With the advent of the Internet, unicode, “txt tlk,” and emoji have become standard in our day-to-day communication. We do not just write abbreviations like “LOL” with our hands, we say them out loud with our mouths. So much so, that the original phrase — laugh out loud — has been completely replaced with “LOL.”

We abbreviate phrases like these for our personal convenience. “TTYL” becomes the shortened form of “talk to you later.” Companies like Facebook become “FB,” Instagram is “IG,” and Youtube is “YT.”

This occurs in other languages as well. In Mandarin Chinese, for example, texting someone “88” is an understood  way to say “bye bye.” “Eight,” or “bā” in Mandarin sounds like “bye” in English.

So it is only natural that abbreviations have carried over into the Arabic language and Islamic honorifics. In shāʾ Allāh has been shortened to “iA.” Another example is “alH,” for alḥamdulillah. Again, our intention is for the full statement, and we shorten the honorific out of habit doing the same with longer phrases in our native languages.

This leads to the question: Should we adopt this attitude when we invoke blessings upon the Prophet ﷺ, or even Allah ﷻ’s name?

While Arabic honorifics may have been unavailable to our keyboards in the past, nowadays, every keyboard has access to them. Making using of them is the least we can do out of adab for Allah ﷻ, the Prophet ﷺ, and our pious predecessors رحمهم الله.

Understanding a cultural occurrence from a religious perspective

Acronyms and abbreviations are not wrong in and of themselves. Even grand Latin phrases like ie — id est, “that is”—have been shortened due to their common occurrence.

But what happens when meaningful honorifics like صلى الله عليه و سلم get the same treatment? Imam al-Nawawi ﵀ has stated “It is praiseworthy (mustaḥāb) for a person writing ḥādīth that at the mentioning of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, he writes “ صلى الله عليه و سلم” in full and not merely using abbreviations, and neither sufficing on one of the two, i.e. Salat & Salam.” [Sharh Sahih Muslim, Vol. 1, Page 39]

Additionally in the rush to abbreviate صلى الله عليه و سلم we often fail to recite the full phrase in our heads, This has happened with English acronyms already. “LOL” becomes just that—pronounced in our minds as “ell oh ell.” 

I find myself doing the same thing with “SAWS,” a common acronym for sending ṣalawāt on the Prophet ﷺ. Rather than sending blessings and peace upon the Prophet ﷺ, I think of a mechanical tool used to chop away at wood: saws. My brain is not quick enough when reading an entirely English piece of work to suddenly say an Arabic phrase. We must take great care to avoid depriving ourselves of a great blessing and fulfill the right of Prophet ﷺ  in reciting صلى الله عليه و سلم whenever his name is mentioned. 

Allah ﷻ gave us our phones, the ability to read the messages on it, as well as our literacy when composing messages. We write out all sorts of things in full — lavish restaurant testimonials and scathing product reviews. So why would we want to shorten His ﷻ name on it to something like “iA” or “alH?”

May Allah ﷻ reward us for our intentions and efforts in using it and increase us in adab for our dīn.

What follows are instructions on how to use unicode on your different devices. 

On a Windows, use the search bar to search for the Character Map. Toggle the font to Times New Roman and turn on Advanced view. From there, you can search symbols like “salla” for ﷺ as well as “jalla” for ﷻ.

On a Mac, press Control + Command + Space Bar. Searching “salla” for ﷺ as well as “jalla” for ﷻ will work. 

In Google Docs, insert “Special Characters” and navigate the search bar for “salla” and “jalla.”

You can also create text replacements on a Mac by going to Settings > Keyboard shortcuts > Text replacement. The same applies for an iPhone.

For an Android, in your settings, go to General management, Language and input, On-screen keyboard, Samsung keyboard, Smart typing, and Text shortcuts.

In Google Docs, insert “Special Characters” and navigate the search bar for the following symbols.

Attached is a guide to common Islamic honorifics and suggested shortcuts for easy access into your phones. Please note that not all are visible due to their unavailability on mobile and certain operating systems, and you may see an X, an empty box, or a question mark in a box instead. For this reason, we recommend primarily using the asterisked phrases until mobile devices and operating systems are updated. You may also opt to use the full Arabic phrase in lieu of the symbol, as well as the insertion of diacritics.

