite the commitment of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) to it in all his sermons, not only on Friday but also on other occasions, this is a reversal of the legal realities, a neglect of acting upon the Sunnah, and a persistence in acting upon the innovation. This is... and I do not know, by Allah, why, while the power and authority are still in the hands of your scholars in this land, and this is a distinction that I do not think any other country shares with you or with them. Why do they not use their authority and issue their fatwa that this should not be done? The sermon is intended for admonition, reminding, and teaching what may befall the Muslims and what they must learn, as well as the other examples mentioned before. Otherwise, there will be an excuse for the innovators to say, "This particular innovation, for example, I am told, 'You say that such and such is not in the Sunnah, but this is the mosque of Madinah, this is the grave of the Prophet in his mosque,' and so on." Whereas it was possible, as I suggested in my book *Tadhkirat al-Sajid min Ittiha' al-Qubur Masajid* (Warning the Worshipper from Taking Graves as Mosques), to separate the grave from the mosque and return to what it was like before the renovation of the Prophet's Mosque, when the room of Aisha was separated from the mosque, and the matter was settled. They take this as an argument against us, saying, "This is the mosque of the Prophet, and his grave is in it." So, convince them how the Prophet was buried in his house, and later, when they expanded the mosque, they had to expand it toward the direction of the Gate of Peace, so they expanded it toward al-Baqi', and the grave entered the mosque. Convince the people, because the truth is that the general public are more affected by reality in practice than by words. So I do not know, your scholars still have power and authority, and the verse includes them: "And obey Allah and the Messenger and those in authority among you."

The questioner : .

The Shaykh : These are among those in authority. Why do they not utilize their scientific position? And I do not think there are, I know that there are issues, for example, that may conflict with the general policy of the state, but these are purely religious issues with no relation to politics. Therefore, I consider this a negligence that must be rectified. And Muhammad?

The questioner : By car.

The Shaykh : Shall we go?