Can I Recite Salawat Al Nariya?
Answered by Shaykh Abdurragmaan Khan
Question: Assalam alaykum,
I would like to know whether salawat Nariya (also known as Salawath Taziyya/Tafreejiyyah) is permissible to recite? I heard from a particular individual that it contained shirk in it.
Answer: Wa alaykum al-Salam
The formula of Salawat you referring to goes by many names. Some of the names are listed below:
Al-Nariyyah
This comes from the Arabic word, nar, which means fire. It is thus named as it causes the one reciting it, to obtain his objectives as swiftly as fire burns.
Al-Tafrijiyyah
This translates as bringing relief as the said formula is tested to bring relief to the one reciting it.
Al-Qurtubiyyah
From the great scholar, Imam al-Qurtubi. Al-Nazili in his Khazinah al-Asrar ascribes the method of reciting this formula to Imam al-Qurtubi. The method encourages at a time of difficulty and challenges, that a group of brothers gather and recite the formula 4444 times. This will then bring a swift relief from those challenges and difficulties.
Other names of the formula include al-Taziyah, al-Kamilaha and al-Nuraniyyah.
The formula is primarily one of tawassul whereby the individual reciting it turns to Allah, via the Messenger sallaLlahu alayhi wasallam. The brother that mentioned that the formula consists of shirk must be ascribing to a view held by minority of Muslims. The vast majority of the ummah of the Prophet sallaLlahu alayhi wasallam have accepted tawassul through the Messenger sallaLlahu alayhi wasallam to be a praiseworthy practice. A practice established by the Messenger sallaLlahu alayhi wasallam himself. Further, suggesting that tawassul is shirk, is ludicrous, as it would mean that the vast majority of Muslims over the passed centuries were polytheists and that our Prophet sallaLlahu alayhi wasallam was an unsuccessful one, wal Iyadhu biLlah.
Consequently, the recitation of the formula is encouraged. May Allah grant us all a special bond with His Beloved and our guide, Muhammad, the best of creation through whome difficulties are removed, calamities prevented, and needs fulfilled, sallaLlahu alayhi wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wassalam.
And Allah knows best
Wassalam
[Shaykh] Abdurragmaan Khan
Shaykh Abdurragmaan received ijazah ’ammah from various luminaries, including but not restricted to: Habib Umar ibn Hafiz—a personality who affected him greatly and who has changed his relationship with Allah, Maulana Yusuf Karaan—the former Mufti of Cape Town; Habib ‘Ali al-Mashhur—the current Mufti of Tarim; Habib ‘Umar al-Jaylani—the Shafi‘i Mufti of Makkah; Sayyid Ahmad bin Abi Bakr al-Hibshi; Habib Kadhim as-Saqqaf; Shaykh Mahmud Sa’id Mamduh; Maulana Abdul Hafiz al-Makki; Shaykh Ala ad-Din al-Afghani; Maulana Fazlur Rahman al-Azami and Shaykh Yahya al-Gawthani amongst others.
