On Abbreviating the Salaat and Salaam on Sayyidinaa wa Mawlana Muhammad al Mustafa صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم
Imam Ahmad Rida Khan رضی اللہ تعالٰی عنہ said:
The Prophet صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم ordered us to verbally utter salutations upon him when he is mentioned—O Allah! Send prayers, salutations, 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 are included in the import of Allah’s saying:
“But those who wronged 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 صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم 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 صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم is emphatic in nature, and that to omit it is counted as a disparagement of Prophethood—Allah’s refuge is sought from that! Imam al-Tahtawi al-Hanafi 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] صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم 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 صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم Sall Allahu ‘alayhi wa sallam] or divine pleasure [saying رضی اللہ تعالٰی عنہ 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. And perhaps this position—if it’s assumed that the quote is authentic—is limited to the proviso that it be intentional , as the apparent position is that this does not constitute disbelief; although it is true, that the most precautionary way is to steer clear of anything that gives the impression [of belittlement] or anything doubtful.