Answered by Shaykh Gibril F Haddad
A few days back [someone] defaced a dua on the wall of the mosque, claiming that it contained bid’aat. This was the very post-azan dua, in which the words “wad-darajat al-rafi’a” and “wa[r] zukna shafa’atuhu yaum al-qiyama” were found objectionable]…. This caused quite a stir in the mosque, as even the imam … seemed implicated in the move, citing ahadith to establish that these words were alien to the sunnah and added by unscrupulous malbelievers. … Although non-scholars, it seems highly improbably to us that the jumhur should have been so wrong and for so long. Could you please provide the references and contextualization urgently needed?
There are two contested wordings here : “wal-darajat al-rafīa” and “wa-rzuqnā shafāatahu yawmaal-qiyāma.”
1. As for the wording “wal-darajat al-rafīa”: the sound wording of the post-adhān duā does not contain the words “wad-darajat al-rafīa” but only “al-wasīlata wal-fadīla.” This is found in the two Sahīhs of al-Bukhārī (see Arabic text immediately below) and Muslim, the four Sunan, the Musnad of Imām Ahmad, and others. The hadīth states, as narrated from Jābir ibn Abd Allāh *# , that the Prophet r said: “Whoever says, upon hearing the call [to prayer]: Allāhumma rabba hādhihi al-dawati al-tāmmati wal-salāti al-qā’ima, āti Muhammadan al-wasīlata wal-fadīlata wa-bathhu maqāman mahmūdan al-ladhī waadtahu O Allāh! Lord of this perfect call and everlasting prayer, give Muhammad the Means and the Eminence, and raise him to a glorious station which you have promised him’ my intercession takes place for him the Day of Resurrection.”
(Also correct is the wording: المَقَامَ المَحْمُودَ found in al-Nasā’ī.)
The Prophet said, as narrated from Abū Saīd al-Khudrī by Ahmad and Ismāīl al-Qādī in Fadl al-Salāt alā al-Nabī r (p. 48) with a fair chain according to al-Fayrūz Ābādī in al-Silāt wal-Bushar (p. 74) that the Wasīla or Means was “a level (darajatun) in the Divine presence above which there was no higher level (laysa fawqahā daraja).” Similarly, the fadīla also precisely means “the exalted level,” i.e. the daraja rafīa. So the words wal-darajata al-rafīa are in fact a gloss that became interpolated into the text of the dua, as found in Imām Abū Abd Allāh al-Jazūlī’s book Dalā’il al-Khayrāt (which is by the agreement of the Umma one the Signs of Allāh Most High in the science of invoking blessings and salutations upon our Prophet r) and other devotional literature. Does it change the meaning? No, it clarifies it. Does it constitute an addition to the text of the hadīth? Yes, its technical name being mudraj or interpolated discourse. Is it alien to the Sunna and/or does it constitute a bida? No! It is in essence like saying: “al-wasīlata wal-fadīla, meaning, wad-darajat al-rafīa.“ Which wording is better? The one reported in the Sahīhayn and Sunan.
This said, al-Tabarānī narrated in al-Mujam al-Kabīr (8:237 #7926) from Abū Umāma al-Bāhilī t the following wording:
Meaning: From Abū Umāma t : The Prophet r said: “Whoever supplicates with these words or supplications after every obligatory prayer, my intercession will take place for him on the Day of Resurrection: Allāhumma ti Muhammadan al-wasīlata wa-jal fīl-mustafayni mahabbatahu wafīl-ālīna darajatahu wafīl-muqarrabīna dārahu O Allāh! Give Muhammad the means [of nearness to You], and place love of him among the [deeds of the] Elect, and his level in the highest, and his abode among those brought near [to You]!'”
Al-Haythamī in Majma al-Zawā’id (10:112) said it is narrated with a chain containing Muttarih ibn Yazīd who is weak. However, the hadīth Masters and the great Jurists and major authorities of Usūl al-Fiqh concur that it is permissible to put into practice weak hadīths in meritorious deeds not bearing on the halāl and the harām as long as [1] the meanings of such a weak hadīth are firmly confirmed by principles already established in the Law, [2] the hadīth is not excessively weak, such as containing someone accused of forgery in its chain, and [3] one does not hold that the Prophet r said or did it for sure. The above hadīth meets all the above criteria, hence Imām al-Mundhirī retained it in his manual of recommended acts titled al-Targhīb wal-Tarhīb (1997 ed. 2:300 #2473) as did the hadīth Master Abd al-Ghanī al-Maqdisī as stated by Zayn al-Dīn Shabān ibn Muhammad al-Āthārī (d. 828) in his epistle al-Khayr al-Kathīr fīl-Salāt wal-Salām alā al-Bashīr al-Nadhīr (in his Khamsat NusūsIslāmiyya Nādira, Dār al-Gharb al-Islāmī ed. p. 57) although the latter refers it through Ibn Masūd t.
