Advice To Those Who Rush Their Adhkār
By Shaykh Muḥammad Nāṣiruddin al Albānī رحمه الله
https://youtu.be/gUvqx7zOpDA
[6 min] [Arabic | English Subtitles]
I notice that there are many people, those that appear to be committed, not only to the Farā’iḍ (obligatory actions), rather they are also committed to the Nawāfil (supererogatory actions) and matters that are Mustaḥab (recommended actions). For example, the dhikr (remembrance) after the Ṣalāh, the Tasbīḥ (SubḥānAllāh), the Taḥmīd (Alḥamdulillāh), the Takbīr (Allāhuakbar) and the likes of these. So I notice that some of them when they want to act upon the saying of the Prophet (ﷺ),
“من سبح الله دبر كل صلاة ثلاثا وثلاثين وحمد الله ثلاثا وثلاثين وكبر الله ثلاثا وثلاثين ثم قال تمام المائة لا إله إلا الله وحده لا شريك له، له الملك وله الحمد وهو على كل شيء قدير غفرت له ذنوبه وإن كانت مثل زبد البحر”
(“Whoever says at the end of each Ṣalāh ‘SubḥānAllāh’ 33x, and says ‘Alḥamdulillāh’ 33x, and says ‘Allāhu-akbar’ 33x, and then completes a hundred by saying ‘None has the right to be worshipped except Allāh, alone, having no partner. Sovereignty is His and all praise is for Him, and He has full power over everything.’ His sins will be forgiven even if they are like the foam in the sea.“)
This Hadīth is authentic, narrated by Imām Muslim in his Ṣaḥīḥ.
When they want to act upon this hadīth, you see some of them, they barely articulate with their tongue ‘SubḥānAllāh’, ‘Alḥamdulillāh’, and ‘Allāhu-akbar’. So what do you hear?… I believe I’ve seen as you’ve seen. I’m not alone in this claim. What do we call this?… Then… This is neither Taṣbīḥ (SubḥānAllāh), nor Taḥmīd (Alḥamdulillāh)… completing a hundred in a few moments or in a few seconds. This hundred, whoever comes with it, what is its reward? Allāh will forgive his sins even if they are like the foam in the sea. If he came with this kind of way (making the adhkār quickly), Allāh forbid! What is obligatory is to take ones time in doing it. So he says ‘SubḥānAllāh’, ‘SubḥānAllāh’, ‘SubḥānAllāh’, ‘Alḥamdulillāh’, ‘Alḥamdulillāh’ until the end of it.
From my next statement, I don’t want to turn the people away from doing the Taṣbīḥ 33x and what comes in the rest of the hadīth. I only want to bring them closer to what is better for them legislatively and what is easier for them to do. And I believe you all will hear this hadīth for the first time or at the least some of you and it’s a very important hadīth. It is also an authentic hadīth from Imām al-Nasā’ī and Ḥākim and other than them, from the companions with two authentic chains of narration.
“أن رجلا من أصحاب النبي صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم رأى في المنام شخصا يسأله ما الذي علمكم الرسول عليه السلام قال علمنا سبحان الله وذكر هذا العدد الذي سبق بيانه في الحديث السابق فقال ذلك الشخص للرائي في المنام قال اجعلوهن خمسا وعشرين اجعلوهن خمسا وعشرين”
(“A man from the companions of the Prophet (ﷺ) saw in a dream a person asking him, ‘What has the Messenger (ﷺ) taught you?’ He said, ‘He taught us SubḥānAllāh’. And he mentioned the amount that was in the previous hadīth. So the person in the dream said, ‘Make them 25.’ Meaning say: SubḥānAllāh, Alḥamdulillāh, Lā ilāha illa Allāh, and Allāhu-akbar.“)
So change what the people counted up to a hundred to twenty-five. Twenty-five in a deliberate manner not in a hurried manner the kind we strongly disapprove. So he is not hasty in saying SubḥānAllāh and Alḥamdulillāh. He is not hasty, and you don’t see from him reciting it except that it is more complete than if he was to say SubḥānAllāh, SubḥānAllāh, SubḥānAllāh… Lā ilāha illa Allāh, Lā ilāha illa Allāh… and later on the only thing you will hear from them is Allāh, Allāh, Allāh…
This is a safeguard for those hasty ones after the Ṣalāh in regards to the Tasbīḥ and Taḥmīd that is mentioned in the first hadīth, upon them is to combine between the four (SubḥānAllāh, Alḥamdulillāh, Lā ilāha illa Allāh, and Allāhu-akbar.) and say it 25x. SubḥānAllāh, Alḥamdulillāh, Lā ilāha illa Allāh, Allāhu-akbar, 25x. And this is better, using as proof the complete hadīth that the person saw in his dream. It may be the dream was a mixed up false dream and not a tafsīr because we are not skilled in interpreting dreams.
“لكن هذا الرجل الرائي للرؤيا قصها على النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم فكان جوابه فافعلوا إذن”
(“However, this man who saw the dream narrated it to the Prophet (ﷺ) and his answer was, ‘Therefore, do it.’“)
Here we have a question of Fiqh. Does this abrogate the first hadīth? Taṣbīḥ (subḥān Allāh) 33x, the Taḥmīd (alḥamdulillāh) 33x, the Takbīr (Allāhuakbar) 33x and the Tahlīl (Lā ilāha illa Allāh) 1x. No! It doesn’t abrogate it. It is only a preference. If a person praying comes with the adhkār 33x after his Ṣalāh with deliberateness, then there is no problem with that. However, what is better is to combine the four (SubḥānAllāh, Alḥamdulillāh, Lā ilāha illa Allāh, and Allāhu-akbar) 25x. This is better for him then acting upon the previous hadīth.
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[Shaykh Al-Albaani]
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