Ibn Tawus said: “My father used to say the same.” The two sound collections (Bukhari and Muslim) record the hadith without the phrase “ahl baytihi” (his household). (1) The scholars explain that Allah’s salat upon His Prophet is His praising him in the presence of the angels; the angels’ salat is their prayer for him and their seeking forgiveness for him; and human beings’ salat is their supplication for him and veneration of his status. Some have claimed that the Lord’s salat simply means His mercy, but leading authorities—such as Hafiz Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani and, before him, Ibn al-Qayyim in al-Jala—have rejected this view. Ibn al-Qayyim advanced fifteen arguments, the first of which is that Allah distinguishes between His salat and His mercy, as in the verse: “upon them are salawat from their Lord and mercy” (al-Baqarah 155–157); the conjunction shows that the two are not identical. The occasional poetic usage “he found her speech kadhiban wa maynan (falsehood and deceit)” is an isolated, non-normative example and cannot overturn classical usage, especially since mayn is more restricted in meaning than kadhib. He concludes: “Salat signifies praising the Messenger, showing special concern for him, and manifesting his honor and rank, as is well known among the Arabs.” He further cites the saying: “When she was mentioned they said salla alayha wa zamzama,” meaning, they blessed and extolled her; the Arabs never use salla alayh to mean “had mercy on him.” Hafiz Ibn Hajar states in Fath al-Bari (11/130): “The soundest opinion, reported from Abu al-Aliyah, is that Allah’s salat upon His Prophet is His praise and exaltation of him, while the salat of the angels and others is their request that this praise be increased, not their request for its inception.” (2) Al-Qamus defines a man’s ahl as his clan and close relatives.