Islam and the Quran

Is it mandatory to say sallallah alayhi wasallam (may the peace and blessings of God be upon him) after the Prophet’s name? It is not mandatory, as your love and respect for the Prophet lies in your heart. Let me explain this through an incident which had taken place in Madinah after the demise of the Prophet Muhammad. When Abu Bakr (Prophet’s closest companion and the first caliph of Islam) arrived in Madinah and saw the inconsolable state of the other Companions, he said the following: No doubt! Whoever worshipped Muhammad, then Muhammad is dead, but whoever worshipped God, then God is alive and shall never die. (Sahih al-Bukhari, hadith no. 3667) Abu Bakr did not use any suffix with the name of the Prophet because the respect one has in one’s heart cannot be measured by the use of prefixes or suffixes. It is important to distinguish between true respect and paying lip service. Respect comes from within and does not have to become a matter of ritualistic lip service. Can one practice polygamy in today’s age? Monogamy is the rule in Islam and polygamy only an exception. In terms of birth rate, the number of men and women in a given society is approximately equal. But often, for a variety of reasons, especially during war, the number of men in society decreases, leaving an excess of women. Now the question arises as to what the solution to this problem should be. In view of the inevitability of this imbalance, how is a healthy relationship between the two to be established? The choice for us, therefore, is not between monogamy and polygamy, but rather, between lawful polygamy or illicit