Answer: This ḥadīth was recorded by al-Tirmidhī, who said, “It is a good and authentic ḥadīth.”

Here, the word “prayer” (ṣalāt) means supplication. Ubayy ibn Kaʿb—may Allah be pleased with him—was a man who frequently made duʿāʾ. The sense of the report is that he asked the Prophet ﷺ whether he should devote a quarter, a half, or all of his supplication to invoking blessings upon the Prophet ﷺ—that is, replace the petitions he normally made with ṣalāt upon the Prophet. The Prophet ﷺ told him that if he were to turn his entire supplication into blessings upon the Prophet, his worry would be removed and his sin forgiven. The reason is that whoever sends one ṣalāt upon the Prophet, Allah sends ten ṣalawāt upon him; and when Allah sends blessings upon a servant, He relieves him of his cares and forgives his sins. Thus, this ḥadīth highlights the virtue of abundantly invoking blessings upon the Prophet ﷺ. And Allah knows best.

***

Question: In the book al-Majmūʿah al-Mubārakah fī al-Ṣalawāt al-Maʾthūrah wa-l-Aʿmāl al-Mabrūrah I came across a ḥadīth narrated from Anas ibn Mālik—may Allah be pleased with him—in which the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “Whoever prays two rakʿahs on the night before Friday, reciting in each rakʿah Sūrat al-Fātiḥah once and Sūrat al-Zalzalah fifteen times, and when he finishes his prayer says, ‘Yā Ḥayy, yā Qayyūm, yā Dhā l-Jalāl wa l-Ikrām’ one hundred times, Allah will grant him safety from the punishment and darkness of the grave and from the terrors of the Day of Resurrection.” How sound is this ḥadīth, both in wording and in meaning?