The Meaning of ḥamd and sending ṣalāh upon the Prophet ﷺ

The author—may Allah have mercy on him—said:

1 – I begin with praise, sending blessings upon … Muhammad, the finest Prophet ever sent.

His words “I begin with praise” suggest that he did not cite the basmalah first, for had he opened with the basmalah it would have occupied first place. This raises the question: did the author actually preface the poem with the basmalah or not? The commentator informs us that he did, in fact, open the composition with the basmalah. Accordingly, the word “begin” here is relative: it refers to the start of the book’s subject matter, the body of the work.

In the phrase “with praise, sending blessings,” the verb “sending” (muṣalliy-an) is in the accusative as a circumstantial qualifier of the hidden pronoun in “I begin,” meaning “while I am sending blessings.”

As the scholars explain, ḥamd (praise) is to describe the One praised with perfection out of love and veneration. If one describes Him with perfection but does so neither lovingly nor reverently, rather out of fear or awe alone, that is called madh (commendation), not ḥamd. Genuine ḥamd must therefore be accompanied by love for and exaltation of the One praised.

Although the author mentions “praise” without identifying the object, the context makes it plain: being a Muslim, he clearly intends the praise of Allah.

Sending ṣalāh upon the Prophet ﷺ, when performed by human beings, means asking Allah to extol him. When the ṣalāh comes from Allah Himself, it means that Allah praises him in the highest assembly of angels. This was the view of Abū ’l-ʿĀliyah. The opinion that Allah’s ṣalāh simply means His mercy is weak, and is undermined by the verse: “Those are the ones upon whom are ṣalawāt from their Lord and mercy, and it is they who are guided.” (Q 2:157). Were ṣalāh synonymous with mercy, the verse would read, in effect, “Upon them are mercies from their Lord and mercy,” which is incoherent. The basic