wikishia:Featured Article/2018/4

Tasbiḥ (Arabic: تسبیح) means praising God as exalted and pure from all imperfections. Any vocal dhikr containing such praise is also called tasbih.

The best time for saying tasbih is before sunrise and sunset, and the most common formula for it is "subhanallah" (Arabic: سبحان الله, Glory be to Allah).

Tasbih of Lady Fatima (a) is one of the most famous types of tasbih in Shiism, and emphasized in several Sunni and Shi'i hadiths.

Seven suras of the Qur'an begin with tasbih, and so they are known as musabbihat. Tasbih and its paronyms are repeated ninety times in the Qur'an. Among them, the word "subhan" is the most used word. Most of these words mean glorifying and exalting God. Sometimes tasbih comes together with praise (hamd) in the Qur'an, such as praise of angels, thunder, and etc.

Some verses of the Qur'an encourage to say tasbih in each morning and evening, this shows that tasbih could be done in all times. In other verses, it is commanded to tasbih in some special times, like before sunrise and sunset, midnight, during the day and night, and after sajda. Among them tasbih is specially emphasized at sunrise and sunset.

In Islamic tradition, tasbih usually means dhikr of "subhanallah"; but in its extended usage this term includes other dhikrs such as "Allah-u akbar" (Arabic: أللهُ أکبر, Allah is greater), "al-hamd-u li-Allah" (Arabic: ألحَمدُ لله, the praise is for Allah) etc. Read more...