Salat al-Tasbih lil-Khatib
- Author died
- 463 AH
- Editions
- Al-Dar al-Athariyyah
Salat al-Tasbih (Arabic: صلاة التسبيح, lit. 'The Tasbih Prayer') or Dhikr Salat al-Tasbih is a hadith monograph (juz') compiled by the Shafi'i scholar and hadith master al-Khatib al-Baghdadi (392–463 AH / 1002–1071 CE) . The work gathers the transmissions, chains of narrators, and textual variants of the prophetic traditions concerning the four-unit non-obligatory prayer known as Salat al-Tasbih .
Scope and Structure
The book is structured around narrations from different Companions who transmitted instructions from the Prophet ﷺ regarding the prayer's formula, which consists of four rak'ahs containing seventy-five glorifications (tasbih) in each rak'ah (totaling three hundred across the prayer) . Al-Khatib organized the text by Companion narrations, citing his own chains of transmission and highlighting variations in phrasing (ikhtilaf alfaz al-naqilin) :
- Ali ibn Abi Talib: Al-Khatib recorded reports transmitted through Ali, noting regarding one specific transmission that he knew of no other narration that explicitly designated the prayer for Friday .
- Ja'far ibn Abi Talib: Including the narration where the Prophet ﷺ offered to teach him this prayer upon his return .
- Al-Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib: Containing the well-known address to the Prophet's uncle promising the forgiveness of sins, alongside alternative schedules for performing it daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly .
- Al-Fadl ibn al-Abbas: Transmitted via Abu Rafi' and others, outlining the specific formula and reward .
- Abdullah ibn Abbas: Presenting multiple lines of transmission for the famous narration via Ikrima .
Transmission and Reception
Al-Khatib delivered the text through oral dictation (lafzan) in Damascus in Jumada al-Ula 457 AH to his student Abu Muhammad Abd al-Karim ibn Hamza al-Sulami al-Haddad, who later taught it to the historian Ibn Asakir in Rajab 566 AH at the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus .
The work is referenced in classical bibliographic and biographical literature, such as al-Dhahabi's Tadhkirat al-Huffaz and Muhammad ibn Ja'far al-Kattani's al-Risala al-Mustatrafa . Later scholars discussing the legal status and authentication of the prayer—such as Abu Shama al-Maqdisi and Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani—frequently referenced al-Khatib's collection as one of the specialized treatises that compiled its avenues of transmission and named the Companions who narrated it .
Manuscripts and Publication
Manuscript copies of the treatise are preserved in collections including the Islamic University of Madinah . A printed edition based on an ancient manuscript bearing audition records (sama'at) written by scholars such as al-Birzali, al-Mizzi, and Abu al-Wahsh was prepared by Firas ibn Khalil Mash'al, with an introductory study and notes by Mashhur ibn Hasan Al Salman, published by al-Dar al-Athariyya in Amman .
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