The Best of Salawat upon the Master of Masters

Book excerpt: An abridged translation of “Afdhalus Solawat 'ala Saiyidis Sadat” by Ash-Shaikh Yusuf Ibn Isma'il An-Nabhani – about Salawat upon the Prophet ﷺ – with foreword by Mudarris Ilyas Zakaria. The first part of the book consists of sections relating to the meaning, obligation and merits of Salawat based on transmitted texts from Quranic verses, Prophetic Hadiths and sayings of the Islamic scholars. These sections cite close to a hundred Prophetic Hadiths, mostly on the motivation and encouragement to Salawat abundantly, especially on Fridays, in order to obtain abundant and important benefits in both Dunia and Akhirah. The second part of the book consists of some of the best methods of Salawat upon the Prophet ﷺ, including those transmitted from the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ himself or the great 'Ulama such as Al-Imam Ash-Shafi'i, As-Saiyid Ahmad Al-Badawi and As-Saiyid Ahmad Ibn Idris Radhiyallahu 'Anhum. The book ends with a 50-verse poem on the summary of the Prophetic life in sequence from the creation of his light since before the beginning of time and until the continuous existence of his Prophetic life after his human departure. The author said in the introduction of this book, “My dear Muslim brothers who love the Prophet and who wish for Salawat upon him, help yourself with this book for the sake of salvation in your religion and your world. Regardless of how much you seek, you would almost certainly not find any compilation of a book like this.” The author, Ash-Shaikh Yusuf Ibn Isma'il An-Nabhani (1849-1932), was from the Levant and was a scholar of Al-Madzhab Ash-Shafi'i. He served as the Chief Justice of the Court of Human Rights in Beirut for over 20 years and was devoted to knowledge, literature, composing poems and writing books, especially in defence of his beloved Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. The translator, Muhammad Zulhikam Jamil, is a freelance Arabic-to-English script translator particularly in the field of Islamic knowledge. With an experience of over 10 years, majority of his translation works stem from his interest in themes relating to the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.