One of the most popular Ayat:
InnAllaha wa malaaikatahu
YUSWALLUNA 'alanNabiy, ya
ayyuhallazeena aamanu SWALLU 'alayhi
wa sallimu taslimaa
(Indeed, Allah and His Angels keep praising the Messenger. O you who believe, praise him and send Salaam upon him)
A Salaf, called Hazrat Abul 'Aaliyah
(rahmatullahi 'alayhi) said about the
meaning of SWALLU. His statement is
recorded in Sahih alBukhaariy. He says
that SWALLU means praising, honouring.
So Allah keeps praising His Beloved (sallallahu 'alayhi wa alihi wasallam) all
the times. Even the angels do so. Now
the command is upon us, the true
muslims. How to act upon this? By
reading Darood Shareef. An interesting
point:
Allah asks us to praise him. In return
what do we do? We say "Allahumma
swalli 'alaa sayyidina Muhammad" which
means, oh Allah praise our Master
Muhammad (sallallahu 'alayhi wa alihi
wa sallam) The interesting point is that Allah asks us
to praise him, and in return we ask Allah
to praise him. Why is this so? Why don't
we praise him directly? Why we ask
Allah to praise him?
Ulema have said that, since we, creatures, are not aware of the real status and
grandeur of Beloved Prophet (sallallahu
'alayhi wa alihi wasallam), we cannot
praise him as he should be praised. We
can only praise him as much as we know
about him. But no creature exists who knows his reality, his true status, his
grandeur. Thats why we say, oh Allah
You created him, You know him
perfectly, You know his reality , You
know his grandeur,so You praise him
Allahumma swalli 'alaa Sayyidina Muhammad (oh Allah praise our master
Muhammad)
According to the Mufassireen, SWALLU
means Rahma (Mercy). Even this is
correct. But this is not final. Because in
other verse of Quran, Swallu and Mercy
have both been mentioned in one Ayah
separately. So Quran makes difference between Swallu and Rahmah. But since
the Ulema have said it, we accept this
one also. But we should remember that
this interpretation is not final.
Now the Ayat means that Allah keeps
making Mercy upon Beloved Prophet (sallallahu 'alayhi wa alihi wa sallam).
This we understand. But how angels
make mercy on him? And further we are
commanded to make mercy on him??
This is impossible because he himself is
Rahmatullil 'aalameen (mercy to all worlds). So how can angels and human
make mercy on him? This is illogic. Thats
why we read Darood Shareef with the
intention that oh Allah You are His
Creator, Only You are Higher than Him in
status, the rest all are small before him. So oh Allah You make Mercy upon him
(Allahumma swalli 'alaa sayyidina
Muhammad- Oh Allah make mercy upon
our master Muhammad)
However, Swallu is better understood as
PRAISE than mercy, and this is better for
the lovers of Beloved Prophet
swallallahu 'alayhi wa alihi wa sallam