A question regarding your book "The Description of Prayer" and the change made by the Companions to the wording of the salam in the tashahhud; how do we reconcile this change?

Eid Abbasi : There is a question in the book "The Description of Prayer" where you mentioned a hadith, the hadith narrated from the Companions regarding how to perform the tashahhud. The Companions changed the wording from "Peace be upon you" to "Peace be upon the Prophet and the mercy of Allah and His blessings." How do we reconcile the second with the first, knowing that some Salafis follow the methodology of taking from the Qur'an and the Sunnah and the understanding of the Companions of both?

The Shaykh : It seems the questioner understood that the Companions changed the text they received from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in the tashahhud, which is in the form of direct address: "Peace be upon you, O Prophet." It seems he understood that they changed it on their own initiative. This is what we exonerate even the least understanding person of regarding the Sunnah, even if he is a later follower of the Salaf; I mean, even if he is from the later generations who adopt the methodology of the Salaf. We do not imagine a later scholar who understands that the prescribed recitations are divinely ordained would dare to change a single letter in a recitation he received from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) through chains of narration. How could we imagine a single Companion, let alone someone like Ibn Mas'ud, would dare to change a text he received directly from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)? This thought must never occur to the questioner or anyone else. Rather, the scholars say in such cases that what they did was based on the instruction of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to them. The meaning of this instruction is that the Messenger (peace be upon him) hinted to them and indicated that this is for my lifetime, but after my death, you will speak in the third person, not the form of presence, and you will say in the tashahhud: "Peace be upon the Prophet."
And we know the distance of the Companions from religious innovation in general, and their distance from it in the dhikr in particular, and especially Abdullah ibn Mas'ud, about whom there is a valid text in al-Bukhari where he said: "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) taught me the tashahhud in prayer, and my hand was between his hands." "My hand was between his hands" is an expression of the teacher's care for the student in teaching him what he is in the process of teaching him. Ibn Mas'ud said: "The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) taught me the tashahhud, and my hand was between his hands: 'The praises are for Allah.'" He mentioned the tashahhud known from Ibn Mas'ud, which is the one followed by the Hanafis: "The praises are for Allah, the prayers and the good things. Peace be upon you, O Prophet, and the mercy of Allah and His blessings. Peace be upon us and upon the righteous servants of Allah. I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and His Messenger." After mentioning the text that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) taught him, and his hand was between the hands of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), he said: "And we were in his presence, and he was in our presence." This means he taught him to say this while he was in their presence; meaning while he was alive with them (peace and blessings be upon him). He said: "So when he died, we said: 'Peace be upon the Prophet.'" He did not say "I said." May he be far from saying what I just told you. May he be far from acting on his own in such a text that he received directly from the Messenger with this level of care that he expressed by saying: "and my hand was between his hands." Rather, that was what he understood during the teaching. Therefore, he said at the end of the hadith: "And he was in our presence, so when he died, we said." He did not say "I said." How could he say something on his own that changes the text of the Messenger (peace be upon him), while he knows that the teaching of the Messenger (may Allah's prayers and peace be upon him) is revelation from Allah? It is revelation from Allah?
And those who are ignorant of this reality, or who neglect it or turn a blind eye to it, are in fact in a very great error. Those who proceed to the recitations of the Messenger (peace be upon him) and his dhikr and add to them whatever additions they please, never imagine that they are adding to the revelation. This does not occur to them. And this is in fact a subtle division that they do not notice between Allah and His Messenger, a subtle division between the Book and the Sunnah, between what came in the Book and what came in the Sunnah. Otherwise, would any of these people dare to add a single letter to the text of the Qur'an in order to satisfy their greed and their extremism in their love for Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), for example? Would any of them, when Allah said: to the end of it; would any of them say: "Muhammad, our master, Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah"? No one says this. They would simply tell you: This is an addition to the Qur'an and it is not permissible.
Now, adding to what is not from the Qur'an, which is also revelation, is also not permissible. But they distinguish, as I told you, out of their ignorance. Likewise, would any of them say: "Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) is the Messenger of Allah" because this is an addition to the text? We, the people who claim to follow the Salaf, never distinguish between Allah and His Messenger. We do not distinguish between the Book of Allah and the hadith of the Messenger of Allah, between the teaching of Allah and the teaching of the Messenger of Allah. Both issue from a single source, which is the source of revelation from the sky.
Therefore, when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) taught al-Bara' ibn 'Azib the recitation for lying down when sleeping: . He said to him: . So al-Bara' ibn 'Azib repeated this supplication before the Messenger (peace be upon him) to be able to memorize it. When he reached his last phrase: "I believe in your Book which you sent down and your Prophet," what did he say? "And your Messenger whom you sent," instead of saying: "And your Prophet whom you sent," he said: "And your Messenger whom you sent." So the Messenger (peace be upon him) stopped him and turned him back from that, and said to him: .
If we asked these people who change and alter the dhikr of the Messenger (peace be upon him): Is there a difference that invalidates the meaning that the Messenger (peace be upon him) brought in this recitation between the teaching of the Messenger, which is "and your Prophet whom you sent," and what al-Bara' erred in by saying: ; is there a difference?
If Muhammad (peace be upon him) had not been a Messenger and had only been a Prophet, there would be a change in the meaning; because a Messenger is broader than a Prophet. Every Messenger is a Prophet, but not every Prophet is a Messenger. But our Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is not only a Messenger, but he is the Seal of the Prophets and Messengers all. So when al-Bara' said: "And your Messenger whom you sent," he did not contradict reality at all, but he contradicted the Prophetic instruction. O our brothers, pay attention to this. Everything is that he contradicted the teaching of the Messenger to him, as for the meaning, it is perfectly straight. Therefore, he said to him: . The Companions proceeded on this basis, and I have mentioned to you repeatedly on such occasions how many of the Companions used to flee from a man deviating from the wording of the Messenger to a wording of his own.
