Another view understands the phrase as “peace and deliverance for you,” treating the word salām as a verbal noun, like al-ladhādha and al-ladhādh. Allah says: fa-salāmun laka min ashābi al-yamīn (Q 56:91). This is how al-Nawawī explains it in his Sharh Muslim, adding: “It is permissible to drop the definite article, so one may say salāmun ‘alayka ayyuhan-nabiyy and salāmun ‘alaynā. Both forms are allowed, yet the construction with the article al- is preferable, and it is the wording found in the narrations of the two Sahihs.” Al-Hāfiz (2/249) remarks: “None of the routes of transmission for Ibn Mas‘ūd’s hadith omit the definite article; the variation occurs only in the report of Ibn ‘Abbās, which is unique to Muslim.” (1) “Mercy” is a comprehensive term for every form of good that continually overflows from Him, Exalted is He; some restrict barakāt (blessings) to an increase in that good. See Mirqāt. (2) The common explanation of al-sālih (the righteous servant) is the one who fulfills his obligations toward Allah and toward His fellow-creatures, though their ranks differ. Al-Tirmidhī al-Hakīm says: “Whoever hopes to share in this salutation that people pronounce during the prayer must be a righteous servant; otherwise he is denied this great virtue.” Al-Qaffāl writes in his Fatāwā: “Omitting the prayer harms all Muslims, for the worshipper says, ‘O Allah, forgive me and the believing men and women,’ and in the tashahhud he must say, ‘al-salāmu ‘alaynā wa ‘alā ‘ibādi-llāhi al-sālihīn.’ One who abandons the prayer therefore falls short in serving Allah, in honoring His Messenger, in fulfilling his own duty, and in his obligation to all Muslims; hence the enormity of the sin.” See Fath al-Bārī. (Benefit) It is well-known that when he—peace and blessings be upon him—was taken up on the Night Journey, he praised Allah with these words; whereupon Allah said