2. As for the wording “wa-rzuqnā shafāatahu yawma al-qiyāma”: it too is not contained in the sound narration cited above. However, it is found in weak narrations that meet the criteria of permissible use in the Sharīa, and Allāh knows best. Among these narrations:
First, the narration from Ibn Abbās *# in al-Tabarānī’s al-Mujam al-Kabīr (12:85 #12554) that the Prophet r said: “Whoever hears the call to prayer then says: Ashhadu an lā ilāha illā-Llāh wahdahu lā sharīka lah, wa-anna Muhammadan abduhu wa-rasuluh; Allāhumma salli alayhi wa-ballighhu darajata al-wasīlati indak, wa-jalnā fī shafāatihi yawma al-qiyāma I bear witness that there is no God but Allāh alone, without partner, and that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger; O Allāh! bless him and bring him to the level of means to You, and place us in his intercession the Day of Resurrection’: my intercession will be guaranteed for him.” Its chain contains Ishāq ibn Abd Allāh ibn Kaysān who is slightly weak while the rest of its narrators are highly trustworthy as per al-Haythamī in Majma al-Zawā’id (1:333). Al-Mundhirī adduces it in al-Targhīb wal-Tarhīb (1997 ed. 1:117 #400).
Second, the narration from Abū al-Dardā’ t by al-Tabarānī in al-Awsat (4:78-79 #3662) that the Prophet r would say, upon hearing the call to prayer, “Allāhumma rabba hādhihi al-dawati al-tāmmati wal-salāti al-qā’ima, salli alā abdika wa-rasūlika wa-jalnā fī shafāatihi yawma al-qiyāma O Allāh! Lord of this perfect call and everlasting prayer, bless Your servant and Messenger, and place us in his intercession the Day of Resurrection;” [and that] the Messenger of Allāh r said: “Whoever says this upon [hearing] the call [to prayer], Allāh will place him in my intercession the Day of Resurrection.” Its chain contains Sadaqa ibn Abd Allāh al-Samīn whom al-Haythamī said some weakened while others declared trustworthy.
Third, the narration from Jābir t by Ibn Wahb (125-197) in his Jāmi adduced by Shaykh al-Islām Shams al-Dīn al-Qastallāni in his masterpiece, Masālik al-Hunafā’ (p. 279) in which the Prophet r says: “Whoever says, upon hearing the call to prayer: O Allāh! Lord of this perfect call and everlasting prayer, bless Muhammad, Your servant and Messenger, and give him the means and intercession on the Day of Resurrection’: my intercession takes place for him.”
Fourth, the narration from Ibn Umar *# by Ismāīl al-Qādī in Fadl al-Salāt alā al-Nabī r (p. 49) in which the Prophet r said: “Whoever invokes blessings upon me or asks the wasīla for me, my intercession takes place for him on the day of resurrection.” Al-Fayrūz Ābādī in al-Silāt wal-Bushar (p. 68) said its narrators were trustworthy and it is confirmed by the hadīth of the Sahīhayn and Sunan already cited.
Al-Qastallānī also adduces the two reports (p. 284) already mentioned from Ibn Abbās and Abū al-Dardā’.
In addition, he mentions (p. 227-228) two explicit Prophetic reports that support the fundamental creed that invoking blessings on the Prophet r leads to obtaining his intercession: [1] “Whoever invokes blessings upon me, I will be his intercessor the Day of Resurrection”. Narrated from Abū Bakr al-Siddīq by Ibn Abī Dāwūd and al-Hasan ibn Ahmad ibn al-Bannā’ with a good chain according to al-Fayrūz Ābādī in al-Silātu wal-Bushar (p. 34) as stated in Ibn al-Qayyim’s Jalā’ and Sirāj al-Dīn’s al-Salāt (p. 141). [2] “Whoever invokes blessings upon me ten times in the morning and ten times in the evening, my intercession will include him on the Day of Resurrection.” Narrated from Bakr ibn Abd Allāh al-Muzanī by al-Tabarānī with a good mursal chain according to al-Sakhāwī in al-Qawl al-Badī (p. 116) and al-Haythamī in Majma al-Zawā’id (10:120) and Abū Sad al-Wāīzal-Naysābūrī in his book al-Wafā fī Sharaf al-Mustafā according to Fayrūz Ābādī in the Silāt (p. 87).
In the matter of duā’ the Prophet r gave leeway to his Umma to invoke in the manner, quality, and quantity one desires, without being restricted to a particular wording. This is especially true when invoking blessings on him, which he stressed and encouraged even if it replaced all other duās one might make. Following such a Prophetic recommendation never contradicts the Sunna, even if the most superior wordings are those that are conveyed from him, such as the Salāt Ibrāhīmiyya in the second tashahhud.
