الصَّلَاةُ عَلَى النَّبِيِّ
Sending blessings upon the Prophet.
Where a word has several related meanings, context is decisive. Ṣalāt can indicate prayer, mercy, honoring, or the formal act of worship in different constructions. Collapsing these uses into one undifferentiated meaning causes errors of interpretation.
Example 1: By saying “Allāhumma ṣalli ʿalā Muḥammad,” the believer asks Allah to bless the Prophet.
Example 2: In rules of worship, al-ṣalāt refers to the ritual prayer with specified conditions and acts.
The construction ṣalāt ʿalā al-nabī in the opening invokes blessing and honor upon the Prophet; it never makes the Prophet an object of worship.