Use of abbreviations
The use of abbreviations for Ṣalawāt and Salām, such as SAW, PBUH, and A.S. for the Prophet ﷺ, and S.W.T. for Allāh, has become the norm in today’s age, where social media has become a primary resource for learning the Dīn. Abbreviation is strictly forbidden. In this century, not only the ordinary person but even the so-called “learned” and “intellectuals” are guilty of this practice.
Imām an-Nawawī, the great Muḥaddith, states:
“It is praiseworthy (mustaḥab) for a person writing Ḥadīth that (…) at the mentioning of Rasūlullāh ﷺ, he writes ‘Ṣallā Llāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam’ in full and not merely using abbreviations, and neither sufficing on one of the two, i.e. Ṣalāt & Salām.” [Sharḥ Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, 1/39]
Shaykh al-Islām Imām Jalāl ad-Dīn al-Suyūṭī said that the person who first introduced the practice of using abbreviation for Ṣalawāt had his hands cut off. The conclusion is that it is not permissible and the one who indulges in this act is stripped from a very great benefit (khayr) and has lost a great reward.
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