The virtue of sending a great deal of blessings upon the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him)

This hadith was narrated by at-Tirmidhi (2457), Ahmad (20736), Ibn Abi Shaybah in al-Musannaf (8706), ‘Abd ibn Humayd in al-Musnad (170) and al-Bayhaqi in ash-Shu‘ab (1579): 

It was narrated that Ubayy ibn Ka‘b (may Allah be pleased with him) said: 

I said: O Messenger of Allah, I send a great deal of blessings upon you; how much of my du‘aa’ should be sending blessings upon you? He said: “Whatever you wish.” I said: One quarter? He said: “Whatever you wish, and if you do more, that will be better for you.” I said: One half? He said: “Whatever you wish and if you do more, that will be better for you.” I said: Two thirds? He said: “Whatever you wish and if you do more, that will be better for you.” I said: I will make all of my du‘aa’ for you. He said: “Then your concerns will be taken care of and your sins will be forgiven.” 

At-Tirmidhi said: A saheeh hasan hadith. It was classed as hasan by al-Mundhiri in at-Targheeb wa’t-Tarheeb, and by al-Haafiz in al-Fath (11/168). In ash-Shu‘ab (2/215), al-Bayhaqi indicated that it is qawiy. It was classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh at-Targheeb (1670) and elsewhere. 

Mulla ‘Ali al-Qaari said:

“I will make all of my du‘aa’ for you” i.e., I will spend the time I used to spend offering du‘aa’ for myself in sending blessings upon you.

“Then your concerns will be taken care of” al-Abhari said: i.e., if you spend all the time in which you offer du‘aa’ sending blessings upon me, whatever concerns you have will be taken care of. 

At-Toorbashti said: What this hadith means is: how much should I allocate to you of the time I spend in du‘aa’ for myself? 

“Then your concerns will be taken care of” i.e., whatever concerns you have in your religious or worldly affairs. That is because sending blessings upon him involves mentioning Allah and venerating His Messenger, and being preoccupied with fulfilling his rights, thus being distracted from one’s own aims and goals. 

End quote.

Mirqaat al-Mafaateeh Sharh Mishkaat al-Masaabeeh (4/16-17) 

Ibn ‘Allaan al-Bakri (may Allah have mercy on him) said: 

The reason why one’s concerns will be taken care of if he spends that time sending blessings on the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) is that it involves complying with the command of Allah, may He be exalted, and remembering and venerating Him, and venerating His Messenger. So in fact the worshipper does not miss out on anything by diverting his time to sending blessings upon the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him). Rather, by engaging in this great praise of the Prophet he will attain something better than what he had been asking for himself, and in addition to that he will attain the tenfold blessing of Allah and the prayer His angels, in addition to what may be added to that of great reward that cannot be matched by any other. What benefits could be greater than these? How could a worshipper attain anything like it, let alone anything more precious than it? How could his du‘aa’ for himself equal any of these unmatchable virtues? 

End quote.

Daleel al-Faaliheen li Turuq Riyaadh as-Saaliheen (5/6-7) 

Ash-Shawkaani (may Allah have mercy on him) said: 

The words “Then your concerns will be taken care of and ypur sins will be forgiven” in these two virtues is best that one could hope to attain in theis world and the hereafter, because if Allah takes care of a person’s concerns, he will be free from trials and troubles in this world, because every trial inevitably causes some concern, even if it is little. And if Allah forgives a person’s sins, he will be safe from the trials of the hereafter, because nothing dooms a person to suffering in the hereafter except his sins. 

End quote.

Tuhfat adh-Dhaakireen (p. 45) 

The scholars of the Standing Committee were asked: 

The Sahaabi said to the Messenger (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him): Should I make all my du‘aa’ for you?

The Messenger (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said to him: “Then your concerns will be taken care of”… What is meant by “Should I make all my du‘aa’ for you?”? 

They replied: 

What this hadith means is to encourage people to send a great deal of blessings and peace upon the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) because of what there is in that of great reward. 

End quote.

Fataawa al-Lajnah ad-Daa’imah (24/156-157) 

You should understand that the hadith does not mean that a person should not offer du‘aa’ for himself at all, and only send blessings upon the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him). This is contrary to his own practice and his teaching of various du‘aa’s in various situations, such as the du‘aa’s during the prayer, those that are recited morning and afternoon, istikhaarah, and so on. 

The scholars of the Standing Committee said: 

This hadith does not mean that a person cannot call upon his Lord and ask Him concerning all his affairs by offering du‘aa’s as prescribed in Islam, and at the same time send a great deal of blessings upon the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him). In fact he should combine both. 

End quote.

Fataawa al-Lajnah ad-Daa’imah (24/159) 

Perhaps what is meant by the hadith is that Ubayy ibn Ka‘b had a specific du‘aa’ that he used to recite, and he asked about replacing it with sending blessings upon the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him). This is suggested by the words of Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allah have mercy on him) who said:

He had a du‘aa’ that he used to say, and if he replaced his du‘aa’ with sending blessings upon the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), Allah would take care of all his concerns in this world and the hereafter. So every time he sends blessings upon him once, Allah sends blessings upon him tenfold, and if he prays for an ordinary believer, the angels say: Ameen, and may you have the like thereof. So his du‘aa’ for the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) is even more deserving of reward. End quote. 

Majmoo‘ al-Fataawa (1/193) 

Shaykh al-Islam also said: 

What the questioner meant is: O Messenger of Allah, I have a du‘aa’ that I used to say, to attain good thereby and ward off evil. How much of this du‘aa’ should be devoted to you only? He said: “Whatever you wish.” And when he came to say: Should I make all my du‘aa’ for you? He said: “Then your concerns will be taken care of and your sins will be forgiven.” 

According to the other report: “Then Allah will take care of your concerns in this world and the hereafter.” 

This is the utmost that a person may ask for for himself: to attain what is good and ward off what is harmful.

End quote

Majmoo‘ al-Fataawa (1/349-350) 

All of this is based on the assumption that the hadith is saheeh, and we indicated that it was classed as saheeh by some of the scholars. However the narrator of the hadith, ‘Abdullah ibn Muhammad ibn ‘Aqeel, was classed as da‘eef by most of the leading hadith scholars, who said that his hadith cannot be taken as evidence. Imam Ahmad even said concerning him, according to the report of Hanbal: His hadith is munkar (odd). Ya ‘qoob al-Jawzjaani said: Most of what he narrates is ghareeb (strange). 

See: Tahdheeb al-Kamaal (16/80ff) 

If we assume that his hadith is hasan, as is the view of some of the scholars, it does not seem that we should accept his hadith when he is the only one who narrated this text. Moreover, it says in it, ‘Should I make all my du‘aa’ for you?’, which appears to be contrary to what is taught by Islam in most of its texts and reports, which is that one should offer a lot of du‘aa’ of all kinds, in prayer and otherwise, whether that du‘aa’ is not connected to any time or situation, or is connected to a time or situation. Furthermore, this also appears to be contrary to the actual practice of the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) and his companions, and those who came after them of the salaf. It is not known that any of them abandoned offering du‘aa’, in prayer or otherwise, asking for what he needed of good in this world and the hereafter, and was content only to send a great deal of blessings upon the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him). 

And Allah knows best.