Why We say "Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala" and "SalAllahu Alayhi Wasallam"

Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala (soob-hana-hoo wa taA-laa)

Now, as for why we say Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala: I don't have a concrete, embedded in Hadith, Sunnah or Quran reason actually....you try googling that! All the reasons I found can pretty much be summed up to "it's an acknowledgement of God's One-ness, a form of praise out of respect for Him (SWT)". There are, however, a few different things we can say!

Subhanahu Wa ta'ala: "The Most Glorified, The Most High"

Ta'ala: "The Most High"

Azza Wa Jall: "Mighty and Majestic"

SalAllahu Alayhi Wasallam (Sal-Allah-hoo Alay-hee Wa-Salam)

This translates out to "May Allah (SWT) bless him and grant him peace".

We append this to every mentioning of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) usually like that, but now that I've looked it up, there's a lot of people saying that SAW doesn't count at all since it is an abbreviation and not the actual word (go to the internets if you don't believe me). But that's the way I've been doing it for years, and the way MANY people do it. Interestingly enough, when you read (SAW), do you read es-ay-doubleyoo? or do you think "SalAllahu Alayhi Wasallam"? :P I think the latter.

But why? Why do we do this? Quite simply, because we're told to:

"Allah sends His Salat (Graces, Honours, Blessings, Mercy) on the Prophet (Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم), and also His angels (ask Allah to bless and forgive him). O you who believe! Send your Salat on (ask Allah to bless) him (Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم), and (you should) greet (salute) him with the Islamic way of greeting (salutation i.e. As-Salamu 'Alaikum )." (Quran 33:56, Mohsin Khan Interpretation)

But there's another hadith that quotes Prophet Muhammad (SAW) as saying:

"(Truly) a miserly person is he who (when) heard my name being mentioned did not recite Salawat in my favour." (Mishkat) 

(taken from: Benefits of Reciting Salawat upon the Prophet)

And there's a bunch of other benefits too, from the above web site we have:

(1) The one who recites Salawat (Durood) once Allah sends ten blessings upon him, eradicates ten of his sins and inproves ten of his grades. (Mishkat)


(2) On the Day of Judgement the nearest person to me, from amongst the people, would be the one who would have recited Salawat the most in this (mortal) world. (Tirmidhi)


(3) (Truly) a miserly person is he who (when) heard my name being mentioned did not recite Salawat in my favour. (Mishkat)


(4) You decorate your meetings by reciting salawat on me because your salawat would (turn out to) be the Divine Light for yourself on the "Day of Judgement." (Jamih us-Sahih)


(5) Recite salawat on Friday in abundance because it is the "Day of presence of angels (for witness)." On this day Angels present themselves (in my court). And undoubtedly when any one from amongst you recites salawat in my favour then before he has finished his recitation of salawat in my favour, his salawat reaches my court. (Jamih us-Sahih)


(6) In the magnificent night of Friday (i.e. the night between Thursday and Friday) and the luminous day of Friday recite salawat in my favour abundantly, because your recited salawat is presented to me (by the Angels). (Jamih us-Sahih)


(7) Recite salawat on the day of "Friday" and the "Friday Night" (The night between Thursday and Friday) excessively because who-so-ever does that, I shall stand witness to him and would be his advocate on the "Day of Judgement." (Jamih us-Sahih) 


(check out their website, it's pretty big: The Modern Religion)

And that's it! :D