averting miserliness:

On Writing the Salutations

upon the Prophet s in Full

he prophet s said: Whoever among you sees an evil, let him change it with
his hands; and if he is unable, let him change it with his tongue; and if he is unable,
let him change it with his heartand that is the weakest part of faith. The Prophet s
ordered us to verbally utter salutations upon him when he is mentionedO Allah! Send
prayers, salutations, and blessings upon him and his family and Companions forever! It is
not enough to use the abbreviation S or A.S. or S.A.A.W. in place of the actual salutation. That is because these abbreviations do not convey a meaning by themselves, and
they are included in the import of Allahs saying: But those who committed wrongdoing changed a
statement to other than what was said to them, so We sent down a punishment from the sky upon those who did
wrong, because they were actively defiant. [al-Baqara: 59].
Just as the Prophet s ordered us to send salutations upon him with our tongues, he also
commanded us to send salutations upon him in writing, for, as it is said, the pen is one
of the two tongues. It is mentioned in the collection of al-Fatawa al-Tatarkhaniya that the
command to write out the salutations upon the Prophet s is emphatic in nature, and that
to omit it is tantamount to disparagement of ProphethoodAllahs refuge is sought from
that! Al-Tahtawi wrote in his marginalia upon al-Durr al-mukhtar:
One must take great care in writing out the formula prayers and salutations upon him when
mentioning the Messenger [of Allah] s, and must never tire of repeating it. And if the formula is not written out in a book that one is reading, it must be uttered verbally. It is offensive
to write an abbreviation for the formula used for invoking salutations [saying salla Allahu alayhi
wa sallam] or divine pleasure [saying radiya Allahu anhu when mentioning a Companion]; rather,
the formula should be written out in full.

Elsewhere in the al-Fatawa al-Tatarkhaniya it says:

If someone writes A.S. in place of alayhi al-salam he is guilty of disbelief because it is belittlement, and belittlement of the Prophets (prayers and salutations upon them all) is undoubtedly disbelief. Perhaps this positionassuming that the quote is authenticis limited
to the proviso that it be intentional, as the apparent position is that this does not constitute
disbelief. It is true, however, that the most precautionary way is to steer clear of anything that
gives the impression [of belittlement] or anything doubtful.[Ahmad b. Muhammad al-Tahawi, Hashiya al-Tahtawi ala al-Durr al-Mukhtar, 1:6.]

taken from: Imam Ahmad Rida Khans

Silat al-Safa fi-Nur al-Mustafa s

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