In fact, the variegation of formulas of invocation of blessings on the Prophet r is a desirable thing when invoking much blessings upon him as we are ordered to do, because such variegation helps us to obey this command and replenish our energies without becoming bored.
In addition, practicing Salawāt on the Prophet r causes unlimited benefits, openings of spiritual meanings such as seeing the Holy Prophet r in dream or awake! and progress in the path to Allāh Most High and His good pleasure. Hence the Ulema competed in recording the hadīths on the merits of invoking blessings on the Prophet r as well as whatever formulas of blessings and peace Allāh inspired them. These hadīths and devotions were recorded in the following books among others: [I have marked the volumes I have read in part or in whole with an asterisk]
* Imām Ismāīl al-Qādī al-Mālikī (d. 282): Fadl al-Salāt alā al-Nabī r
Imām Abū Nuaym al-Asbahānī (d. 430): al-Salāt alā al-Nabī r
Imām Muhammad al-Numayrī al-Gharnātī (d. 544): al-Ilām bi-Fadl al-Salāt alā Khayr al-Anām r
Imām Ibn Bashkuwāl al-Andalusī (d. 578): al-Qurbatu ilāl-Lāhī bil-Salāti alā al-Nabī r
* Imām Shams al-Dīn Ibn al-Qayyim (d. 751): Jalā’ al-Afhām fī Fadl al-Salāt wal-Salām alā Sayyidinā Muhammadin Khayri al-Anām r
Shaykh al-Islām Taqī al-Dīn al-Subkī (d. 756): al-Salāt alā al-Nabī r
* Imām Majd al-Dīn al-Fayrūz Ābādī (d. 817): al-Silātu wal-Bushar fīl-Salāti alā Khayr al-Bashar r
* Imām al-Jazūlī (d. 870): Dalā’il al-Khayrāt wa-Shawāriq al-Anwār fī Dhikr al-Salāt alā al-Nabī al-Mukhtār r
* Imām Shams al-Dīn al-Sakhāwī (d. 902): al-Qawl al-Badī fīl-Salāti alā al-Habīb al-Shafī r and al-Manhal al-Badī fīl-Salāt alā al-Habīb al-Shafī r
* Shaykh al-Islām Shams al-Dīn al-Qastallānī (d. 923): Masālik al-Hunafā’ ilā Mashāri al-Salāti alā al-Nabī al-Mustafā r
Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Hajar al-Haytamī (d. 974): al-Durr al-Mandūd fīl-Salāt wal-Salām alā Sāhib al-Liwā’ al-Maqūd r
* Sayyidī al-Shaykh al-Tayyib ibn Kīrān (d. 1227): Sharhal-Salāt al-Mashīshiyya
* Mawlānā al-Shaykh Khālid al-Baghdādī (d. 1242): Jāliyat al-Akdār wal-Sayf al-Battār fīl-Salāt alā al-Mukhtār r
* Qādī Yusuf ibn Ismāīl al-Nabhānī (d. 1350): Saādat al-Dārayn fīl-Salāti alā Sayyid al-Kawnayn r
* Shaykh al-Islām Abd Allāh Sirāj al-Dīn (d. 1422): al-Salāt alā al-Nabī r
* Shaykh Abd Allāh ibn Muhammad al-Siddīq al-Ghumārī: al-Nafhat al-Ilāhiyya fīl-Salāt alā Khayr al-Bariyya r
* Shaykh Mahmūd Muhammad al-Durra: Bahjat al-Arwāhfīmā Yashghafu al-Qalba bil-Habībi al-Mustafā Kanzi al-Arbāh r Mā Nusikha Zillu al-Ahzān bi-Shamsi al-Afrāh (“The Happiness of Spirits in what Fills the Heart with Fond Love for the Beloved Elect One, the Treasure of All Gains, Allāh Bless and Greet Him for as Long as the Shadow of Sadness Will be Overwhelmed by the Sun of Joys”)
The upshot of the above discussion is that the words “wal-darajat al-rafīa” and “wa-rzuqnā shafāatahu yawma al-qiyāma” are neither “alien to the sunnah” nor the handiwork of “unscrupulous malbelievers.” One that claims such a thing not only commits ghuluw exaggeration but risks dire consequences in his Religion by dismissing and bad-mouthing meanings that were certainly meant and wordings that may well have been used by the Prophet r, and were certainly used by numerous major Masters of Hadīth and others of the early and later Salaf and Friends of Allāh.
And Allāh knows best. May Allāh protect us from the slip of the tongue; cure any sickness in our hearts with regard to the Holy Prophet Muhammad upon him and his Family blessings and peace; protect us from a bad end; grant His Prophet the highest rank; and grant us his intercession! Āmīn.
Hajj Gibril
Shabān 1423