Salat Al-tasbih: in the Light of Fiqh and Hadith – 4

4. The Hadith of Umm Salamah

A hadith regarding Salat al-Tasbih is narrated from Sayyidah Umm Salamah. It is transmitted only in the following two sources of hadith and reports: (1) Abu Bakr al-Khatib al-Baghdadi (d. 463 AH), in“ذكر صالة التسبیح”, no. 26; and (2) al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar al-ʿAsqalani (d. 852 AH), in “ امالی اًلذكار فی فضل صالة التسبیح”, no. 19. Apart from these two, the remaining sources of hadith and reports are entirely devoid of any narration from Sayyidah Umm Salamah in this chapter.

Textual Examination

This narration attributed to Sayyidah Umm Salamah is cited in al-Khatib al-Baghdadi’s “ذكر صالة التسبیح”, no. 26, in the following wording:

عن أم سلمة، قالت: كان رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم في يومي وليلتي، حتى إذا كان في الهاجرة جاءه إنسان فدق الباب. فقال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم: من هذا؟ فقالوا: العباس بن عبد المطلب. قال: “الله أكبر ! لأمر ما جاء؛ فأدخلوه. فلما دخل، قال يا عباس يا عم النبي، ما جاء بك في الهاجرة؟، فقال: يا رسول الله، بأبي أنت وأمي ذكرت ما كان مني في الجاهلية، فعرفت أنه لن يغني عني بعد الله غيرك. فقال: ” الحمد لله الذي ألقى ذلك في قلبك!. يا عباس! يا عم النبي ! أما إنه لا أقول لك بعد الفجر حتى تطلع الشمس، ولا بعد العصر حتى تغرب الشمس، صل أربع ركعات، اقرأ فيهن بأربع سور من طوال المفصل، فإذا قرأت الحمد وسورة، فقل: سبحان الله والحمد لله، ولا إله إلا الله، والله أكبر، هذه واحدة، قلها خمس عشرة مرة. فإذا ركعت، فقلها عشرًا، فإذا رفعت رأسك من الركوع، فقلها عشرًا، فإذا سجدت، فقلها عشرًا، فإذا رفعت رأسك من السجود، فقلها عشرًا، فإذا سجدت الثانية، فقلها عشرًا، فإذا رفعت رأسك قبل أن تقوم، فقلها عشرًا. والذي نفس محمد بيده لو كانت ذنوبك عدد نجوم السماء، وعدد قطر المطر، وعدد أيام الدنيا، وعدد الحصى، وعدد الشجر والمدر والثرى، لغفرها الله لك. قال: يا رسول الله، بأمي أنت وأمي ومن يطيق ذلك؟ قال: “قلها في كل يوم مرة. قال: ومن يطيق ذلك؟ قال: فقلها في كل جمعة مرة . قال: ومن يطيق ذلك؟ قال: فقلها في كل شهر مرة. قال: ومن يطيق ذلك؟ قال: فقلها في كل سنة مرة. قال: ومن يطيق ذلك؟ قال: ” فقلها في . عمرك كله مرة

