QUESTION:
What do the scholars of the Dīn and muftīs of the Sacred Law state regarding the following issue: Some people end up writing SAW in English after mentioning the blessed name of the Noble Prophet ﷺ. It is also commonplace that ص or صلعم is written in place of Durūd Sharīf in Urdu books. What is the Islamic ruling regarding this?
Questioner: Faheem from UK
ANSWER:
بسم اللہ الرحمن الرحیم
الجواب بعون الملک الوھاب اللھم ھدایۃ الحق والصواب
To write SAW, ص or صلعم after the blessed name of the Noble Prophet ﷺ to indicate towards Durūd Sharīf is impermissible, totally unacceptable, to be refrained from and a cause of deprivation, thus, whenever Durūd is written alongside the sacred name of the Noble Prophet ﷺ, it should thereby be written in full. Likewise, if one needs to write “peace be upon him”, it should be written in full: PBUH should not be written in its place.
Just as ‘Allāmah Tahtāwī states in the marginal note to Durr Mukhtār,
ویکرہ الرمز بالصلٰوۃ والترضی بالکتابۃ بل یکتب ذلک کلہ بکمالہ وفی بعض المواضع من التتار خانیۃ من کتب علیہ السلام بالھمزۃ والمیم یکفر لانہ تخفیف و تخفیف الانبیاء کفربلاشک ولعلہ ان صح النقل فھو مقید بقصد والافالظاھر انہ لیس بکفر وکون لازم الکفر کفرابعد تسلیم کونہ مذھباً مختارا محلہ اذاکان اللزوم بَیّناً نعم الاحتیاط فی الاحتزار عن الایھام و الشبھۃ
“To write ص, etc in place of ﷺ, and رض in place of رضي الله تعالى عنه is Makrūh. Rather, it should be written in full. It is mentioned in a few places in Tātār-Khāniyyah that whoever abbreviates Durūd & Salām as ء or م has committed disbelief, because this action is a form of belittling, and in the court of Noble Prophets, upon whom all be countless & endless blessings & salutations, such type of action is without doubt disbelief.
If this stance was to be mentioned in full, then it would be so with the following condition that if someone had done so intentionally. Otherwise, it is clear that one does not become a non-Muslim straight away [i.e. not for those who abbreviate in the case of not knowing or due to laziness]. As for disbelief being established due to kufr luzūmī, this would be when a person accepts & acknowledges the chosen stance, and this is when the specific case of kufr has been mentioned to said person involved in said action and is apparent. Nevertheless, caution is in one avoiding any doubt or unclarity [by not using abbreviations in the first place].”
[Hāshiyah al-Tahtāwī ‘alā al-Durr al-Mukhtār, vol 1, pg 6]
Furthermore, Sayyidī A’lāhadrat, the Imām of the Ahl al-Sunnah, Imām Ahmad Ridā Khān, upon whom be infinite mercies, states in Fatāwā Ridawiyyah that it is not permissible to write the letter ص after anyone’s name, nor after the blessed name of the Noble Prophet ﷺ. It is not [i.e. not permissible] for the names of everybody else because this abbreviation is an indication towards Durūd, and to initially mention Durūd for anyone other than the Noble Prophets & Angels, upon whom be blessings & salutations, is not permissible. Likewise, it is not [permissible] for the sacred name [i.e. of the Holy Prophet ﷺ] as the command of the ruling is to write Durūd Sharīf in full; one is to write صلى الله تعالى عليه وسلم [i.e. ﷺ][1]. To merely write ص, or صلم or صلعم as some please do is unequivocally unacceptable & absolutely to be refrained from, to the extent that this has been regarded as belittling the status of the most Noble of beings ﷺ.
[Fatāwā Ridawiyyah, vol 23, pg 387]
A’lāhadrat states in another place mentions that Imãm Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūtī has stated that the one who initiated such act of abbreviating [i.e. of Durūd] had his hand cut off; writing it in full is a must – ﷺ.
[Fatāwā Ridawiyyah, vol 22, pg 692]
On a final note, it is stated in Bahār-e-Sharī’at that some people write abbreviations such as S.A.W. etc. instead of writing the complete Durūd; it is impermissible and unlawful to do so.
[Bahār-e-Sharī’at, vol 1, part 1, pg 77]
[1] or the English equivalent i.e. peace be upon him, or whichever language is concerned for that matter.
واللہ تعالی اعلم ورسولہ اعلم صلی اللہ علیہ وآلہ وسلم
کتبہ ابو الحسن محمد قاسم ضیاء قادری
Answered by Mufti Qasim Zia al-Qadri
Translated by Haider Ali
Read the original Urdu answer here: [Q-ID0753] Is it permissible to write PBUH or SAW after the name of the Noble Prophet ﷺ ?
Also see:
Abbreviating Durud (SAW, PBUH etc) – from TheSunniWay website
