Salatul Tasbih: How to Pray It Step by Step, With the 300 Tasbihs

What Salatul Tasbih is

Salatul Tasbih (صلاة التسبيح), the prayer of glorification, is a voluntary prayer of four rakats in which the following phrase is said seventy-five times in each rakat, for three hundred in total:

سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ، وَالْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ، وَلَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ، وَاللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ

Subhanallah, walhamdulillah, wa la ilaha illallah, wallahu akbar

"Glory be to Allah, all praise is for Allah, there is no god but Allah, and Allah is the Greatest."

The tasbih is said at fixed points within each rakat: after the recitation, in ruku, after rising from ruku, in each sujud, and in the sitting between them. Apart from the added tasbih, the prayer is a normal four-rakat nafl prayer.

The hadith of Salatul Tasbih

Ibn Abbas reported that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said to his uncle al-Abbas ibn Abdul Muttalib:

"O Abbas, O my uncle, shall I not give you a gift? Shall I not grant you something? Shall I not tell you of something which, if you do it, Allah will forgive you your sins, first and last, old and new, unintentional and deliberate, small and great, secret and open? Ten things:

That you pray four rakats, reciting in each rakat al-Fatihah and a surah. When you finish reciting in the first rakat, say while standing: Subhanallah, walhamdulillah, wa la ilaha illallah, wallahu akbar, fifteen times. Then bow and say it ten times in ruku. Then raise your head from ruku and say it ten times. Then prostrate and say it ten times. Then raise your head from prostration and say it ten times. Then prostrate and say it ten times. Then raise your head and say it ten times. That is seventy-five in each rakat. Do that in all four rakats.

If you can pray it every day, do so. If not, then every Friday. If not, then every month. If not, then every year. If not, then once in your lifetime." (Abu Dawud, Ibn Majah, and others)

Notice the ladder at the end. The Prophet did not tell his uncle to pray it five times a day. He offered a range from daily to once in a life, which is why many Muslims pray it on special nights: Laylatul Qadr, the night of Eid, a Friday, or when they feel the weight of their sins.

How scholars grade the hadith

Honesty requires this section, because you will read confident claims in both directions.

The hadith of Salatul Tasbih is reported through several chains, and scholars have differed sharply on it:

• Those who accept it as hasan or sahih include al-Hakim, al-Bayhaqi, Ibn as-Salah, al-Mundhiri, Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani (who said it is hasan through the combination of its chains), as-Suyuti, and, in modern times, al-Albani, who graded it sahih. Abu Dawud recorded it without criticism, and there are reports that Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak, one of the greatest early scholars, practised it.
• Those who consider it weak or unproven include Ibn al-Jawzi, who listed it among fabricated reports, an-Nawawi, who was cautious in some of his works, Imam Ahmad, who is reported not to have accepted it, and Ibn Taymiyyah, who considered it not established.

The practical result across the schools: the Shafi'i and Hanafi schools generally consider it a recommended prayer, following the scholars who accepted the hadith; the Hanbali and Maliki positions lean toward not affirming it as a Sunnah. No scholar considers it forbidden; the disagreement is about whether it is an established Sunnah with a specific reward.

What this means for you. If you pray Salatul Tasbih, you are following a large body of hadith scholars including Ibn Hajar and al-Albani, and you are, at minimum, praying four rakats of nafl and saying three hundred tasbihs, both of which are rewarded beyond any dispute. If you choose not to, you are following other respected scholars, and you lose nothing by praying ordinary nafl instead. Do not argue about it with the person on the next prayer mat.

The counts in each rakat

The normal tasbihs of ruku (Subhana Rabbiyal Azim) and sujud (Subhana Rabbiyal A'la) are still said first, in their usual place; the Salatul Tasbih phrase is added after them.

The alternative arrangement

A second narration places the first fifteen before the recitation (after the opening dua, before al-Fatihah) and ten after the recitation, dropping the ten in the sitting after the second sujud. Both arrangements have a basis; the table above follows the narration of Ibn Abbas in Abu Dawud and is the one most commonly taught.

How to pray Salatul Tasbih step by step

Preparation

• Make wudu and face the qiblah as for any prayer.
• Intend four rakats of Salatul Tasbih. In the Hanafi practice it is usually prayed as four rakats with one salam at the end and a sitting for tashahhud after the second rakat; in the Shafi'i practice it may be prayed as two sets of two with a salam after each. Both are valid.
• Choose a way to count (see below) before you start.