Sayyidah Umm Salamah reports: One day it was the Messenger of Allah’s turn to be in my home. He was seated in the midday heat when someone came and knocked at the door. He asked, ‘Who is it?’ People said, ‘ʿAbbas bin ʿAbd al-Muttalib.’ He said, ‘Allahu akbar—he must have come for some matter—let him enter.’ When he entered, he said, ‘O ʿAbbas, O paternal uncle of the Prophet, what has brought you at this hour of midday?’ He replied, ‘O Messenger of Allah, may my father and mother be sacrificed for you: I recalled some deeds of mine from the Age of Ignorance, and I realized that after Allah none can benefit me except you.’ Hearing this, he said, ‘Praise be to Allah, Who has cast this into your heart. O Abbas, O paternal uncle of the Prophet, listen: at any time, except the times before sunrise and before sunset, pray four rakahs in which you recite four long surahs from the tiwal al-mufassal. When you have recited Surat al-Fatihah and another surah, say fifteen times these words: سُبْحَانَ الله وَالْحَمْدُ لِلهِ، وَلَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ، وَاللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ. Then, when you bow, repeat the same words ten times; then when you raise your head from bowing, say them ten times; then when you prostrate, recite them ten times; then when you rise from prostration and sit, at that moment also repeat them ten times; then prostrate again and recite them ten times; then when you rise from prostration, before standing up, repeat them ten times while sitting. By Him in Whose grasp is Muhammad’s life: after this, even if your sins were as many as the stars of the sky, as many as the drops of rain, as many as the days of the world, as many as the pebbles of the earth, and as many as the trees, clods of earth, and particles of wet soil—Allah will surely forgive them for you.’ Thereupon Abbas said: ‘O Messenger of Allah, may my father and mother be sacrificed for you, who has the strength to perform such a prayer?’ He said, ‘Perform it once daily.’ He said, ‘But who has that much ability?’ He said, ‘Then perform it once every Friday.’ He said, ‘Who can do even that?’ He said, ‘Then perform it once every month.’ He again said, ‘But who is capable of even that?’ He said, ‘Then perform it once a year.’ He said, ‘Who has the strength for that as well?’ He said, ‘Fine—then perform it once in your lifetime.’

Isnad Investigation and Ruling on the Report

A major defect in both of the aforementioned chains of the hadith of Umm Salamah is that they contain a transmitter named ʿAmr bin Jumayʿ al-Kufi. Imam al-Bukhari deemed him munkar al-hadith; Imam al-Daraqutni and a group of rijal critics described him as matruk al-hadith. Imam Yahya bin Maʿin declared him a kadhdhab (outright liar). Imam Ibn ʿAdi stated that he was accused of fabricating hadiths. Imam Ibn Hibban said that he was among those who would cite reliable narrators’ names to transmit forged reports and would relate “denounced” (munkar) narrations in the name of well-known hadith scholars; therefore, writing his hadiths and even mentioning him is impermissible—except that scholars may consult such reports during investigation in order to be alerted. It is also explicitly stated by Imam Abu Saʿid al-Naqqash and Imam al-Hakim that his narrations were fabricated.⁹

Accordingly, this chain-analysis establishes that—by the standards of transmission—this narration attributed to Sayyidah Umm Salamah in the chapter of Salat al-Tasbih is mawḍuʿ (fabricated), and it is categorically impermissible to derive proof from it.

5. The Hadith of ʿAbbas bin ʿAbd al-Muttalib

A report regarding Salat al-Tasbih is also narrated directly from ʿAbbas bin ʿAbd al-Muttalib, appearing in the following five sources of hadith and reports: first, it is recorded in the fifth century AH by Abu al-Hasan ʿAbd al-Rahman bin Yasir al-Jawbari (d. 425 AH) in “احادیث ابی الحسن الجوبری”, no. 1, and earlier sources are devoid of it; second, al-Khatib al-Baghdadi (d. 463 AH) recorded two routes in “ذكر صالة التسبیح”, nos. 4 and 5; third, Ibn ʿAsakir (d. 571 AH) included it in “تاریخ ِدمشق”, no. 6184; fourth, Abu al-Qasim al-Rafiʿi al-Qazwini (d. 623 AH) cited a route in “التدوین فی اخبار قزوین” (3/249); and fifth, Ibn Hajar (d. 852 AH) recorded a route in “امالی اًلذكار فی فضل صالة التسبیح”, no. 15.

Introduction to the Text and Its Inconsistencies

The purport of these reports is that the Prophet encouraged ʿAbbas to perform this distinctive prayer, and they describe its method and merit—largely as in the earlier narrations attributed to other Companions, with minor verbal differences. However, the texts of these reports from ʿAbbas also exhibit disagreement and instability in certain respects, as follows:

• Contrary to the common narrations of this chapter, al-Khatib’s “ذكر صالة التسبیح”, no. 4, transmits certain unique words, stating that the Prophet said on that occasion:

‘ ،فإن استطعت أن تفعل ذلك في كل یوم، وإًل ففي كل جمعة، وإًل ففي كل شهر، وإًل ففي كل شهرین، وإًل ففي كل ستة أشهروإًل ففي كل سنة’

(Translation of the Urdu rendering:) “If you can do so, then maintain this prayer daily. If that is not possible, then every Friday (that is, once a week). If even that is difficult, then once each month. If once a month is not possible either, then once in two months; and if you cannot manage that, then perform it once in six months; otherwise, let it suffice that you maintain it once a year.”

