Understanding Salat — Page 175
Qa‘dah 175 titles of reverence and words of praise and prayers by which worldly kings and deities are addressed are only the right of Allah, meaning all worship of the tongue is only for Allah. ( Bukh ā r ī Commentary, vol. 2, pp. 231) Very early on, the Companions ra used to pray for Allah in the way that subjects pray for a king. However, the Holy Prophet sas corrected them and taught that they cannot pray for Allah the way they used to pray for kings. Also, he taught them that only Allah is deserving of the type of praise that subjects would wrongly give to their kings. Hadrat Abdullāh ibn Masud ra narrated, When we prayed with the Prophet sas we used to say, “Peace ( as-Sal ā m ) be on Allah from His slaves and peace be on so and so. ” The Prophet sas said, “Don’t say peace be on Allah, for He Himself is The Source of Peace ( As-Sal ā m ), but say, at-ta h iyy ā tu lill ā hi wa s - s alaw ā tu wa t - t ayyib ā tu. . . ” ( S a hīh Bukh ā r ī , Book 10, Chapter 150) Explaining these words, Hadrat Khalīfatul Masīh I ra said, “ At-ta h iyy ā tu lill ā h means that all praise and gratitude that can be expressed by the tongue are only for God and should be only for God. ” Explaining a s - s alaw ā t,