Symbol: ﷺ*

Arabic: صلى الله عليه و سلم

Transliteration: ṣalla Allahu ʿalayhi wa salam

Translation: May Allah send His ﷻ peace and blessing upon him

Suggested shortcut: sws

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Symbol: ﵆

Arabic: صلى الله عليه وآله

Transliteration: ṣalla Allahu ʿalayhi wa salam

Translation: May Allah send His ﷻ peace upon his family

Suggested shortcut: sws

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Symbol: ﵌

Arabic: صلى الله عليه وآله سلم

Transliteration: ṣalla Allahu ʿalayhi wa salam

Translation: May Allah send His ﷻ peace and blessing upon his family

Suggested shortcut: sws

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Symbol: ﷻ*

Arabic: جل جلاله

Transliteration: jalla jalaluhu

Translation: May His glory be glorified

Suggested shortcut: jjll

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Symbol: ﷿

Arabic: عز وجل*

Transliteration: ʿazza wa-jall

Translation: Great and Majestic

Suggested shortcut: awj

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Symbol: ﵎

Arabic: تبارك وتعالى*

Transliteration: tabāraka wa-taʿālā

Translation: Blessed and exalted

Suggested shortcut: twt

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Symbol: ﷾

Arabic: سبحانه وتعالى*

Transliteration: subḥānahu wa-taʿālā

Translation: Glorified and exalted

Suggested shortcut: swt

---

Symbol: ﵇

Arabic: عليه السلام*

Transliteration: ʿalayhi as-salām

Translation: Peace be upon him

Suggested shortcut: pbuh

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Symbol: ﵈

Arabic: عليهم السلام*

Transliteration: ʿalayhim as-salām

Translation: Peace be upon them

Suggested shortcut: pbut

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Symbol: ﵀

Arabic: رحمه الله*

Transliteration: raḥimahu -llāh

Translation: May Allah ﷻ have mercy on him

Suggested shortcut: rhm

---

Symbol: ﵏

Arabic: رحمهم الله*

Transliteration: raḥimahum-llāh

Translation: May Allah ﷻ have mercy on them

Suggested shortcut: rhmm

---

Symbol: ﵁

Arabic: رضي الله عنه*

Transliteration: raḍiya -llāhu ʿanh

Translation: May Allah ﷻ be pleased with him

Suggested shortcut: rda

---

Symbol: ﵂

Arabic: رضي الله عنها*

Transliteration: raḍiya -llāhu ʿanha

Translation: May Allah ﷻ be pleased with her

Suggested shortcut: rdah

---

Symbol: ﵃

Arabic: رضي الله عنهم*

Transliteration: raḍiya -llāhu ʿanhum

Translation: May Allah ﷻ be pleased with them

Suggested shortcut: rdam

---

Symbol: ﵄

Arabic: رضي الله عنهما*

Transliteration: raḍiya -llāhu ʿanhuma

Translation: May Allah ﷻ be pleased with them both

Suggested shortcut: rdab

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Symbol: ﵅

Arabic: رضي الله عنهن*

Transliteration: raḍiya -llāhu ʿanhuna

Translation: May Allah ﷻ be pleased with them both (female)

Suggested shortcut: rdan

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Replacement: inshaʾAllah*

Arabic: إن شاء الله

Transliteration: in shāʾ Allāh

Translation: if Allah wills

Suggested shortcut: ia

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Replacement: alhamdulillah*

Arabic: الحمد لله

Transliteration: alḥamdulillah

Translation: All praise is due to Allah

Suggested shortcut: alh

---

Replacement: subhanʾAllah*

Arabic: سبحان الله

Transliteration: subḥāʾAllāh

Translation: Glory be to Allah

Suggested shortcut: subh

---

Replacement: mashaʾAllah*

Arabic: ما شاء الله

Transliteration: ma shāʾAllāh

Translation: Allah has willed

Suggested shortcut: mh

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Photo by Nazreen Banu on Unsplash

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