• In “ذكر صالة التسبیح”, no. 5, with a slight difference, the following words are transmitted:

‘أربع ركعات في كل یوم، أو في كل جمعة، أو في كل نصف شهر، أو في كل شهر، أو في نصف سنة، أو في كل سنة’

(Translation of the Urdu rendering:) “Pray these four rakʿahs daily; or on Friday (that is, once a week); or at mid-month; or once in a month; or once every six months; or once every year.”

• Whereas Ibn Hajar’s “امالی اًلذكار فی فضل صالة التسبیح”, no. 15, has the following wording:

‘ َّفَإِنِ اسْتَطَعْتَ فِي كُل ِ یَوْمٍ، وَإًِلَّ فَفِي أَیَّامٍ، وَإًِلَّ فَفِي جُمُعَةٍ، وَإًِلَّ فَفِي جُمُعَتَیْنِ، وَإًِل ٍفَفِي شَهْرٍ، وَإًِلَّ فَفِي سِتَّةِ أَشْهُرٍ، وَإًِلَّ فَفِي سَنَة’

(Translation of the Urdu rendering:) “If you can, then maintain this prayer daily; otherwise, once in a few days. If that is not possible, then every Friday (that is, once a week). If even that is difficult, then once every two weeks. If that also cannot be done, then once every month. If monthly is not possible, then once in six months; otherwise, let it suffice that you maintain it once a year.”

In sum, regarding how frequently the Prophet emphasized performing this prayer, the statements found in the texts attributed to Abbas not only differ from other narrations in this chapter, but also display manifest internal contradictions and inconsistencies.

Isnad Investigation

A critical study of the chains of the aforementioned routes of the hadith of ʿAbbas is as follows:

(1) In the chain of “احادیث ابی الحسن الجوبری”, no. 1, the following defects are found:

1. It contains a criticized transmitter, Musa bin ʿUbaydah al-Rabadhi, whom the hadith authorities deem munkar al-hadith and extremely weak.¹⁰

2. A second transmitter is Saʿid bin Abi Saʿid al-Ansari, who is majhul (unknown) in the estimation of the rijal critics.¹¹

3. A third transmitter is ʿAtiq bin ʿAbd al-Rahman al-Asadi, whose status is likewise unknown and unrecorded among the rijal critics, that is, he too is majhul.

Hence it is clear that this route’s chain is broken and exceedingly weak.

(2) In the chain of “تاریخ ِدمشق”, Ibn ʿAsakir, no. 6184, in addition to the three defects just noted, there are two further unknown transmitters: al-Husayn bin ʿAli al-Misri and Muhammad bin Hatim al-Bukhari. Their status is likewise unknown and unrecorded among the hadith scholars. Therefore, this route too is entirely negligible.

(3) In the chain of “ذكر صالة التسبیح”, al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, no. 4, the following two defects exist:

1. It contains Abu Raja Mihraz bin Abdullah al-Jazari who, despite being trustworthy, is considered mudallis¹², and he transmitted this report with the preposition “عن”. It is a known hadith-critical principle that a mudallis narrator’s muʿanʿan report is unacceptable and weak unless he explicitly states having heard it from his shaykh.

2. This Abu Raja transmits the report from Sadaqah bin Abdullah al-Samin al-Dimashqi, who is deemed weak, munkar al-hadith, and wholly unreliable. Imam al-Daraqutni declared him matruk.¹³ Thus it is established that, from the standpoint of the chain, this route too is entirely unreliable.

