How to type ﷺ in Android and iPhone easily - Plus some Arabic Shortcuts

Khaleel Mughal -

Allah ‎ﷻ instructs us in the Qur’an:

إِنَّ اللَّهَ وَمَلَائِكَتَهُ يُصَلُّونَ عَلَى النَّبِيِّ ۚ يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا صَلُّوا عَلَيْهِ وَسَلِّمُوا تَسْلِيمًا
Allah and His angels send blessings on the Prophet: O ye that believe! Send ye blessings on him, and salute him with all respect. 33:56
Translation: Yusuf Ali
“Whoever sends blessings upon me, Allāh will send blessings upon him tenfold.”
Muslim (384).

Therefore, whenever the name of our beloved Nabi Prophet Muhammad ﷺ is mentioned, the Muslim is taught from an early age to chime in with ṣallā -llāhu ʿalayhī wa-sallam. "صَلَّىٰ ٱللَّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ"

It can be difficult to type it in writing. We pretty end up resorting to abbreviations such as "SAW", "PBUH" etc — well intended but perhaps straying from the ideal Islamic etiquette, adab.

I am going to show you how to make this an easy step when typing. This guide applies for iPhones and Android. There is a bonus section at the end for Apple OS Mac owners too and a list of Arabic abbreviations and their symbols! Getting adding these shortcuts!

I would like to give credit Project Ma'ruf and my cousin Talib who originally came with the tutorial. I have also made a quick video on my channel which you can watch 🎬 "How to add the text SAW ﷺ in Arabic for iPhone and Android").

Use this link (https://go.khaleel.co.uk/type-nabi-saw) to share it with friends or family on WhatsApp etc - or use the social share button towards the end of the post.

Android

  1. Copy this symbol ﷺ
  2. Go to Settings
  3. Go to Language and Input
  4. Go to Personal Dictionary
  5. Click add
  6. Paste in ﷺ where it says "Type a word"
  7. Then choose a shortcut like, "pbuh", or "saw"
  8. Now whenever you type your shortcut phrase, (ex. saw) your phone will replace that text automatically with “ﷺ”

iPhone & iPad

  1. Copy this symbol ﷺ
  2. Go to Settings and choose Keyboard
  3. Go to Language and Input
  4. Select Text Replacement and press the Plus Sign to add a new entry
  5. Under phrase enter: ﷺ
  6. Then under shortcut, enter, "pbuh", or "saw"
  7. Now whenever you type your shortcut phrase, (ex. saw) your phone will replace that text automatically with “ﷺ”

The T-Shirt in my video
https://geni.us/i-love-makkah-tshirt

For the larger Arabic Library of Shortcuts

(updated last 5th April 2021)

Arabic Shortcut Meaning
﷽ Bismillah In the Name of Allah (SWT)
ماشاءاللہ Maash What Allah (SWT) has willed - showing appreciation and praying for someone
ﷺ SAW Allah bless Him and grant Him peace
سبحانه وتعالى SWT Glorious and Exalted is He [Allah]
صلى الله عليه وسلم SAWLong Allah bless Him and grant Him peace
عليه السلام alay Peace be upon Him
رضي الله عنه ram May Allah be pleased with Him
رضي الله عنها raf May Allah be pleased with Him
ﷲ Allah Allah
ﷴ muhammad Muhammad (ﷺ)
ﷳ akbar The Greatest
ﷶ rasool Prophet
ﷻ jalla Allah the Most Exalted
ٱلسَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ ٱللَّٰهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ aslm Peace be upon you, as well as the mercy of Allah and His blessings.
وَعَلَيْكُمْ السَّلاَمُ وَرَحْمَةُ اللهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ wslm And May Peace be upon you, as well as the mercy of Allah and His blessings.

Windows Shortcuts - Pretty savage article on some further Microsoft Windows setups by Khalid Hussain

Unicode Block Forms - U+FDFA - Ligature characters

Shortcuts for Word - Great library of work by Mohammad Abubakr

Some References - From Hanafi Fiqh - IslamQA

Comments, Feedback

Please leave feedback or ask any questions in the comments below if you're struggling to get it setup. Likewise any further words, suggestions or mistakes - shoot them at me.