Dhikr · Muslim practice
Subhan Allah
Glory be to God
سُبْحَانَ ٱللَّٰهِ
Subḥān Allāh
The tasbīḥ — declaring God free of every imperfection. It is the first of the three phrases said after each of the five daily prayers, and among the most frequently spoken sentences in the world.
Source: Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 597a (one post-prayer form)
A mala of 33 is what this practice is traditionally counted on.
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سُبْحَانَ ٱللَّٰهِ
Subḥān Allāh
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What the words say
Subḥān comes from a root meaning to swim or to be far off, and carries the sense of declaring God utterly removed from any defect or likeness. It is not praise for something done; it is a denial that anything unworthy attaches. English 'glory be to God' is conventional but loses that negative force.
Where it comes from
The post-prayer form of thirty-three each of tasbīḥ, taḥmīd and takbīr is recorded in the ḥadīth collections, and this app follows the version in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 597a. Other authentic narrations give different numbers and different concluding formulas; this is one named form, not the only one.
How it is practised
Counted on the fingers — the right hand, in the practice the Prophet is reported to have used — or on a misbaḥa of thirty-three or ninety-nine beads, after the fard prayer. The three phrases are said in sequence, and in the form followed here are completed by a hundredth formula of tahlīl.
References
- Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 597a
- Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 843, for a variant post-prayer form
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