(4) In the chain of “ذكر صالة التسبیح”, al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, no. 5, a transmitter named Hammad bin ʿAmr al-Nasibi appears, who is regarded by the hadith authorities as a liar who fabricated hadiths and is matruk al-hadith¹⁴. Hence this report too is extremely weak and negligible.

(5) In the route of al-Rafiʿi’s “التدوین فی اخبار قزوین” (3/249), multiple defects appear:

1. The author ʿAbd al-Karim al-Rafiʿi was born in 557 AH¹⁵, yet he narrates directly from Sulayman bin

Yazid al-Fami, who died in 339 AH¹⁶—218 years before al-Rafiʿi’s birth—so the brokenness of this chain is self-evident.

2. The chain also contains Abdullah bin Muhammad bin Abi Hudah, who is majhul among the rijal critics; and an unknown transmitter’s report is, by hadith principles, unacceptable.

3. The chain also contains Abu Rajaʾ Mihraz bin Abdullah al-Jazari, and he again narrates with “عن”; thus, his muʿanʿan narration remains weak and unacceptable unless hearing is explicitly affirmed.

4. The chain also contains Sadaqah bin Abdullah al-Samin al-Dimashqi, who is weak, munkar al-hadith, and wholly unreliable; Imam al-Daraqutni declared him matruk.¹⁷

On the basis of these four defects, al-Rafiʿi’s route is entirely negligible.

(6) In Ibn Hajar’s “امالی اًلذكار فی فضل صالة التسبیح”, no. 15, in addition to the last two defects present in al-Rafiʿi’s route, there are two transmitters who are unknown among the rijal critics: Jaʿfar bin Muhammad al-ʿAttar al-Baghdadi, and ʿUmar bin Khalid al-Raqqi. Therefore, by hadith standards, this route too is to be rejected.

Ruling on the Report

This investigation makes it clear that the attribution to the Prophet of the verbal hadith narrated from ʿAbbas bin ʿAbd al-Muttalib is not established through any single route. Those texts of this report which recommend performing this prayer “once in a few days,” “at mid-month,” “once every two weeks,” “once every two months,” or “once every six months” are munkar due to their divergence from other narrations of this chapter. Likewise, the instability and mutual disagreement found in certain texts points to its weakness and unreliability: that is, on the question of how frequently the Prophet urged ʿAbbas to perform this prayer, the narrators’ statements conflict both with one another and with the information found in reports attributed to other Companions.

As for the various chains, this inquiry also establishes that most routes are extremely weak and negligible, while the route in “ذكر صالة التسبیح”, al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, no. 5, is mawḍuʿ (fabricated). Therefore, it is categorically impermissible—on scholarly grounds—to cite the hadith of ʿAbbas as evidence for the establishment of Salat al-Tasbih from the Prophet. This report is munkar and muḍtarib in its text, and in terms of its chains it is ḍaʿif jiddan (very weak) and mawḍuʿ.

6. The Hadith of Faḍl bin ʿAbbas

A report in the chapter of Salat al-Tasbih is also narrated from Faḍl bin ʿAbbas, transmitted only in two sources: (1) al-Khatib al-Baghdadi (d. 463 AH) first recorded it in the fifth century AH in “ ذكر صالة التسبیح”, nos. 6 and 7; and (2) nearly four hundred years later, Ibn Hajar (d. 852 AH) cited a route—attributing it to Abu Nuʿaym’s “کتاب القُربان”—in his “امالی اًلذكار فی فضل صالة التسبیح”, p. 29.

Apart from these, the remaining sources of hadith and reports are entirely devoid of any mention of the hadith of Faḍl bin ʿAbbas in this chapter.

Introduction to the Text

The text of this report states that the Prophet encouraged Faḍl bin ʿAbbas to perform this distinctive prayer, and it describes its method and merit with slight verbal variations—essentially the same as what has already appeared in most earlier reports attributed to other Companions.

Isnad Investigation

(1) In the chain of “ذكر صالة التسبیح”, al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, no. 6, the following defects are found:

1. It contains ʿAbd al-Rahman bin ʿAbd al-Hamid al-Taʾi, whose identity and status are unknown to the rijal critics and hadith researchers; the standard biographical references are silent about him—thus he is majhul.

