Questions - Durood Browse Categories

I have seen especially women reciting verses from Holy Quran, part or complete surah, darood ( different kinds - Tanjeena , Taj , Ibraheemi etc etc ) , Ayat Kareema , or reciting Allah's name etc etc. They recite these in specific numbers. And they recite in group or singly to complete a given number of quantity. They do it to pray and wish for specific objective which may be either: health recovery of someone who is sick, suffering from a dangerous life threatening disease, getting a job, selling a business or for any other purposes.

My question is: Is it right per Islamic teaching? Doing this make ones prayer answered much faster? What is the significance of doing all this - gathering some women or children or man and reading as mentioned above for the purpose of achieving some objective etc ?

There is a Quranic verse which states that Allah and His Angels send their blessings (i.e recite darood) to bless the Holy Prophet. I am very much confused about the interpretation of this verse. Why does Allah send blessing to the Holy Prophet? Is it in line with the other verses of the Holy Quran which portray Allah as Al-mighty and Omniscient?

Secondly, what is the meaning of "Aal-e-Muhammad" in the Darood that we recite so often? Many of my Shia and Sunni "Syed" friends claim that it refers to the descendants and family of the Holy Prophet, and not to the Ummah of the Holy Prophet in general.

The imam who leads the prayer, supplicates after the salah is completed. I personally prefer to recite supplications ascribed to the Prophet (sws) through reliable narrators. Some prayers have wahid mutakallim tense whereas Imam has to say dua for all namazeez using (plural) tense. Since for me it is difficult to change from singular to plural like Qalbi to Qulobuna and so on. So is it ok for imam to recite dua in wahid mutakallim tense.

My parents taught me the kalimah shahadah as follows: la ilaha illAllah Muhammad ur rasulullah. Why do I have to add that Prophet Mohammed is the Messenger of Allah while there were so many prophets and all of them taught the same religion? Would it matter if I just said la ilaha illallah?

Why do we mention the name of the Prophet Muhammad (sws) and the Prophet Ibrahim (sws) in the tashahhud (sitting position in the prayer)? Also please tell me who authored the supplication to be made in this position?

The Holy Qur'an says: "Allah and His angels send blessings on the Holy Prophet (sws)" (Q 33:56) My question is that what does it mean that Allah sends blessings on His creatures, like for example the Holy Prophet (sws), given the fact that He is the Creator and the Absolute?

What do the terms aal-i Muhammad and aal-i Ibrahim occurring in the durood (prayer for blessing) refer to?