#1004: On Salātu At-Tasbīh

I have heard many things about Salatul Tasbeeh…..What is the position of the scholars on it?Jazakallahu khayran

ANSWER:

Assalam Alaykum Warahmatullah Wabarakatuh.

Alhamdulillahi!

The Hadīth regarding salātu At-tasbīh was reported by Ibn ‘Abbās Radiyallāhu anhu who said: The Rasūl Salallāhu’alayhi wasallam said to ‘Abbās Ibn ‘AbdulMuttalib:

Oh ‘Abbās, my uncle, shall I not give you, shall I not present to you, shall I not donate to you, shall I not produce for you ten things? If you act upon them, Allah will forgive you your sins, first and last, old and new, involuntary and voluntary, small and great, secret and open. These are the ten things: you should pray four rak’ahs, reciting in each one Fatihat al-Kitab and a surah. When you finish the recitation of the first rak’ah you should say fifteen times while standing: “Glory be to Allah”, “Praise be to Allah”, “There is no god but Allah”, “Allah is most great”. Then you should bow and say it ten times while bowing. Then you should raise your head after bowing and say it ten times. Then you should kneel down in prostration and say it ten times while prostrating yourself. Then you should raise your head after prostration and say it ten times. Then you should prostrate yourself and say it ten times. Then you should raise your head after prostrating and say it ten times in every rak’ah. You should do that in four rak’a’at. If you can observe it once daily, do so; if not, then once weekly; if not, then once a month; if not, then once a year; if not, then once in your lifetime.

Transmitted by Imām Abū Dāwūd#1297, Imām At-tirmidhī#482.

That said. Know that the ulama upheld difference of opinions concerning the authenticity of the Hadīth. Majority of the salaf maintain that the Hadīth is weak.

Imām An-nawawī considered the Hadīth to be weak as mentioned in Al-Majmu’.

Ibn Taymiyah said:

The best that has been reported regarding the prayers is the Hadīth of Salātu At-tasbīh, indeed Abū Dāwūd and At-tirmidhī transmitted the Hadīth, but despite this, none of the four imāms (of the madhāhīb) talk about it, in fact, Imām Ahmad considered the Hadīth to be weak and he doesn’t like the prayers.

Reference: Majmū’u Fatāwah (11/579).

Ibn qudamah also considered the Hadīth to be weak.

Shaykh Al-‘Uthaymīn Rahimahullāhu said:

The best opinion in my sight is that Salātu At-tasbīh is not Sunnah and its Hadīth is weak.

Though Shaykh Al-Albānī declared the Hadīth to be Sahīh.

However, the ulama said that if the Hadīth was Sahīh, it would have been talked about by many of the Imāms and it will have been known amongst them. For the fact that Imām Mālik, Abū Hanīfah and Imām Ash-shāfi’i never talked about it is a strong point to kick against the Hadīth. While Imām Ahmad even considered the Hadīth to be weak.

Secondly, the aslu in ibādat is tawaqqaf (not to be done) until a sound evidence is gotten before one can perform an Ibādah. In addition, the nature of the Salātu At-tasbīh is different entirely from what is known regarding prayers.

Hence, since majority of the salaf maintain that the Hadīth is weak as well as many ulama of this era, the best is not to pray the Salātu At-tasbīh because of the khilāf and shubhah.

And also, since we have a lot of voluntary prayers which there is no doubt regarding their authenticity, and these should suffice for one.

And Allah knows best.

Barakallāhu Fakum.
Jazākumullāhu khayran.

Abū Yahya

24th Ramadhān, 1441AH

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