So, for example, in "Musnad Imam Ahmad," Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas heard a man saying in the talbiyah in Hajj: "Labbayk, you who have the high places." He said to him—and this is also from the wisdom of the Companions in forbidding evil: "Indeed, He is the One who has the high places, but this is not how we used to say it in the time of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). We used to say: Labbayk Allahumma labbayk, to the end of the known talbiyah." He said to him: "Labbayk, you who have the high places, He is the One who has the high places, but the talbiyah was not like this in the time of the Messenger (peace be upon him)."
And even more innovative than this, in the style of forbidding evil, is the story of Ibn 'Umar, which I have mentioned to you more than once; he heard a man sneeze and say: "Praise be to Allah and prayers upon the Messenger of Allah." He said: "I say with you: Praise be to Allah and prayers upon the Messenger of Allah, but this is not how the Messenger of Allah taught us. Say: Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds."
It seems the issue is repeating exactly as before, but—unfortunately—without anyone responding to those who forbid it. This increase in our worship today comes in strange forms, the most common being the addition to the adhan, specifically the prayer upon the Messenger (peace be upon him) as Ibn 'Umar said: "And the prayer upon the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)." But the Messenger did not teach us this way.
The Companions—and there are very, very many reports—were scrupulous about not changing the wording of the Messenger (peace be upon him). The most famous and precise among them in this regard was our companion, the narrator of the hadith of the tashahhud which the Messenger taught him and held his hand between his own hands; that is, 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud. Imam Abu Ja'far al-Tahawi narrated in his book Sharh Ma'ani al-Athar with a valid chain from Ibn Mas'ud that when he taught his companions the tashahhud, he would make them recite word for word, word for word. That is, if—for example—they added a word or omitted a word, he would say to them: "No, go back and say it as you received it from the Messenger (peace be upon him)." Can we imagine such a Companion, if he were alone, coming to the teaching that the Messenger (peace be upon him) taught him directly: "Peace be upon you, O Prophet," and changing it to "Peace be upon the Prophet" without having any teaching or direction from the Messenger (peace be upon him) to do so? Far be it from him! How so, when he was not alone in the field? First, he narrates to us and says: "When the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's prayers and peace be upon him) died, we—meaning we, the Companions—said: 'Peace be upon the Prophet.'" And to confirm this meaning that Ibn Mas'ud narrated to us in the plural form, we said: "Peace be upon the Prophet." This tashahhud came with different wordings, as mentioned in Sifat al-Salah from the Lady 'A'ishah as "Peace be upon the Prophet." It came from 'Umar ibn al-Khattab in Muwatta Malik as: "Peace be upon the Prophet." And so on. So, this is what we say: it is an agreement and consensus of the Companions who adopted it, not their independent reasoning and change of the text as might be inferred from the questioner's question, but rather it was a directive from the Messenger (may Allah's prayers and peace be upon him) to them.
And this matter becomes even more striking when we know today the people's extremism in supplicating to the dead and seeking aid from other than Allah (Mighty and Majestic). It is as if the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) hinted and indicated to these Companions, by way of blocking the means to harm, that when I die, say: "Peace be upon the Prophet." This is because many people today harbor many illusions; among them is the belief that the dead hear, all of the dead. Many people today—if we do not say all of them—believe that the dead hear. So, a fortiori, their master, the master of all Muslims, Muhammad (peace be upon him), hears a fortiori. What do you say if the Messenger does not hear? He does not hear even the prayer upon him, which is the best thing said in his right (peace be upon him). So, does he hear the seeking of aid of those who seek aid from him other than Allah (Mighty and Majestic)? Does he hear the seeking of nearness of those who seek nearness through him other than Allah (Mighty and Majestic)?
The Messenger does not hear the prayer upon him. Some of you may be surprised by this, those who have not heard such a statement before: How does the Messenger (peace be upon him) not hear the prayer upon him?
Yes, listen to the hadith of the Messenger (peace be upon him) which you may have heard: Listen, he said: He did not say: "I hear it." They said: "How is that when you have died?" He said: This transmission is clarified by It is clarified by another hadith narrated by 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) and satisfied him, who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said: , ; So, the Messenger (peace be upon him), when one of us prays upon him, does not hear this peace as almost all people imagine. Rather, there are angels specifically appointed and employed by the Lord of the Worlds to convey the peace of those who pray upon him to him (may Allah's prayers and peace be upon him). So, if he (peace and blessings be upon him) does not hear, then we address him only where the address came, just as we address the dead; we say to them: "Peace be upon you, people of the abode, from the believers and Muslims," and so on of the known supplication. But this does not mean that we are addressing someone who hears!
The dead do not hear, by the text of the Qur'an and the text of the Sunnah. I have explained this fully in my introduction to the book: "Al-Ayaat al-Bayyinah fi 'Adam Sam' al-Amwat 'inda al-Hanafiyyah al-Sadat" (The Clear Verses on the Deafness of the Dead According to the Hanafi Scholars). There is a comprehensive introduction there, so whoever wishes among you can refer to it for expansion on this topic.
In summary: "Peace be upon the Prophet" is a directive from the Prophet to the Companions, not a change by them—and far be it from them to do such a thing!
And this is sufficient, and praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds.