DARUD TAJ: INVOCATION OF BLESSINGS
UPON THE PROPHET KNOWN AS
“INVOCATION OF THE CROWN”
The following is a transliteration and translation of a famous invocation of blessings on the Prophet entitled Darud taj or “Invocation of the Crown” which is especially well known in the Indian subcontinent:
Transliteration
allahumma salli `ala sayyidina wa mawlana Muhammad
sahibi al-taji wal-mi`raji wal-buraqi wal-`alam
dafi` al-bala’i wal-waba’i wal-qahti wal-maradi wal-alam
ismuhu maktubun marfu`un mashfu`un manqushun fi al- lawhi wal-qalam
sayyidi al-`arabi wal-`ajam
jismuhu muqaddasun mu`attarun mutahharun munawwarun fil-bayti wal-haram
shams al-duha badr al-duja sadr al`ula nur al-huda
kahf al-wara misbah al-zulam
jamil al-shyam shafi` al-umam sahib al-judi wal-karam
wallahu `asimuhu wa jibrilu khadimuhu wal-buraqu markabuhu
wal-mi`raju safaruhu wa sidratu al-muntaha maqamuhu
wa qaba qawsayni matlubuhu
wal-matlubu maqsuduhu wal-maqsudu mawjuduhu
sayyid al-mursalin khatim al-nabiyyin
shafi` al-mudhnibin anis al-gharibin
rahmatun li al-`alamin
rahat al-`ashiqin murad al-mushtaqin
shams al-`arifin siraj al-salikin misbah al-muqarrabin
muhibb al-fuqara’ wal-masakin
sayyid al-thaqalayn
nabiyy al-haramayn
imam al-qiblatayn
wasilatina fi al-darayn
sahibi qaba qawsayn
mahbub rabbi al-mashriqayni wal-maghribayn
jadd al-hasani wal-husayn
mawlana wa mawla al-thaqalayn
Abi al-Qasimi MUHAMMAD Ibni `Abdillah
nurin min nurillah
ya ayyuha al-mushtaquna bi nuri jamalihi
sallu `alayhi wa alihi wa sallimu taslima
Allahumma salli `ala Muhammadin wa `ala ali Muhammadin wa sallim
Translation
O Allah, send blessings and Peace upon our Master and Patron Muhammad,
The Owner of the Crown and the Ascent and the Buraq and the Standard,
The Repeller of Affliction and Disease and Drought and Illness and Pain.
His name is written on high, served and engraved in the Tablet and the Pen,
The Leader of All, Arabs and non-Arabs,
Whose body is sanctified, fragrant, and pure,
Illumined in the House and the Haram,
The Sun of Brightness, the Full Moon in Darkness,
The Foremost One in the Highest Fields, the Light of Guidance,
The Cave of Refuge for Mortals, the Lamp That Dispels the Night,
The Best-Natured One, The Intercessor of Nations,
The Owner of Munificence and Generosity.
Allah is his Protector, Gabriel is his servant.
The Buraq is his mount, the Ascent is his voyage,
The Lote-Tree of the Furthermost Boundary is his station,
Two Bow-Lengths or Nearer is his desire,
His desire is his goal, and he has found his goal,
The Master of the Messengers, the Seal of the Prophets,
The intercessor of sinners, the friend of the strangers,
The Mercy for the Worlds,
The rest of those who burn with love, the goal of those who yearn,
The sun of knowers, the lamp of travellers,
The light of Those Brought Near,
The friend of the poor and destitute,
The master of Humans and Jinn,
The Prophet of the Two Sanctuaries,
The Imam of the Two Qiblas,
Our Means in the Two Abodes,
The Owner of Qaba Qawsayn,
The Beloved of the Lord of the Two Easts and the Two Wests,
The grandfather of al-Hasan and al-Husayn,
Our patron and the patron of Humans and Jinn:
Abu al-Qasim MUHAMMAD Son of `Abd Allah,
A light from the light of Allah.
O you who yearn for the light of his beauty,
Send blessings and utmost greetings of peace
Upon him and upon his Family.
