Question

Assalam u alaikum. My question is regarding Hazrat Ali (RzA). Many Sunni people use "Alaihi salaam" to Hazrat Ali ,Hazrat hussain etc.So is it permissible?How can we refute them... They put their argument as "Alaihi salaam" is used for hazrat maryam , although also she was not a prophet.similarly for Hazrat Khizr and Imaam Mehdi. plz provide me with refernences so that i can make him understand. Jazakkallah

Answer

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

Using the expression “‘Alayhi As-Salaam” (which means invoking blessings on someone) for ‘Ali or other Companions, may Allah be pleased with them, or for other than the Companions, is permissible because its meaning is correct. Similarly, saying ‘may Allah be pleased with him’, when mentioning a Taabi’i (someone from the generation that followed the generation of the Companions) is permissible, because all this is like supplicating for them.

However, in general we say ‘Alayhi As-Salaam when mentioning a Prophet, and we say ‘may Allah be pleased with him’ when mentioning one of the Companions, and we say ‘’ when mentioning one of the Taabi’ieen (plural of Taabi’i) and those who came after them, and so forth.

So, contradicting this general principle when mentioning one of the Companions or Taabi’ieen in particular, such as saying ‘Alayhi As-Salaam when mentioning his name like what some people do when mentioning ‘Ali or Faatimah, or Al-Hasan or Al-Husain, and not when mentioning others, then this should not be done. Ibn Katheer said in his Tafseer: “I said: “It has become ordinary that many scribes of books single out ‘Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, by specifically saying “‘Alayhi As-Salaam” or saying “Karrama Allahu Wajhah (i.e. may Allah honor his face)” when mentioning his name and not when mentioning the names of all other Companions. Even though the meaning is correct, yet one should put all the Companions on the equal footing in this regard, because if this is said about him [‘Ali] as a way or honoring him and glorifying him, then Abu Bakr, ‘Umar and ‘Uthmaan come in priority over him, may Allah be pleased with all of them.”

In addition to this, it should be mentioned that there is a difference of opinion among the scholars about the ruling on using ‘Alayhi As-Salaam for other than the Prophets.

Allah Knows best.

Fatwa answered by: The Fatwa Center at Islamweb