Healing Light Salawat - [313] Salutations and Blessings upon the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and his Family

In honor and commemoration of the birth of the best of creation, Rasulallah ﷺ.

Dedicated to my late father, Abdul Hameed, who has passed away on Thursday, February 10th, 2022 (Rajab 9, 1443). Also for the father of Dr. Shadee Elmasry and the parents of Shaykh Yahya Rhodus who recently passed away, and to all the parents of the Believers, and especially for the martyrs of Palestine and the Believers around the world who are being oppressed and struggling in the way of God, and to our shuyukh, teachers, and spiritual masters of the Muhammadan path. May God's loving mercy encompass us.

The numbers of salawat in this piece is 313, which has sacred significance. Shaykh Muhammad Haidara al-Jilani, may Allah sanctify his secret, said that the Battle of Badr is an occasion that God had gifted the Prophet ﷺ and his companions with victory, and the number of Companions with the Prophet ﷺ was 313. It is said that out of the 124,000 Prophets, traditional narrations say that only 313 were Messengers, and so the number 313 is associated with Divine measure of chosen ones and carries hidden secrets. Shaykh Nazim al-Haqqani has also stated that 313 awliyah [saints] will be among the first to appear as helpers of Imam al-Mahdi ع in the end of times.

We can gleam from this that there is a connection between the number 313 and being a close one to the Prophet ﷺ and his Ahl al-Bayt. And so, the intention of the performance of 313 salawat upon Rasulallah ﷺ and his family is to love them and for us to become loved by them such that our hearts become conjoined.

Indeed, there is an authentic narration in which the Prophet ﷺ said to his Companions, “Peace be upon you, abode of a believing people. We will (also) join you, if Allah wills. I wish I could see my brothers.” Surprised at this statement, the Companions asked, “Are we not your brothers, O Messenger of Allah ﷺ?” The Prophet ﷺ responded, “You are my Companions. My brothers are those who will come after me, who believe in me without seeing me.”

Our path is the path of becoming Muhammadiyyun, and the path of becoming Muhammadiyyun means to be of those who the Prophet ﷺ misses and longs to meet because we miss and long to meet him ﷺ. How can you miss and long for one who you have never met? In this context, it is a false presupposition, for indeed, the Prophet ﷺ said, “Souls are like gathered troops: those who knew one another (before) will have an affinity towards one another (in this life), and those who did not know one another will have aversion.” The people who are destined to engage in salawat as a manifestation of the buried love within their hearts are those whose souls were once with the soul of Rasulallah ﷺ in the Realm of Souls [ʿĀlam al-arwāḥ] in the gardens and meadows of Paradise. Indeed, Rasulallah ﷺ is reported to have said, “Whoever sends abundant blessings upon me will be in the meadows [riyāḍ] of Paradise.” For the Believers, to be in the meadows of paradise is none other than to be with Rasulallah ﷺ himself.

In al-Shifa, Qadi Iyyad says the name "Muhammad" means "he who is repeatedly and abundantly praised", which denotes eternal praise because, God, who is [alone] eternal, continuously manifests loving-praise as the Muhammadan reality. All of the praise for Muhammad ﷺ, calling him the best of creation, simply comes down to one principle, and that is the principle of love. The metaphysical principle that governs our ultimate state is the principle of love, that is, the principle of "you will be with those whom you love." To love the Prophet ﷺ is to be in the meadows of Paradise, and this is why those who are abundant in salawat are said to be youthful, that is, they have the spirit of the fattah [futuwwa], the chivalrous young man/woman. It is to be connected to the season of the forever spring of Paradise, it is a sign of the eternal soul, which is eternally youthful because of the continuously nourishing and subsisting love of Allah.

This is because, in Islamic metaphysics, Muhammad ﷺ represents himself as the principle of love, and thus, is the locus of God's love. He has said, "None of you truly believes until I am more beloved to him than his father, his child, and all of mankind.” In another narration that adds to this, "...by the One in whose hand is my soul, not until I am more beloved to you than your own self.”

One of the secrets of the salawat that it revives the heart by nourishing it with the waters of life. The fruits of love fructify, and we reap the taste of gnosis of Rasulallah ﷺ. And as Shaykh Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani, may God sanctify his secret, said, one does not arrive at the signs of God except that they find God there. And there is no greater sign of God than the Prophet ﷺ. And so one of the secrets of the salawat is that you start to feel as if you knew Rasulallah ﷺ, as if you met him long ago, and now your heart longs for him such that when your mind recalls him it is filled with a nostalgic yearning rooted in familiarity.