ANOTHER INVOCATION OF BLESSINGS AND PEACE UPON THE PROPHET
This is another well-known invocation of blessings and peace upon the Prophet. Some of the words in it come from the Ansar who greeted the Prophet with outpourings of joy and acclamation when he entered Madina for his Emigration there.[60] On this chapter the Companion al-Bara’ ibn `Azib narrates:
The first people who came to us (in Medina) were Mus`ab ibn `Umayr and Ibn Umm Maktum who were teaching Qur’an to the people. Then there came Bilal, Sa`d, and `Ammar ibn Yasir. After that `Umar ibn al-Khattab came along with twenty other Companions of the Prophet. Later on the Prophet himself came and I had never seen the people of Medina so joyful as they were on the arrival of Allah’s Apostle, for even the slave girls were saying, “Allah’s Apostle has arrived!” Before his arrival I had already memorized the Sura starting with: “GLORIFY THE NAME OF YOUR LORD, THE MOST HIGH” (87:1) together with other Suras of al-Mufassal.[61]
Blessings and peace on the one who said: “I was sent to all people without exception”[62] and “I was sent only as Mercy. I was not sent as a punishment.”[63]
ya nabi salam `alayka
ya rasul salam `alayka
ya habib salam `alayka
salawatullah `alayka
O Prophet, Peace be upon you.
O Messenger, Peace be upon you.
O Beloved, Peace be upon you.
The Blessings of Allah be upon you.
tala`a al-badru `alayna
min thaniyyat al-wada`
wajaba al-shukru `alayna
ma da`a lillahi da`
The full moon has risen over us
From the mountains of al-Wada`.
We shall ever give thanks for it
As long as there will be callers to Allah.
anta shamsun anta badrun
anta nurun fawqa nur
anta iksiru al-wujud
anta misbah al-sudur
You are a sun, you are a full moon,
You are light upon light,
You are the quintessence of existence,
You are the lamp in every breast
ashraqa al-badru `alayna
fakhtafat minhu al-budur
mithla husnik ma ra’ayna
qattu ya wajh al-surur
The full moon has risen over us
Eclipsing all other moons.
Such as your beauty we have never seen
No, never, O face of delight!
ya habibi ya muhammad
ya `arus al-khafiqayn
ya mu’ayyad ya mumajjad
ya imam al qiblatayn
O My beloved, O Muhammad,
O bridegroom of the East and the West,
The one Allah vindicated and exalted,
O Imam of the Two Directions!
ya nabi salam `alayka
ya rasul salam `alayka
ya habib salam `alayka
salawatullah `alayka
Abundant Blessings and Greetings of Peace upon the Prophet, his Family, and his Companions.
ALBANI’S REWORDING OF THE PROPHET’S
DU`A OF TAWASSUL
Following is a concise refutation of a recent dissertation by the “Salafi” shaykh Albani entitled Tawassul: Its Types and Its Rulings currently distributed in translation among English-speaking Muslims by his supporters in order to replace with “Salafi” ideology the understanding of Ahl al-Sunna regarding tawassul.[64] It will be seen with Allah’s permission that the commentary of Albani is a proof against “Salafis” and all those who follow new teachings instead of clinging to the sawad al-a`zam or massive majority of scholars. Their pretext that “there is disagreement about tawassul” and that “we follow proof not scholars” is a sham. There is no disagreement about tawassul among Ahl al-Sunna except the dissent of some lone voices in the matter, such as Ibn Taymiyya who declared travel undertaken to visit the Prophet an act of disobedience: this is not disagreement but shudhudh or dissent, as classified by Imam Ahmad in speaking of the disagreement of the lone scholar with the consensus. There seems to be little doubt that Albani has achieved the same dubious distinction of dissenting with one and all, as he proudly admits in the following lines of his book, especially the second sentence which we have emphasized:
Imaam Ahmad allowed tawassul by means of the Messenger alone, and others such as Imaam ash-Shawkaanee allowed tawassul by means of him and other Prophets and the Pious. [Note that he omits to mention Imam Malik and Imam Shafi`i as permitting tawassul also.] However we [i.e. Albani and his party], as is the case in all matters where there is disagreement, follow whatever is supported by the proof whatever that is, without blindly sticking to the opinions of men.[65]
The proofs that Albani alone purports to see — against what the majority understand — are characteristic of the “Salafi” method. As the scholars who debate them well know, the “Salafi” method consists in a lack of method in and a non-recognition of any of the established principles of the derivation of rulings from the primary sources other than what fits the purpose of their position at the time. Scholars of Ahl al-Sunna may traditionally familiarize themselves with the fiqh and the usul of other than their own school, but this is impossible to do with the “Salafis,” because they completely lack any type of method and shift constantly from one position to another depending on the purpose at hand. Albani has achieved particular notoriety for his contamination of the field of hadith scholarship with this systematic unaccountability and free-lance style.
