The Tashahhud (Arabic: تَشَهُّد, meaning "testimony [of [[Iman (concept)|faith]]]"), also known as at-Tahiyyat (Arabic: ٱلتَّحِيَّات|=greetings|link=no), is the portion of the Muslim prayer where the person kneels or sits on the ground facing the qibla (direction of Mecca), glorifies God, and greets Muhammad and the "righteous servants of God" followed by the two testimonials. The recitation is usually followed by an invocation of the blessings and peace upon Muhammad known as Salawat.
There is an authentic and reliable Hadith that states:[1]
A version attributed to Abdullah ibn Masud is used by Sunni Muslims from both the Hanafi and the Hanbali schools, as well as the non-Sunni Ibadi Muslims:
A version attributed to Umar is used by the Maliki school:
A version attributed to Ibn Abbas is used by the Shafi'i school:
The Twelver Shias of the Ja'fari school recite the Tashahhud as:
The Tashahhud is followed by the Salam. The bare minimum is to say "" (Arabic: ٱلسَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ|lit=peace be upon you|link=no).It is highly recommended, though, to add "" (Arabic: وَرَحْمَةُ ٱللَّٰهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ|lit=and God's mercy and blessings|link=no) .
It is highly recommended, though, to recite in the Salam of the prayer:
For the Zaidi, the middle Tashahhud after the second rakʿah is recited as:
After the last rakʿah, the Zaidi recite the Tashahhud in its full formula: