Question:
Is it suitable to use abbreviations like “SAW” and “SWT”? Also, is the sunna to write out these laudatory expressions in written form, or does the sunna refer to using them when speaking about the prophets, scholars, etc.?


Answer:
In the name of Allah, Most Compassionate, Most Merciful,

Imam al-Nawawi, the great muhaddith and Shafi’i faqih (Allah have mercy on him) states in his introduction to the commentary of Sahih Muslim:

“It is praiseworthy (mustahab) for a person writing Hadith that…..at the mentioning of the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace), he writes “Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam” in full and not merely using abbreviations, and neither sufficing on one of the two, i.e. Salat & Salam.” (Sharh Sahih Muslim, 1/39)

Thus, when one writes the name of the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace), one should avoid using abbreviations such as SAW or something similar. It is inappropriate and disrespectful to do so. The love for the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace) requires that one never tires, both verbally or in writing, from sending blessings and salutations upon him (Allah bless & and grant him eternal peace).

Qadhi Iyadh al-Maliki (Allah have mercy on him) mentions a Hadith wherein the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace) said: “Whosoever sends blessings upon me in a book, the angels seek forgiveness for him until my name remains in that book.” (Narrated by al-Tabrani in his al-Awsat, with a weak chain of transmission. See: al-Shifa’ by Qadhi Iyadh, P: 557)

Hence, although the requirement would be fulfilled if one verbally sent blessings and salutations upon the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & grant him peace), but when one writes the name of the beloved of Allah, one should also send blessings upon him in writing.

And Allah knows best

hmm..ive seeen Loads of Kutub n leaflets .. which only have SAW or SWT ...

* inshAllah will try writing the FULL form in Future,it looks more nicer than the short forms *

Jazaka'Allah Khairun for this post. The reason why I use (P) when referrin' the Prophets (peace be upon them all) is due the lack of space.

If you go to load-islam.com, you can see that (P) is used next to the name of our beloved Prophet (peace be upon him). If I added the full phrase, it would distort the whole page.

Salam alaicom

language is to convey meaning, it think aslong as the meaning remains intact, it is the same things, like if someone writes 'u' instead of 'you', u still know the meaning

btw, many forums, have it atomatic that if u write (as) or (pbuh), it translates it to the full version in arabic

Thanks brother for sharing that with us!

Jazakallah khair brother.

I remember once my dad was telling us this one author saw Rasulullah (Salallahu alayhi wasallam) in his dream...and he was very upset with the author cuz the author failed to write Salallahu alayhi wasallam.. Allahu 'alam.

If you think about it though...we really should have respect for Rasulullah (Salallahu alayahi wasallam) and give him salutations. Think about how much he did for us, how many nights he'd weep on the fact that his Ummah would turn out the way we are today. After you think about how much he did for us, a simple saluation won't be so hard. :teeth: [I'm generally speaking, not to anyone in particular. ]

Anyhow..jazakallah khair once again.

.
Assalaam O Alaikum Wa rahamatullahe Wabarakatu

An excellent post....:rose: jazak ALLAH khair.

Wa Alaikum Assalaam Wa rahamatullahe Wabarakatu

Very good point. Though I guess it'd get kinda annoying for those of us with the attention span of a goldfish, if one were writing an essay about the Prophet (sullahalhu alayhiwassalum), in which you mentioned his name about 50 times. But I guess that's what copy and paste were invented for.

It is better to use a complete statement than abbreviations, but its not haram to use abbreviations, e.g. how do you write a full stop in earlier eras of writing; like this "." NO, that's an abbreviation also, we use abbreviations in many places; although the full stop itself in unread, the comma is un-read; there are many forms of information handling via the way we read and write. Also a mere translation to the orignal statment holds no value; so its best written in Arabic; in that case as ""; That's best. The laws of english grammar tell us the lack of importance in bracketted statements; to be confined to understand the overall context; not emphases on the preceding word(s) . . .

I agree with Br. Ahmed Waheed. I think we should add these kind of smileys to make this easier, insha'Allah.

wa alaikum assalam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatu

..that's why alhamdulillah, I type it out in full.

A really good reminder Farhan, masha'Allah. :sister:

I agree we should get icons. It is horrendously difficult to spell Arabic words in English characters. Just as it's hard to say 'Pepsi' with an Arabic accent.

Assalaamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh,


The fatwa is from www.fatwa-online.com.

Some people write an abbreviated version of the salaams, which is similar to
"seen-raa'-baa'" in 'Arabic. They write "ws wr wb" in English. What is the ruling on this?

ANSWER by Shaykh Wasee Allaah 'Abbaas, lecturer at the Ka'bah, instructor at
Umm Al-Quraa University in Makkah

It is not permissible to abbreviate the salaams in general in one's writing, just as it is
not permissible to abbreviate the salaah and salaam on the Prophet (sallallaahu 'alayhe wa sallam).
It is also not permissible to abbreviate either of these in one's speech.

SOURCE
This was translated exclusively for www.bakkah.net from a handwritten answer
provided by the shaykh, file no. AAWA004, dated 1423/6/24.