The Ṣalawāt verse (Arabic: آية الصَلَوات) is the fifty-sixth verse of Sura al-Ahzab (Quran 33), which mentions that God and the angels bless the Prophet (s) and enjoins the believers to ask God to confer blessing upon him. Many Shiites recite salawat (a prayer for blessing the Prophet) upon hearing this verse. Reciting this verse is recommended after maghrib prayers.
According to Allama Tabataba’i in al-Mizan, reciting salawat is, in fact, following God and the angels. In his Payam-i Qur’an and based on a number of hadiths from Sunni sources, Ayatullah Makarim Shirazi mentions that including the family of the Prophet (s) in salawat is required.
Text and Translation
| “ | إِنَّ اللَّـهَ وَمَلَائِكَتَهُ يُصَلُّونَ عَلَى النَّبِيِّ ۚ يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا صَلُّوا عَلَيْهِ وَسَلِّمُوا تَسْلِيمًا | ” |
| “ | Indeed Allah and His angels bless the Prophet; O you who have faith! Invoke blessings on him and invoke Peace upon him in a worthy manner. | ” |
| — Quran 33:56 | ||
In al-Shaykh al-Tusi’s Misbah al-mutahajjid, Reciting this verse has been recommended after maghrib prayers and after saying the tasbih of Lady Fatima
In Shiite religious culture of some regions, such as Iran, this verse is recited loudly by one person after congregational prayers, and the participants recite salawat three times.
Interpretation
Based on a number of hadiths mentioned in Shiite and Sunni sources, Allama Tabatabai states that the correct form of salawat is to ask God to bless the Prophet (s) and his family. He also emphasizes that the believers, by saying salawat, in fact, follow God and the angels in their blessing the Prophet (s). According to him, this verse is also an emphasis on the warning in the subsequent verse that those who hurt God and His apostle are cursed in this world and the hereafter.
In his Payam-i Qur’an, Ayatollah Makarim Shirazi mentions that, according to Shiite and Sunni hadiths, Muslims are to ask God to bless the family of the Prophet (s) together with the Prophet (s). Sunni hadiths in this regard can be found in such sources as Sahih Bukhari, Sahih Muslim, Tafsir al-Durr al-manthur,and Tafsir al-Tabari.
According to a hadith quoted in al-Tabrisi’s Majma’ al-bayan, Imam al-Sadiq (a) said, “He who asks God to bless the Prophet (s), angels will ask God to bless him, they will erase ten of his sins, and write for him ten good deeds.”
Evidence for the Obligatoriness of Salawat
According to Ayatollah Makarim Shirazi, the Salawat verse indicates that saying salawat upon the Prophet (s) is obligatory at least once in one’s life.Moreover, Shaykh Mansur Ali Nasif, a Sunni scholar and author of the book al-Taj al-jami’ li-l-usul, is reported to have stated that scholars unanimously agree that this verse indicates, in its manifest meaning, that saying salawat upon the Prophet (s) is obligatory.