First rakat

1. Say the opening takbir (Allahu Akbar), then the opening dua (Subhanakallahumma...), then a'udhu billah and bismillah.
2. Recite al-Fatihah and a surah. Any surah; many people use al-Ikhlas, al-Kafirun, al-Falaq and an-Nas across the four rakats.
3. Still standing, say the tasbih 15 times.
4. Say Allahu Akbar and go into ruku. Say Subhana Rabbiyal Azim three times as usual, then the tasbih 10 times.
5. Rise saying Sami'allahu liman hamidah, Rabbana lakal hamd, then, standing, the tasbih 10 times.
6. Say Allahu Akbar and go into sujud. Say Subhana Rabbiyal A'la three times, then the tasbih 10 times.
7. Sit up between the sujud. Say Rabbighfir li if you wish, then the tasbih 10 times.
8. Second sujud: Subhana Rabbiyal A'la three times, then the tasbih 10 times.
9. Sit up briefly (jalsat al-istirahah) and say the tasbih 10 times before standing.

That is 75. Stand for the second rakat.

Second rakat

Repeat steps 2 to 8 exactly. After the second sujud, sit for the tashahhud as normal and say the tasbih 10 times before beginning the tashahhud (At-tahiyyatu...). Then recite the tashahhud and, if praying four with one salam, stand for the third rakat without salam.

Third and fourth rakats

Repeat as the first and second. In the fourth rakat, after the ten tasbihs in the final sitting, recite the tashahhud, the salawat (Allahumma salli ala Muhammad...), any dua, and end with the salam.

After the prayer

The narration does not prescribe a specific dua afterwards. Make dua for forgiveness, since that is the reward the prayer is associated with, and use the normal post-prayer adhkar if you wish.

How to keep count without losing your place

Three hundred repetitions across seven positions is where most people give up. These methods work.

Fingers, the Sunnah way. Count on the finger joints of your right hand. Each finger has three joints, so one hand gives you fifteen, which is exactly the standing count. For the tens, use the joints of three fingers plus one. Keep your left hand still. The Prophet (peace be upon him) counted tasbih on his fingers (Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi).

A rhythm of fives. Say the tasbih in groups of five with a tiny pause between groups: five, five, five for fifteen; five, five for ten. The pauses keep the count without a number in your head.

A tasbih (prayer beads) held in the right hand is permitted by most scholars for a nafl prayer, provided your movement is minimal. Move a bead with the thumb at each tasbih. Do not swing it or look at it.

If you lose count, go with the lower number and add one or two more. An extra tasbih harms nothing; a missing one is a minor lapse in a voluntary prayer, not an invalidation.

If you forget the tasbih in one position, say it in the next position to make up the number. The scholars who accept the prayer say that a missed count is made up in the following posture and the total still stands.

When to pray Salatul Tasbih

The hadith itself gives the schedule: daily if you can, otherwise weekly, monthly, yearly, or once in a lifetime. Within that, the usual times people choose:

• Friday, the day named in the hadith, after Jummah or in the afternoon.
• The last ten nights of Ramadan, especially the odd nights, alongside Taraweeh and Tahajjud.
• The night before Eid, which the early Muslims spent in worship.
• After Isha or in the last third of the night, when there is time for a long, unhurried prayer.
• Any time you feel the need for forgiveness, since that is the prayer's stated purpose.

Avoid the forbidden times for voluntary prayer: from after Fajr until the sun has risen a spear's length, when the sun is at its zenith, and from after Asr until sunset. Otherwise it may be prayed by day or by night.

Common mistakes with Salatul Tasbih

• Saying the tasbih instead of the normal tasbihs of ruku and sujud. Say Subhana Rabbiyal Azim and Subhana Rabbiyal A'la first, as always, then add the Salatul Tasbih phrase.
• Rushing the three hundred into a blur. It should take twenty to thirty minutes. If it takes seven, the tongue is moving and the heart is not.
• Moving the head or body to count. Nodding for each tasbih is a distracting movement in prayer. Count on the fingers.
• Praying it in congregation as a fixed event. It is an individual voluntary prayer. Praying it together occasionally is permitted by many scholars, but making it a regular congregational ritual with an announced time is not from the Sunnah.
• Treating it as a substitute for the obligatory prayers or the emphasised sunnahs. It comes after them, not instead of them.
• Believing it wipes out sins without repentance. Every promise of forgiveness attached to an act of worship assumes the person has stopped the sin and regrets it. The prayer is a means; tawbah is the condition.
• Arguing about its authenticity in the masjid. Both positions are held by great scholars. Pray it or do not; leave others to their choice.

The meaning of the tasbih itself

Whatever the ruling on the prayer, the phrase at its heart is beyond dispute. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said that these four phrases, Subhanallah, walhamdulillah, wa la ilaha illallah, wallahu akbar, are "the most beloved speech to Allah" (Muslim), that they are "the everlasting good deeds" mentioned in the Quran (18:46) according to many commentators, and that saying them plants trees in Paradise.

• Subhanallah declares Allah free of every imperfection.
• Alhamdulillah attributes every perfection and every favour to Him.
• La ilaha illallah singles Him out as the only one worthy of worship.
• Allahu Akbar places Him above everything that could compete for your attention.

Three hundred repetitions of that, with a body moving through bowing and prostration, is a complete lesson in who Allah is and who you are. That is why the prayer has survived thirteen centuries of scholarly disagreement about its chain: its content is exactly what worship is.