In the words of Sidna Shaykh as read in the Jawahir al-Maani:
“After I studied the prayer (of Salat al-Fatih) I realized that it excels the worship of all jinns, humans, and angles”. And he said (may Allah be pleased with him): “The Apostle of Allah (peace and blessing be upon him) told me: ‘No one has ever prayed on me with a prayer better than the one of Salat al-Fatih’.” He said (may Allah be pleased with him): “That the residents of the Seven Skys and the Seven Earths congregate to describe the rewards of Salat al-Fatih they would have failed.” And he said (may Allah be pleased with him): “What you have heard on the bounty of Salat al-Fatih is a drop in the sea compared to what is concealed.”
The Salat al-Fatih praises the prophets with four great traits: opening (al-Fath), sealhood (al-Khatm), victory (al-Nasr), and guidance (al-Hady). As such he is qualified as the promoter of the opening of everything that is concealed and blocked for all previous messengers. He is also described as director of law by law, attributed to him by God, and also, he is the guide of believers to Allah’s path. Some have explained this opening by the first emergence of the Holy Prophet Sidna Mohammed (peace and blessing be upon him), being the first human being emerged from the big void, even before the genesis or the creation of the world.
The Salat al-Fatih is not Sidna Shaykh’s own. It had been inspired to another previous Shaykh, the great pole Sidi Abu Abdullah Mohammed al-Bakri Siddiqi of Egypt (d. 994/1585), who stated that one prayer of the prayer is worth the reward of six hundred thousand ordinary prayers. Al-Khalifa al-Akbar Sidi Ali Harazem Berrada (d. 1212/1797) said in Kitab Jawahir al-Ma’ani, “Sidna Shaykh 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.”
Al-Khalifa al-Akbar Sidi Abul Hassan Ali Harazem (may Allah be pleased with him) reports the following in Risalat al-Fadl wa al-Imtinan:
The prayer has come as it is from the World of Unseen (al-Ghayb) and what has come from the unseen is confirmed and is beyond the upper basis and does not stand to the rules of a compiler, the characteristics of this Prayer is that it does not also stand to analogy. Let’s suppose 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. So disregard those who spread calumny as merit is within the hands of Almighty Allah and he give it to those he likes, sufficient and convincingly are the terms of the Holy Quran: “And He creates what you knew not”. (…) Frankly, the one who yearns for this happiness and is earnestly trying to reach this unique jewel will surely be drawn by Allah’s merits to believe what has been said without taking into account analogy and making only the unicity (tawhid) of Almighty Allah his safe and happy road, and for those doubtful people who do often ask such question, “From where did you get such information?”, so be careful not to enter into sterile conversation with those people as you are well aware from what corner our sources were taken.
In another letter Sidna Shaykh illustrated that whoever has greeted the Prophet (peace and blessing be upon him) through Salat al-Fatih once, he will bear the rewards of all Prayers that have occurred across the universe by mankind, Angels and Jinns, in a number of six hundred thousand from the first creation of the universe until the recitation has been completed, and each prayer with a reward of six hundred thousand (600,000) from all faithful from mankind, angels and Jinns. And each prayer with a reward of four hundred (400) conquests and each conquest with a reward of four hundred (400) Hajj pilgrimage, and each prayer from all these with a bird as mentioned in the Hadith that has seventy thousand wings (70,000), and each prayer with a Houri wife and ten (10) virtues and the erasure of ten (10) sins and for each prayer, the Exalted Allah and his Angels salute the Prophet ten times.
And in another letter, a unique Prayer with a reward of six thousand folds from each Dhikr emanating from each person in this globe to the sole exception of the Holy Quran which is of six folds. Sidna Shaykh (may Allah be satisfied with him) told me: “That’s what I have orally heard from the Beloved Prophet (peace and blessing be upon him)”. And all his declarations (may Allah be satisfied with him) are on daylight. Furthermore, be informed O brother that the inherency on the Prayers on the Prophet has a blessed dividend on men, his children and his grand children, whereas the Prayer of Salat al-Fatih it is a genuine guarantee for the bounties of this world and that of the hereafter to the one who is inherent to this tradition and has abided through the right permission. And be informed O brother nothing is better than the means (wassila) in Allah’s realm and much more acceptable to you in reaching the pleasure of Almighty Allah than these great prayers and greetings upon the Prophet (peace and blessing be upon him) as all scholars and despite their different views on the issue have all agreed upon the total acceptance of this highly respected deed in accordance with the Hadith of the Beloved Prophet (peace and blessing be upon him) when Almighty Allah said: “ O Mohammed whoever has saluted you, I will salute him”, and it is crystal clear that this truthful promise is certainly both a Divine attention and deserved reward those humble believers.
The venerated Shaykh, 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 Shaykh 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 (600,000) birds of that kind fly up each time.”
As for the number of each bird’s tongues, the Shaykh said, ”The total number of its tongues is 1,780,000,700,000,000,000,000,000. 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 Shaykh then went on to say, “When I asked the Prophet about the authenticity of the Hadith, ‘The invocation of showering a prayer upon him (peace and blessing be upon him) 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 Shaykh 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 the invocation is offered!
