IslamQA: Origin of Darood Sharif

Darood Sharif is the Urdu name for Salawat, which refers to invocations said to praise the Prophet . The words used in it are from hadith narrations in which the Prophet tells his companions how to say it, such as this hadith in Sahih al-Bukhari’s Book of Invocations:

Ka`b bin ‘Ujra met me and said, “Shall I give you a present? Once the Prophet (ﷺ) came to us and we said, ‘O Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) ! We know how to greet you; but how to send ‘Salat’ upon you? He said, ‘Say: Allahumma Salli ala Muhammadin wa ‘ala `Ali Muhammadin, kama sal-laita ‘ala all Ibrahima innaka Hamidun Majid. Allahumma barik ‘ala Muhammadin wa ‘ala all Muhammadin, kama barakta ‘ala all Ibrahima, innaka Hamidun Majid.”