olume 4, Page 102a: Excellence of Pronouncing La llaha illa-Allah Sincerely
Abu Hurairah reported that the Prophet, peace be upon him, said, "When a servant of Allah utters the words la ilaha illa'Allah (there is none worthy of worship except Allah) sincerely, the doors of heaven open up for these words until they reach the Throne of Allah, so long as its utterer keeps away from the major sins.'' (Tirmizhi, who says it is a hasan gharib hadith)
Abu Hurairah also reported that the Prophet, peace be upon him, said, "Renew your faith." "How can we renew our faith?" they asked. The Prophet, peace be upon him, replied, "Say always, 'La ilaha ill-Allah'.'' (Reported by Ahmad with a sound chain of authorities)
Jabir reported that the Prophet, peace be upon him, said, "The best remembrance of Allah is to repeat La ilaha ill-Allah and the best prayer is alhamdu li-Allah (All Praise is due to Allah).'' (Reported by Nasa'i, Ibn Majah, and Al-Hakim, who considers its chain sound)
Volume 4, Page 103: Excellence of Tasbih, Tahmid, Tahlil, Takbir and Other Supplications
Abu Hurairah reported that the Prophet, peace be upon him, said, "There are two phrases that are light on the tongue but heavy on the scale of rewards and are dear to (Allah) the Gracious One. These are, subhanallah wa bi-hamdihi (All Glory is to Allah and all Praise to Him), and subhanallah al-azim (Glorified is Allah, the Great).'' (Muslim, Bukhari, and Tirmizhi) Abu Hurairah also reported that the Prophet, peace be upon him, said, "I love repeating subhanallah, wal-hamdulillah, wa la-ilaha ill-Allah, wa-Allahu akbar (Glorified is Allah, all praise is due to Allah, and there is no God but Allah, Allah is the greatest) more than all that the sun shines upon.'' (Muslim and Tirmizhi)
Abu Zharr reported, "the Prophet, peace be upon him, said, 'Shall I tell you the words that Allah loves the most?' I said, 'Yes, tell me, O Messenger of Allah.' He said, 'The words most dear to Allah are subhan-Allah wa bihamdihi (Glorified is Allah with all praise due to Him)'." This is narrated by Muslim and Tirmizhi. In Tirmizhi's version, we also find the following: "The words most dear to Allah which He has chosen for His angels are subhana Rabbi wa bihamdihi, subhana Rabbi wa bihamdihi (Glorified is my Lord with all praise due to Him, Glorified is my Lord with all praise due to Him)."
Jabir reported that the Prophet, peace be upon him, said, "Whoever says Subhan-Allah-al-Azim wa bihamdihi (Glorified is Allah, the Great, with all praise due to Him), will have a palm tree planted for him in Paradise.'' (Reported by Tirmizhi who considers it a sound hadith.)
Abu Sa'id reported that the Prophet, peace be upon him, said, "Perform the enduring goods deeds more frequently." The asked, "What are these enduring deeds?" The Prophet, peace be upon him, replied, At-Takbir, (Saying Allahu akbar i.e., Allah is the greatest) At-Tahlil, (Saying la ilaha ill-Allah, i.e., there is no god but Allah) At-Tasbih, (Saying subhan-Allah meaning, Exalted and far removed is Allah from any weakness) al-hamdu li-Allah, (This means: All praise belongs to Allah alone) and la hawla wala quwwata illa billah. (There is no power nor any authority except with the permission of Allah) This is reported by An-Nasa'i and Al-Hakim, who consider its chain of authorities sound.
Abdallah reported that the Prophet, peace be upon him, said, "During the Night Journey I met Ibrahim who said to me, 'O Muhammad, convey my greetings to your ummah, and tell them that the Paradise is of pure land, its water is sweet, and its expanse is vast, spacious and even. And its plants are Subhan-Allah, wal-hamdulillah, wala ilah illallah, wa-Allahu akbar'.''
Samura ibn Jundab reported that the Prophet, peace be upon him, said, "The dearest phrases to Allah are four: Subhan Allah, (Glorified is Allah), al-Hamdulillah (All praise be to Allah), Wa la ilaha ill-Allah (There is no God but Allah), and Allah-o-Akbar (Allah is the Greatest). There is no harm in beginning them in any order you choose while remembering Allah.'' (Muslim)
Abu Mas'ud reported that the Prophet, peace be upon him, said, "If anyone recites the last two verses of Surat al-Baqarah, they will suffice for him,'' (Bukhariand Muslim) that is, these two verses will bring him a reward equivalent to that of a night prayer, and will safeguard him from any hurt during that night. Ibn Khuzaimah in his Sahih has also mentioned it under the chapter "The Recitation of the Qur'an Equivalent in Reward to a Night Prayer."
