When to pray Salatul Tasbih

The schedule in the narration

In descending order, as the report gives it.

• Every day.
• If not daily, then once a week.
• If not weekly, then once a month.
• If not monthly, then once a year.
• If not yearly, then at least once in your lifetime.

The answer on this site

Mufti Salim Qasmi: there is no fixed time. Pray it whenever you can. Once a month, once a year, or once in a lifetime all count.

That is not a concession invented later. It is the hadith's own wording. The narration ends by stepping the frequency down: daily if you can, and if not weekly, and if not monthly, and if not yearly, and if not then once in your lifetime. The Arabic carrying that ladder is on the method page.

Is there a required time of day?

No. The narration ties it to no particular hour.

Because it is a voluntary prayer, the ordinary rules for nafl timing apply.

That means the times at which voluntary prayer is generally avoided are avoided here too — around sunrise, at the sun's zenith, and around sunset.

The times people commonly choose

None of these is prescribed by the hadith. They are practice.

Choosing one of these is fine. Believing the hadith specified it is not.

• The last third of the night, when voluntary prayer is generally encouraged.
• Before or after Isha, simply because there is time.
• In Ramadan, and particularly the last ten nights.
• On Friday.
• The 15th night of Sha'ban, in some regions.

Can it be prayed at any time?

Within the normal limits for voluntary prayer, yes.

If you are unsure whether a particular moment is one of the disliked times where you are, ask a local scholar rather than a website — sunrise and sunset shift and the rulings are practical rather than abstract.

Before you set a routine

The prayer is disputed. Making it a daily fixture is a decision worth making with the disagreement in view.

That is on is Salatul Tasbih authentic, and the categorisation question is on sunnah, nafl or bid'ah.