Explanation of the Book of Tawhid-03b

The reader: And it was narrated to us.

The Shaykh : I do not have the "wa" (and).
The reader: Ahmad ibn Yunus narrated to us, he said: Zuhayr narrated to us, he said: Mughirah narrated to us, he said: Shaqiq ibn Salimah narrated to us, he said: Abdullah said: .

The Shaykh : If it were not for one word, the hadith would have been musalsal (continuous in the chain of narration). If it were not for one word, it would have been musalsal, musalsal in form; it is all "narrated to us" except for the phrase "Abdullah said."
The reader: .

The Shaykh : This is from the excellent teaching of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) in that when he mentioned the prohibited, he mentioned the prescribed. They used to say "Peace be upon Allah" as a greeting, so they would greet Allah with "Peace be upon Allah." This phrase is not said to one who cannot be afflicted with any deficiency, for peace is invoked for one who may be afflicted with deficiency. As for He who is free from that (Mighty and Majestic), it is not said to Him, "Peace be upon You." For this reason, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) replaced it for them and commanded them to say "The blessings are for Allah" instead of "Peace be upon Allah," because Allah (Mighty and Majestic) is perfect in every aspect and does not need to be invoked with peace. So the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: He began with the reason before the ruling in order to make the ruling settle in the soul while it is reassured by the reason mentioned to it. But say: "The blessings 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 slave and His Messenger," and so on. "The blessings are for Allah": The "lam" here is for exclusivity and entitlement. "Al-tahiyyat" is the plural of "tahiyah," which is any phrase indicating glorification; it is a greeting. It is pluralized considering its types and kinds, meaning every kind and type that indicates glorification is exclusive to Allah and entitled to Allah (Mighty and Majestic), because He is worthy of being glorified (Glorified and Exalted is He). And his saying: "And the prayers" means the prayers are for Allah. "And the good things" means the good things are for Allah. What are the prayers that are for Allah? They are the known worship, or it is said they are supplication. According to this opinion, it is understood as prayer in the linguistic sense and prayer in the legal sense. There is no objection to saying that it encompasses both the prayers that are supplication and the prayers that are the known worship, because that is more comprehensive. "Al-tayyibat" (the good things) means the good attributes are for Allah and the good deeds are for Allah. Allah (Mighty and Majestic) is Good and does not accept except what is good. So every good deed is for Allah, and every bad deed is not accepted by Allah. And every good attribute is for Allah (Mighty and Majestic). So "al-tayyibat" here describes the attributes of Allah and the deeds done for Allah. Describing the attributes of Allah means every good attribute, and describing the deeds done for Allah. Allah does not accept except what is good. For this reason, keep this in mind when you read in the prayer that when you say "al-tayyibat," it means that you are the One with the good attributes and the One who does not accept from deeds except what is good. We do not know if we keep this in mind when we recite it or if it is absent from us. It may be absent from us and it may be present, but it should be present and not absent. When he began with the right of Allah and described Allah with what He deserves, he followed with the right of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) and said: "Peace be upon you, O Prophet, and the mercy of Allah." Here he said, "Peace be upon you, O Prophet." Why? Because the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) needs Allah to make him safe. For this reason, the supplication of the prophets on the Sirat on the Day of Resurrection is: "O Allah, make us safe, O Allah, make us safe." So the prophets need Allah (Mighty and Majestic) to make them safe. "Peace be upon you, O Prophet." The "you" here will raise an objection, which is the pronoun of address. The pronoun of address in a sentence turns it into the speech of humans, addressing humans, is that not so? "Peace be upon you" addresses the man, so the pronoun of address turns the sentence into the speech of humans addressing someone. How do we reconcile this with the saying of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him): The answer to this is from one of two angles. The first angle: That this is an exception, so the generality in his saying "from the speech of humans" or "from the speech of people" is specified by this. It is said: The prayer is invalidated by the pronoun of address, except what is for Allah or for His Messenger, such as "You alone we worship," which does not invalidate it, or for His Messenger, "Peace be upon you, O Prophet." This is one angle. The second angle: It is said that this address is not intended in its literal sense, but rather due to the strength of the prayer's presence of mind, it is as if the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is facing him and addressing him. And according to this, the address is not intended in its literal sense. The evidence for this is that the person praying says "Peace be upon you" in a low voice that the Prophet does not hear. If it were a literal address, this would be a type of what I call mockery and ridicule, because if I said "Peace be upon you" to myself and then said to you, "Why didn't you return my greeting?" What would you say? "I didn't greet you!" I would say to you, "I greeted you, but quietly." You would say, "Glory be to Allah, how is this?" So the address is not intended in its literal sense. The evidence for this is matters: that the person praying says this address quietly, this is one. Second: That the person praying says that even if he is in the East and the Messenger is in the West. What do those praying in Makkah say when the Messenger is in Madinah? They say, "Peace be upon you." So the literal address is not intended. For this reason, it is said even after the death of the Messenger, "Peace be upon you, O Prophet," because the literal address is not intended by it, but what is intended is as the Shaykh al-Islam (may Allah have mercy on him) said in the book *Iqtida' al-Sirat al-Mustaqim*: "The intention is the strength of presence of mind, as if he is before you and you are addressing him". It is said this even after the death of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). And what al-Bukhari (may Allah have mercy on him) narrated from Ibn Mas'ud, he said: This is from his ijtihad (independent legal reasoning) (may Allah be pleased with him), but it is an ijtihad that is far from the truth.