Abu Sa'id reported that the Prophet, peace be upon him, asked, "Can anyone of you recite a third of the Qur'an during the night?" The Companions considered this rather difficult and they said, "Who among us can do so, O Prophet of Allah?" Thereupon the Prophet, peace be upon him, said, "(Say
He is Allah, the One and Only; Allah, the Eternal, Absolute; He begetteth not, nor is he begotten; and there is none like unto Him.'' (The reference here is to recitation of Surah 112 (Suratul Ikhlas) of the Qur'an, which the Prophet, peace be upon him, described as equivalent to reciting one-third of the Qur'an. This hadith is reported by Bukhari, Muslim, and Nasa'i)
Abu Hurairah reported that the Prophet, peace be upon him, said, "Whoever says, 'La llaha illa-Allahu wahdahu la sharika lahu, lahul-mulku wa lahul-hamd wa huwa 'ala kulli shai'in qadir' a hundred times during a day will have a reward equivalent to the reward for freeing ten slaves. Besides, a hundred good deeds will be recorded for him and a hundred bad deeds of his will be wiped off, and it will be a safeguard for him from Satan that day until evening, and no one will be better in deeds than such a person except he who does more than that.'' (Bukhari, Muslim, Tirmizhi, Nasa'i, and Ibn Majah) In the version of Muslim, Tirmizhi, and Nasa'i, we find this addition: "And whoever says subhan Allah wa bi-hamdihi a hundred times during a day, will have all his sins wiped off even if they were as numerous as the foam on the surface of the sea."
Volume 4, Page 105: Excellence of Istighfar
Anas reported that he heard the Prophet, peace be upon him, saying that Allah says, "O son of Adam, whatever you asked Me and expect from Me I forgave - respecting that which you owed to Me - and I don't care [how great this was]. O Son of Adam, even if your sins pile up to the sky and then you seek My forgiveness I will forgive you, and O son of Adam, even if you have an earthful of sins but you meet Me without associating any other thing with Me I will forgive you.' (Reported by Tirmizhi, who considers it a hasan sahih hadith)
Abdallah b. 'Abbas said, "If one supplicates without fail for forgiveness from Allah, He finds a way out for him to get out of every distress and difficulty, and gives him sustenance through ways utterly unthought of.'' (Reported by Abu Daw'ud, Nasa'i, Ibn Majah, and Al-Hakim, who says its chain of authorities is sound.)
Volume 4, Page 105a: Some Comprehensive Forms of Zhikr
Juwairiyah (One of the wives of the Prophet, peace be upon him) reported that one day the Prophet, peace be upon him, left her apartment in the morning as she was busy observing her dawn prayer in her place of worship. He came back in the forenoon and she was still sitting there. The Prophet, peace be upon him, said to her, "You have been in the same place since I left you?" She said, "Yes." Thereupon the Prophet, peace be upon him, said, "I recited four words three times after I left you and if these were to be weighed against what you have recited since morning these would outweigh them, and these words are: Subhanallah wa bihamdihi 'adada khalqihi wa rida' nafsihi wa zinata 'arshihi wa midada kalimatihi (hallowed be Allah and praise is due to Him to the extent of the number of His creation and to the extent of His pleasure and to the extent of the weight of His Throne and to the extent of ink used in recording words for His Praise).'' (Reported by Muslim and Abu Daw'ud)
Sa'd ibn Abu Waqqas reported that once the Prophet, peace be upon him, saw a woman who had some date-stones or pebbles which she was using as beads to glorify Allah. The Prophet, peace be upon him, said to her, "Let me tell you something which would be easier and more excellent for you than that." So he told her to say instead Subhan-Allah 'adada ma khalaqa fil-ard wa subhan Allah 'adada ma khalaqa bayna zhalika wa subhan-Allah 'adada ma huwa khaliq wa Allahu akhar mithla zhalik wa la ilaha illa-Allahu mithla zhalik wa la hawla wa la quwwata illa mithla zhalik (Glory be to Allah as many times as the number of what He has created in Heaven, Glory be to Allah as many times as the number of what He has created on Earth, Glory be to Allah as many times as the number of what He has created between them, Glory be to Allah as many times as the number of that which He is creating, Allah is the most great a similar number of times, praise be to Allah a similar number of times, and There is no god but Allah a similar number of times, and there is no might and no power except with Allah a similar number of times).'' (Reported by the Compilers of the Sunan and Al-Hakim, who says it is a sound hadith according to the criterion of Muslim)
Ibn 'Umar reported that the Prophet, peace be upon him, told them, "A servant of Allah said 'My Lord! All praise is for You as much as Your Glory and Sublime Majesty rightly deserve. ' This was too much for the two angels to record. They did not know how to record it. So they soared to the heaven and said, 'Our Lord! Your servant has said something which we don't know how to record?' Allah asked them--and, of course, He knew what the servant had said--'What did My servant say?' They said, 'He has said, "My Lord! All praise is for You as much as Your Glory and Sublime Majesty rightly deserve." Allah said to them, ' Write it down as My servant has said until he should meet Me and I reward him for it'.' (Reported by Ahmad and Ibn Majah)
Volume 4, Page 106: Counting on One's Fingers is Better than Counting Beads
Yusairah reported that the Prophet, peace be upon him, commanded them (the emigrant women) to be regular in remembering Allah by saying, "Allah is the most great," "Glory be to Allah, the Holy," and "There is no God but Allah," and never to be forgetful of Allah and His Mercy, and to count them on their fingers, for the fingers will be questioned and will speak. (Reported in the Sunan and by Al-Hakim with a sound chain of authorities)
Abdallah b. 'Amr b. al-'As reported, "I saw the Prophet, peace be upon him, counting the glorifications of Allah on his right hand's fingers.'' (Reported in the Sunan)