What Is the Origin of the Tashahhud?
Answered by Shaykh Abdul-Rahim Reasat
Question: Assalamu alaykum
I was recounting the story of the origin of the tashahhud which I had learned through SeekersGuidance long before in a group. However, it was contested by someone.
After investigating the issue myself, I cannot find any chain of transmission through which this hadith is found. Could you please clarify this issue for me?
Answer: Wa ‘alaykum as-salam wa rahamtullah wa barakatuh
Thank you for your question.
There do not seem to be any sound chains of transmission for this. The fuqaha deduced it from the wording and the context of the Miʿraj, but it is not taken as an absolute.
What the greater focus should be on here is the extreme concern the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and grant him peace) had for his followers. This is clear from the number of times he returned to Allah to as for a decrease in the number of prayers made obligatory for us for fear of hardship for us (Muslim). May Allah bless him and grant him peace in a manner and to the extent which is suited to his great rank on our behalf. Some favours just cannot be thanked.
May Allah grant you the best of both worlds.
Wassalam,
[Shaykh] Abdul-Rahim Reasat
Shaykh Abdul-Rahim Reasat began his studies in Arabic Grammar and Morphology in 2005. After graduating with a degree in English and History he moved to Damascus in 2007 to study and sit at the feet of some of the most erudite scholars of our time.
Over the following eighteen months he studied a traditional curriculum, studying with scholars such as Shaykh Adnan Darwish, Shaykh Abdurrahman Arjan, Shaykh Hussain Darwish and Shaykh Muhammad Darwish.
In late 2008 he moved to Amman, Jordan, where he continued his studies for the next six years, in Fiqh, Usul al-Fiqh, Theology, Hadith Methodology and Commentary, Shama’il, and Logic with teachers such as Dr Ashraf Muneeb, Dr Salah Abu’l-Hajj, Dr Hamza al-Bakri, Shaykh Ahmad Hasanat, Dr Mansur Abu Zina amongst others. He was also given two licences of mastery in the science of Qur’anic recital by Shakh Samir Jabr and Shaykh Yahya Qandil.
His true passion, however, arose in the presence of Shaykh Ali Hani, considered by many to be one of the foremost tafsir scholars of our time who provided him with the keys to the vast knowledge of the Quran. With Shaykh Ali, he was able to study an extensive curriculum of Qur’anic Sciences, Tafsir, Arabic Grammar, and Rhetoric.
When he finally left Jordan for the UK in 2014, Shaykh Ali gave him his distinct blessing and still recommends students in the UK to seek out Shaykh Abdul-Rahim for Quranic studies. Since his return he has trained as a therapist and has helped a number of people overcome emotional and psychosomatic issues. He is a keen promoter of emotional and mental health.
