Revive a Sunnah

In the name of Allah

Revive a Sunnah: After the Salah

Abdullah bin 'Umar (radi Allahu anhu) narrated that:

"A man saw in a dream in which it was said to him: 'What does your Prophet (sallaAllahu ‘alayhi wasallam) command you to do?' He replied: 'He commanded us to say tasbeeh thirty-three times following the salah, and to say the tahmeed thirty-three times, and to say the takbeer thirty-four times, and that makes one-hundred.' He said: 'Say the tasbeeh twenty-five times and say the tahmeed twenty-five times and say the takbeer twenty-five times and say the tahleel twenty-five times, and that will make one hundred.' The following morning he told the Prophet (sallaAllahu ‘alayhi wasallam) about that and the Messenger of Allah (sallaAllahu ‘alayhi wasallam) said: 'Do what the Ansari (i.e. the man who saw the dream) said."

[Sunan Nasa'i, 1350 and others - sanad graded as qawwi (strong) by Ibn Hajar in 'Fath al-Bari', 2/383 and hasan saheeh by al-Albani in 'Saheeh an-Nasa'i', 1350]

This hadeeth contains what is from among the forgotten Sunan of the Prophet (sallaAllahu ‘alayhi wasallam) and his As-haab. This hadeeth essentially provides an option for the Muslims to alternate between the various adkhar (remembrances) after the salah that are authentically established. One should feel at liberty to choose whichever adhkar they are able to recite in a deliberate and proper manner and with complete ease.

Al-Albani commented on the hadeeth and its real-life implications, he (rahimahullah) said:

"I see some people, when they want to work by the statement of the Messenger of Allah (sallaAllahu ‘alayhi wasallam) << Whoever says 'SubhanAllah' after every salah 33 times, and says 'Al Hamdulillah' 33 times and 'Allahu Akbar' 33 times and then makes it a complete 100 by saying 'Laa ilaaha ill-Allahu wahdahu laa shareeka lah, lahu'l-mulk wa lahu’l-hamd wa huwa 'ala kulli shay'in qadeer', then he shall be forgiven for his sins even if they were like the foam of the ocean >>

...you see some of them not even close to making a distinction with their tongue when saying 'SubhanAllah' and 'Al Hamdulillah' and 'Allahu Akbar'. So what do you hear (and the shaykh exemplifies by saying 'SubhanAllah' is a quick and hasty manner). Have you seen like I have seen, I think you have. I'm not the only one here who has seen this, so what should we call this sabsabee (intending that whatever is said in such a fashion cannot be called tasbeeh). And then they go (the shaykh exemplifies by saying 'Al Hamdulillah' very quickly). This is not saying 'Subhan Allah', this is not saying 'Al Hamdulillah' and then they go (the shaykh starts exemplifying by saying 'Allahu Akbar' very quickly). In an instance, they have finished the entire 100.

The one who praises Allah hundred times in the aforementioned manner, what is the reward for this? Allah will forgive him for his sins even if they were like the foam of the ocean? Is the reward the same for the one who says it in a hurried manner? Allah forbid, therefore it is upon us to take our time and be deliberate and to say 'SubhanAllah', 'SubhanAllah', 'SubhanAllah', 'Alhamdulillah', 'Alhamdulillah' up until the end.

I do not intend by my speech I am about to say, to prevent the people from saying SubhanAllah 33 times and praising Allah as is found in the remaining part of the hadeeth. Rather I only intend to bring something for those who (know they) rush, something which may be better for them and easier for them to do. And I think you will be hearing this hadeeth for the very first time or at least some of you will be hearing it for the first time. It is a very important hadeeth and it is also a hadeeth that is authentic and has been collected by Imam An-Nasa'i and Al-Hakim and other than them, and has been narrated from two companions with two authentic chains of narrations.

A man from the companions of the Prophet (sallaAllahu ‘alayhi wasallam) saw a person in his dream and the person asked him a question; he said "What have you been taught by the Messenger (sallaAllahu ‘alayhi wasallam)"? He said he had taught us 'SubhanAllah' and then he mentioned the number we already clarified in the previous hadeeth. And so the person said to the one who was having the dream: "Make it 25, make it 25" - meaning say 'SubhanAllah wal-Hamdulillah, wa laa ilaaha illa Allah, wa Allahu Akbar' 25 times, say all 4 of them together 25 times. So instead of the person counting out 100, how much will he count? He will count out 25 and by counting out 25 like this, it will force the person to go slow and he will not be able to rush like the rushing that we have severely criticised. So regardless of how fast the person tries to rush saying 'SubhanAllah', he will not be able to because after that he has to say 'Al Hamdulillah', so regardless how much he wants to rush, he is going to have to pronounce the phrases in a more compete manner than if he were to say (the shaykh starts saying 'SubhanAllah' very quickly). Just as the one who wants to praise Allah by saying La illaha illa Allah, La illaha illa Allah, La illaha illa Allah and then after a while you hear them praising Allah and it has become Allah, Allah, Allah.. (the Shaykh starts saying Allah, Allah, Allah very quick).

Therefore this (hadeeth) is a protection for those individuals who rush after the prayer in making the Tasbeeh and making the Tahmeed. When they do it in the manner that is mentioned in the first hadeeth, they rush it so it is upon them to join these four phrases together and to say them 25 times so they will say, 'SubhanAllah wal-Hamdulillah, wa laa ilaaha illa Allah, wa Allahu Akbar'. They will say this 25 times and this is better according to the text of the hadeeth because this person saw in his dream and there could be a dream which is confused and we aren’t the people who can explain dreams so we don't know the explanation of it but this man, he saw a vision and he narrated this to the Prophet (sallaAllahu ‘alayhi wasallam) and so his answer to him was "then do it like this, then do it like this..."

May Allah provide us the ease and tranquillity when practising acts of ibadah.