Answered by Shaykh Amjad Rasheed
What is the best form of blessings upon the Prophet may Allah bless him and give him peace? How can one bless him before and after the call for prayer?
Scholars disagree about the best form of prayer upon the Prophet- may Allah bless him and give him peace. In his book, “Ad-Durr il-Mandood,” the master of the later shafii scholars, Imam Ash-Shihab Ibn Hajar – may Allah have mercy on him chooses this form of prayer which he preferred and recited for years: ” O Allah, let your blessings rest upon Mohammad, Your slave and Messenger, the illiterate Prophet, and upon the folk of Mohammad, his wives, the mothers of believers, his descendents and the people of his House, as You let Your blessings be upon Ibrahim and the folk of Ibrahim in the worlds, for You are truly the Most Praiseworthy and Noble, and show your grace to Mohammad, Your slave and Messenger, the illiterate Prophet, and to the folk of Mohammad, his wives, the mothers of believers, his descendents and the people of his House, as You showed Your grace to Ibrahim and the folk of Ibrahim in the worlds, for You are truly the Most Praiseworthy and Noble, and [bless him] as befits his great honor, his perfection and Your contentment with him, and as befits what You love and wish for him always and eternally, in the number of the things You know, in the amount of ink [shed to write] Your words, in the [degree] of Your contentment with Yourself and in the weight of Your throne; [bless him] by the best, the most perfect and the most comprehensive blessing, whenever You and him are remembered by those who remember, and whenever Your remembrance and his remembrance are neglected by those who heed not, and likewise, let peace rest upon him and upon us with them [whom we mentioned]”.
Ibn Hajar notes, “This form combines most of the forms of blessings contained in the different narrated forms of the testification of faith which is the best of blessings as has been previously mentioned. It also combines the other forms that scholars concluded and claimed that they are the best. To be the best of them all, this form has the merit of a few eloquent additions.”
As concerns the blessings upon him may Allah bless him and give him peace- when one hears his name during the call for prayer, and the blessings upon him after the call for prayer, there is not a specific form; any blessing is sufficient. However, reciting the abovementioned form is superior since some regard it the best.
– Amjad Rasheed
(Translated by Abu Muhammad al-Rahil)