Importance of Tashahud in Prayer.

The Meaning of the Tashahud.


By Sh. Abdul Nasir Jangda.

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Salah: Beauty and importance.

Salah is a very important and integral part of our Deen. We connect to Allah (SWT) by means of Salah. It is a direct channel and access line for us to communicate with Allah and He literally uses word Imaan for Salah. It is the core of being a believer; it is an absolute value that a believer must embody.

Whenever anything concerned the Prophet (S.A.W), he ran towards Salah. He taught us that Salah is the remedy of all our problems. We can find the fruits of Imaan and began to taste sweetness of Imaan.

Famous Hadith-e-Qudsi says that Allah responds when the slave recites Surah Fatiha in his/her Salah.

One thing that troubles all Muslims is how to bring beauty in your Salah. Concentration, humility and submissiveness in prayer is difficult to achieve. The quickest way to achieve quality in prayer is to start understand the meaning of the words you recite in prayer. Salah is the combination of beauty of the words of Allah and Prophetic Supplications. It is a beautiful combination.

Tashahud.

One of the parts of salah which is very powerful is the Tashahud, the sitting point of Salah. It is the climax point of your Salah. The words that we have been given by Prophet (S.A.W) are very powerful. There are five different narrations coming from Prophet (S.A.W) regarding the prayers of Tashahud. We are going to study about two in this lecture:

 

A whole line of narrators learned this Tashahud exactly in the same way that Holy Prophet (S.A.W) taught Ibn-Masud when Prophet (S.A.W) held his hand in between both his hands.

To begin with word analysis;

At-Tahiyyat is the plural of Tahiyyah which comes from the root of word hayya that is life. Tahiyyah means to  greet. So that is the reason it came from the word Hayya. Today the word for greeting that we make today that is, “Assalam o Alaikum” is the same Tahiyyah, just the way has changed. Li-Allah means for Allah. So if we put together

‘The greetings are for Allah.’

A little story behind this, a scholar named Abdullah bin Saleh Al-Ijli, said he wanted to find out what it meant and went to a scholar named Al-Kisaai. Who said it means blessings. He wasn’t completely satisfied with the answer and so he went to another great scholar Muhammed Ibn-ul-Hassan Al Shaibani, he asked the same to him. He told that this is a word that we use to worship Allah. Abdullah bin Saleh then went to Muhammad Ibn-Idrees As-Shafi’ee (an Arabic poet and scholar), he explained that when you enter into the court of a king, you offer royal compliments. This is the protocol and the compliments are exclusively for Allah.

·         Was-Salawat is plural of Salah and signifies all acts of worship we conduct for Allah.

·          Tayyibaat means beautiful and appealing things. All of these are dedicated to Allah. When you conduct yourself in a noble manner for the sake of Allah and not for the social adjustment, which is also noted by Allah.

·         As-Salam means peace and safety. A very profound word. Islam comes from this word. Also, the word “Sullam” that is, ladder because you have to be careful when you climb a ladder.

·         The dua further goes, “peace and safety be upon you”, the “you“refers to “Ayyu-hun-Nabi” that is, Prophet (S.A.W).

·          This comes from the word “Naba” in the word. Naba is important and news, this implies that Nabi brings information that is relevant. The second possible root of word Nabi comes from “Nabwun” which means elevation, because Nabi is a person who is at a higher status than the rest of humanity.

·         “And the Mercy of Allah also be upon you.”

·         The word Barakah in its root means blessings that are long-lasting. It implies longevity. “May Allah’s Long lasting blessings also be upon you.”

When we recite this dua, we are reciting to Prophet (S.A.W). The companions used to say that Prophet (S.A.W) taught tashahud in the same way that he taught Surahs of Quran. It implies two things:

ü  Importance of Tashahud.

ü  Word for word. You cannot change it and have to read it exactly like you recite Surah Fatiha.

    The dua than goes onto say,”May peace and safety be upon us and upon the slaves of Allah who are As-Saaliheen.”
Saaliheen means to have your affairs in order. Saaleh is Righteous.

Implications of this Dua:

1.      We are making Dua for us in plural form. That emphasizes unity of Ummah. Because Salah is the ultimate means of unity.

2.      Practical and sensible Dua. We make Dua for us and then others, that is not selfishness. It actually is sensibility.

3.      It is motivational and encourages you to become As-Saaliheen so that you are in Duas of all generations to come.

Second Part of Dua:

·         We pay testimony. Shaheed is the one who presents himself for sacrifice. Ash-hadu means “I give testimony.”

·         The “LAA” here means absolutely no.

·         Ilaaha means the one who is worthy of worship.
There is absolutely positively no one worthy of worship except Allah.

·         In being the slave of Allah we find distinction and pride. The word “Rasool” comes from the word means “to send a message from higher authority”. Rasool is the one who carries message from Allah.

Another type of Tashahud is taught by Ibn-e-Abbas (R.A).

Differences:

Ø  New word Al-Mubarakat which means blessed things.

Ø  No use of “Wa’o” at the beginning.

Ø  The word Li-Allah is at the end of Dua.

Ø  For Prophet (S.A.W) the word “Abduhu” is not used.