The Hadith Reciting 1000 Salawats: How Authentic Is It?


Answered by Mawlana Ilyas Patel

Question

I heard a hadith that whoever recites 1000 Salawat on the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) will rub shoulders with him at the gate of paradise.

Could you please verify the authenticity of this hadith for me and tell me where I can find it?

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate

These are the words of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace), narrated by Anas in many hadith books: “Whoever sends blessings upon me one thousand times, will not die until he is given glad tidings of Paradise in this world.”

Chain of Hadith

The chain of this hadith has a severe weakness. Ibn Hajar says this hadith is a disclaimed report (munkar), also Ibn Hajar al-Haythami and Hafiz al-Sakhawi are of the same opinion. It is mentioned in the chapter of virtues, that one of the conditions of accepting a weak hadith is, it should not be severely weak.

Text of Hadith

As for the text of the hadith, in the context of Ibn Shahin, Ibn Sam’un, Abu al-Shaykh al-Asbahani, Abu Talib al-Ashari, Ibn Bishikwal, etc, there is no specification of the day of Friday, but any day is mentioned i.e., whoever has a daily habit of (…)

However, the Day of Friday is mentioned in the context of Abu al-Qasim al-Asbahani, i.e. “whoever has habit on a Friday (…)”

The outcome of the chain and text is that this hadith is Munkar. Yet, it does not mean it is fabricated. No one has classified it as fabricated. One can practice the above hadith. [Ibn al-Qayyim, Jila’ al-Afham]

Ruling of Practicing the Above Hadith

One can practice the above hadith. We believe that whatever the Quran and Hadith guarantee will certainly take place. However, we should understand that these guarantees are conditional.  The condition for one receiving the promised blessing is that one refrains from committing any major or minor sin, which will deprive one from earning these promised blessings.

Related:
Hadith about Reciting 1000 Durud on Friday (Urdu)—pdf

I hope this helps.
Wassalam,
[Mawlana] Ilyas Patel
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Mawlana Ilyas Patel is a traditionally-trained scholar who has studied within UK, India, Pakistan, Syria, Jordan, and Turkey. He started his early education in the UK. He went on to complete hifz of Quran in India, then enrolled into an Islamic seminary in UK where he studied the secular and ‘Aalimiyya sciences. He then traveled to Karachi, Pakistan. He has been an Imam in Rep of Ireland for a number of years. He has taught hifz of the Quran, Tajwid, Fiqh and many other Islamic sciences to both children and adults onsite and online extensively in UK and Ireland. He was teaching at a local Islamic seminary for 12 years in the UK where he was a librarian and a teacher of Islamic sciences. He currently resides in UK with his wife. His personal interest is love of books and gardening.