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Important of Salat al-Fatih by Sheikh
Abul Abbas Hammad Tijani (RTA)
The journey of Salat-al Fatih started from
Sheikh Naksabandi (RTA) ( AL Torikat Naqshbandiyah )
who is a great saint, that pray to Almighty Allah to inspired
him with a different formula of prayer for the holy Prophet
and the kind of prayer that is greater than any other prayer
(ASSALATU). And he was inspired with Salat-al fatih but has to wait for Abul
Abbas Hammad Tijani (RTA) for the key.
Out of all the authentic formulas to shower prayers upon the
Holy Prophet (peace and blessing be upon him), Sidna Sheikh,
the Seal of Saints, the Known Mohammadian Seal, the
Concealed Pole, Moulana Abul Abbas Ahmed ibn Mohammad Tijani
(may Allah be satisfied with him), prompted his companions
and beloved to apply the peerless and stunning Prayer of
Salat al-Fatih because of the great benefits that are in it.
Sidna Sheikh Tijani (may Allah be pleased with him) has
received in broad daylight many prayers from the Holy
Prophet (peace and blessing be upon him) such as Jawharat
al-Kamal (The Complete Jewel) and Yaqutat al-Haqaiq (The
Jewel of Realities). However, Sidna Sheikh stressed the
application of Salat al-Fatih like no other. When some of
his companions were seeking another prayer, Sidna Sheikh used
to say: “Set many prayers upon the Prophet (peace and
blessing be upon him) with Salat al-Fatih because in it is
the good of this world and the Hereafter, and by Salat
al-Fatih one obtains all his desires and reaches all his
wishes. On the reward of Salat al-Fatih, al-Khalifa Sidi Ali
Harazem reports in Kitab Jawahir al-Ma'ani,
Sidna Sheikh said: I have asked the Prophet (peace and
blessing be upon him) on the reward of Salat al-Fatih to
which he (peace and blessing be upon him) responded, "it is
worth six thousand (6000) recitation of the Holy Quran'".
Verily, Salat al-Fatih is a divine matter which has no room
for the mind intellect. If we were to estimate there are
100,000 nations each nation is made of 100,000 tribes each
tribe is made of 100,000 men each one of those men lived for
100,000 years and recited 1,000 prayer upon the Prophet
(other than Salat al-Fatih) every day of their lives then
the reward (thawab) for all of these nations along all these
years would not catch up with the reward of one times of
reciting Salat al-Fatih!
The venerated Tijanite Sheikh, Sidi Abul Fadl al-Haj Omar ibn
Said al-Futi Tall (d. 1279/1864) informs in the book
entitled the "Rimah al Hizb al Raheem ala Nuhur al Hizb al
Rajeem" (The spears of the league of the Merciful thrown at
the necks of the league of the accursed),
As for the invocation of Salat al-Fatih it has three
degrees: an external degree, an internal degree and the
degree of the inmost (batin al-batin). I had intended to
provide a complete explanation of it at this point, and to
describe its marvels and its wonders. I was prevented from
that, however by the fact that most people lack the maturity
required for the acquisition of that kind of knowledge. I
shall therefore content myself with mentioning some of what
is available in Kitab Jawahir al Ma’ani concerning the
external degree;
Sidna Sheikh has said: "As for Salat al-Fatih when I asked
the Prophet about it, he informed me first of all, that it
is worth six hundred thousand invocation of blessing
(600,000). I also asked him, ‘For each invocation of
blessing does one bird fly up toward heaven-that being the
bird which has seventy thousand wings, as described in the
Hadith, or do six hundred thousand (600,000) birds of that
kind fly up each time, and is the reward of their
glorification assigned to the invoker of blessing upon the
Prophet?’ The Prophet replied: "Six hundred thousand birds
of that kind fly up each time."
As for the number of each bird’s tongues, the Sheikh
said, "The total number of its tongues is
1,680,000,700,000,000,000,000.000. Each tongue glorifies
Allah in seventy thousand languages in a split second, and
all of is reward is assigned each time to the invoker of
blessing upon the Prophet. This applies to every prayer on
the Prophet than Salat al-Fatih. As for the latter, it gives
rise, each time, to six hundred thousand (600,000) birds of
the kind described, as previously mentioned." Sidna Sheikh
then went on to say, "When I asked the Prophet about the
authenticity of the Hadith, 'The invocation of showering a
prayer upon him (salat 'ala Sidna Mohammad) one time, is
worth the reward of four hundred (400) military campaigns (ghazwa)
and every campaign is worth four hundred (400) pilgrimages
('hajja).' The Prophet replied: "It is indeed authentic".
I then asked the Prophet about the number of these
campaigns: ‘Are four hundred (400) campaigns equivalent to a
single offering of Salat al-Fatih, or are four hundred (400)
campaigns equivalent to each of the six hundred thousand
(600,000) invocations of blessing?’ The Prophet
answered: Salat al-Fatih is worth six hundred thousand
(600,000) invocations of showering a prayer upon him one,
and each of the six hundred thousand (600,000) invocations
of blessing is worth four hundred campaigns’!
Then he went on to say: If someone invokes it (Salat
al-Fatih); one time, he will receive the reward he would
receive if he offered every invocation of salat upon the
Prophet ever offered in the universe, by all the jinn, human
beings and angels, six hundred thousand times (600,000),
from the beginning of time until the moment when he utters
its invocation. In other words, it is as if he has offered
six hundred thousand times (600,000) all the invocations
ever invoked by all the invokers of salat, angels, jinn and
human beings, every one of those invocations being worth a
spouse among the houries (al-'hur al-'in), and ten good
deeds ('hasanat), and the erasure of ten bad deeds (sayyiat),
and promotion by ten degrees (darajat). Allah and his angels
will also bless him ten times for every invocation of
blessing. Sidna Sheikh then said: Once you have contemplated
this with your heart, you will know that no act of worship
is equal to a single offering of the salat upon the Prophet,
so how about someone who offers it many times?" What
gracious favor he enjoys in the presence of Allah, and this
is received each time
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