2. In the chain, this same ʿAbd al-Rahman transmits from his father, yet the father’s status is likewise unknown. Ibn Hajar says regarding both: ‘وَالطَّائِيُّ الْمَذْكُورُ لَا أَعْرِفُهُ وَلَا أَبَاهُ –’—“I do not know this Taʾi, nor do I know his father.”¹⁸

3. Furthermore, in this chain ʿAbd al-Rahman’s father transmits from a narrator named Abu Rafiʿ. Who this Abu Rafiʿ is, the rijal references do not clarify. Moreover, Ibn Hajar explains that he is not the

Companion Abu Rafiʿ al-Qibti; rather, in his view this narrator is Ismaʿil bin Rafiʿ, one of the weak transmitters.¹⁹

It should be noted that the transmitter identified by Ibn Hajar is in fact Abu Rafiʿ Ismaʿil bin Rafiʿ al-Ansari, from the generation of the tabaʿ al-tabiʿin; it has already been mentioned earlier in the article that the narration attributed to Jaʿfar bin Abi Talib is also transmitted through him. Many rijal critics considered him weak, and many hadith authorities labelled him munkar al-hadith or matruk al-hadith²⁰.

This also clarifies that, if Ibn Hajar’s identification is accepted, then—besides containing multiple unknown narrators—this chain is also broken: for how can a denounced (munkar) and abandoned (matruk al-hadith) transmitter from the tabaʿ al-tabiʿin narrate directly from Faḍl bin ʿAbbas, when Faḍl’s death occurred in the eighteenth year after the Hijrah, or even earlier?²¹ It is therefore self-evident that this chain is munqatiʿ, indeed muʿḍal²²: between Abu Rafiʿ and Faḍl bin ʿAbbas the chain requires the explicit mention of two or more transmitters, who are not stated here. Ismaʿil bin Rafiʿ narrating directly from Faḍl bin ʿAbbas cannot be acceptable in any way.

(2) In the chain of “ذكر صالة التسبیح”, al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, no. 7, the following two defects exist:

1. It contains Faḍl bin Abdullah al-Harawi, who is unknown; no reliable accreditation is established for him, and the rijal references are entirely devoid of his identification.

2. It contains ʿAbd al-Malik bin Harun bin ʿAntarah, whom al-Bukhari called munkar al-hadith; Yahya bin Saʿid al-Qattan called kadhdhab; and al-Saʿdi called “a dajjal kadhdhab.” Ibn Hibban said that he used to fabricate hadiths himself, and al-Daraqutni said that he lied in hadith, therefore he is matruk.²³

(3) As for Ibn Hajar’s final route cited in “امالی اًلذكار فی فضل صالة التسبیح”, p. 29, via Abu Nuʿaym’s “ کتابالقُربان”: it should be kept in mind that Ibn Hajar himself explicitly states (as mentioned above) that the Taʾi and his father are unknown, and that Abu Rafiʿ is also an unreliable transmitter; and by his own clarification the report’s being muʿḍal has already been established.

Ruling on the Report

From the foregoing investigation it is clear that the attribution to the Prophet of the verbal hadith narrated from Faḍl bin ʿAbbas is not established at all. The first and third routes are wholly baseless, extremely weak, and negligible due to unknown transmitters and a break in the chain; the second route is mawḍuʿ (fabricated) due to a lying and fabricating transmitter. Therefore, in light of the science of transmission, it is not permissible to cite the hadith of Faḍl bin ʿAbbas as evidence for establishing Salat al-Tasbih.

Moreover, the results of this investigation also bring to light an additional inconsistency in the report transmitted through an unreliable narrator such as Ismaʿil bin Rafiʿ al-Ansari: in some narrations he relates this incident from the Prophet via the Prophet’s cousin Jaʿfar bin Abi Talib, whereas in other narrations he reports it via the Prophet’s cousin Faḍl bin ʿAbbas. This instability and discrepancy also indicates the report’s unreliability.

[To Be Continued]