Practice · 4 min read
What to say on a tasbih
A tasbih does not belong to one phrase. Anything you would say as dhikr can be counted on it, and the strand does not care which.
What follows is the list this site's counter ships with: the phrase, the number where a narration gives one, and the reference for each. Several of these carry no narrated count at all, and that is stated rather than filled in with a round number. Every phrase below can be opened in the counter itself, where the Arabic, the meaning and the grading are shown together.
The post-salah sequence
The best-known use of a tasbih, said after each fard prayer, in this order.
Most apps begin at SubhanAllah and skip the two steps before it. The full sequence with the reasoning for each step is on dhikr after salah, and the question of 33-33-34 against 33-33-33 plus one is answered on why 33.
- Astaghfirullah — 3 times — Sahih Muslim 591.
- The salam formula — once — Sahih Muslim 591.
- SubhanAllah — 33 — Sahih Muslim 597a.
- Alhamdulillah — 33 — Sahih Muslim 597a.
- Allahu Akbar — 33 — Sahih Muslim 597a.
- La ilaha illallah, in the longer wording that closes the hundred — once — Sahih al-Bukhari 844.
Phrases with a narrated count
These carry a specific number in the narration, so the number is not convention.
Juwayriyah's phrase is worth noticing because the count is only three. A long strand is no help with it.
- Astaghfirullah — 100 a day — Sahih Muslim 2702.
- SubhanAllahi wa bihamdihi — 100 — Sahih al-Bukhari 6405.
- Juwayriyah's phrase — 3 — Sahih Muslim 2726a.
Phrases with no narrated count
These are established phrases with sound references, but the texts give no number for them. That means no number is required.
This site's counter shows no target for these rather than defaulting to 33 or 100. Fixing a number where the narration gave none, and then treating that number as established, is the specific thing scholars have objected to — and it is a different matter from choosing a wird for yourself.
La ilaha illallah is the clearest case: 100 is extremely common practice, and it is practice rather than a narrated count.
- SubhanAllahil-Azim wa bihamdihi, the two heavy words — Sahih al-Bukhari 6682.
- La hawla wa la quwwata illa billah — Sahih al-Bukhari 6384.
- La ilaha illallah — Jami' at-Tirmidhi 3383. No count narrated; 100 is common practice.
- Hasbunallahu wa ni'mal-wakeel — Quran 3:173, Sahih al-Bukhari 4563.
- Durood Ibrahim — Sahih al-Bukhari 3370.
- Short salawat on the Prophet — Sahih Muslim 408.
Occasion-specific phrases
Two more that belong to particular times rather than the daily round.
The Laylatul Qadr dua is the one most often misquoted, with an extra word added in circulating images. That is covered on the Laylatul Qadr dua.
- The Laylatul Qadr dua — Jami' at-Tirmidhi 3513.
- The talbiyah, for hajj and umrah — Sahih al-Bukhari 1549.
Building a daily wird
If you want a fixed daily portion rather than only the post-salah sequence, the honest advice is short.
Start with what is narrated with a number, because you can hold to it without deciding anything: Astaghfirullah 100, SubhanAllahi wa bihamdihi 100, and the post-salah sequence after each prayer. That is already a substantial day.
Beyond that, choosing your own amount of a phrase is a personal wird. Scholars differ on how much structure to give it, but nobody disputes that saying more of an established phrase is permitted. What is disputed is presenting your chosen number as though the sunnah gave it.
The rule this site follows is on the methodology page: where a hadith gives no number, the interface says so.
Does it have to be Arabic?
The narrated phrases are Arabic and are said as narrated. That is the practice, and it is why the transliteration matters.
Understanding what you are saying is a separate and worthwhile effort, and it is the reason this counter shows the meaning alongside every phrase rather than the Arabic alone. Repeating a sentence you cannot parse is not the goal.