As we will see in the section on salat in the present work, Albani had previously suggested altering the prayer by changing the words as-salamu `alayka ayyuha al-nabi to as-salamu `ala al-nabi in the tashahhud whereas the Prophet explicitly said, as related in Bukhari and Muslim: “Pray as you see me pray,” and: “Who innovates something in this matter of ours (meaning religion), it is radd (rejected).” And here is Albani now trying to alter the tawassul through the Prophet which is valid for all and for all times, and reduce it to a one-time du`a of the Prophet valid only for a single man in the Prophet’s time. But, as the Prophet said: “There is no preventing what Allah has given, and there is no avoidance of what He has decreed.”[66]
1. ALBANI’S TAMPERING WITH THE HADITH ITSELF
It is reported by Ahmad and others with an authentic chain of narration from Uthmaan bin Haneef [sic] “that a blind man came to the Prophet (SAW) and said, ‘supplicate to Allaah that He should cure me.’ So he (SAW) said, ‘if you wish I will supplicate for you and if you wish I will delay that for that is better (and in a narration: and if you wish have patience and that is better for you).’ So he said, ‘supplicate to Him.’ So he (SAW) ordered him to make wudoo, and to make wudoo well, and to pray two rak’ahs and to supplicate with this du’aa, ‘O Allaah I ask you and turn to you by means of your Prophet Muhammad, the Prophet of mercy, O Muhammad I have turned by means of you (i.e. your du`aa) [sic] to my Lord in this need of mine, so that it may be fulfilled for me, O Allaah accept him as supplicant on my behalf, and accept my supplication for him (to be accepted for me) [sic].’ He said, ‘So the man did it and he was cured.'”
Albani, Tawassul: Its Types and Rulings p. 68
1. Albani or his translator err on the narrator’s name. This is the Companion `Uthman ibn Hunayf, not Haneef, and his full name is Abu `Amr `Uthman ibn Hunayf ibn Wahb of Aws, may Allah be well pleased with him.[67]
2. The wording of the hadith is: “O Muhammad I have turned with you (bika) to my Lord.” It is not “O Muhammad I have turned by means of your du`a (bi du`a’ika) to my Lord.” We shall see that this blatant interpolation of another term in lieu of the explicit wording of the hadith is central to Albani’s attempt to reword this hadith of the Prophet (we have already transcribed the complete and correct translation of this hadith above, in the section entitled SEEKING MEANS THROUGH THE PROPHET).
3. The blind man’s final words are not “and accept my supplication for him” nor could they be, since he is not praying for the Prophet but for himself. He is imploring Allah to help him by means of the Prophet’s intercession, not by means of his own, and he is practicing Islam, not egalitarianism!
The original Arabic is (in one of two versions in Ahmad): wa tashaffa`ni fihi which must be translated: “and join me to him in supplicating You (i.e. join my supplication to his),” as he is well aware that the likelihood of his being heard increases exponentially if it is linked to the Prophet’s audience.
One may excuse the false suggestion that the man not only prays for the Prophet’s intercession for him but also for his own interceding for the Prophet as stemming from a bad translation. However, the poor translation is just as deliberate as the misrendering of “O Muhammad I have turned by means of your du`a to my Lord,” since Albani, as we shall see, tries to adduce the supposed du`a of the blind man on behalf of the Prophet as additional evidence to support his idea that the tawassul in the hadith is by means of du`a and not by means of the person of the Prophet.
Furthermore the words of the blind man’s final request “and join me to him in supplicating You” are not in all versions. They are not found in Ahmad’s first version out of two, nor in Tirmidhi’s version, nor in Ibn Majah’s version, nor in Nasa’i’s version, nor in the version retained by Imam Nawawi in his Adhkar![68] Why then does Albani cite it as the primary text instead of assigning it parenthetical mention, as he does with the phrase: “(and in a narration: and if you wish have patience and that is better for you)”? Because, as we have said, he wants to make the entire hadith revolve around tawassul through the du`a of the Prophet as opposed to his person, and he wants to adduce the blind man’s own supposed tawassul through his own du`a as additional evidence of his claim, as we see below.
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