Virtue of Saying Subhan Allah Wa’l-hamdu Lillah

Firstly: 

In the saheeh hadeeth (authentic narration) about the virtues of tasbeeh (glorifying Allah), it says that this is a phrase for which a palm tree is planted in Paradise.

It was narrated from Jabir (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said:

“Whoever says Subhan Allah il ‘azeem wa bi hamdihi (Glory and praise be to Allah, the Almighty), a palm tree will be planted for him in Paradise.” 

Narrated by al-Tirmidhi (3464) who said: This is a hasan saheeh ghareeb hadeeth, which we know only from the hadeeth of Abu’l-Zubayr from Jabir (may Allah be pleased with him). And al-Mundhiri said (2/347): Its isnad (chain of transmission) is jayyid (good). It was classed as hasan (sound) by al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar in Nataij al-Afkar (1/104). It was classed as saheeh (authentic) by al-Albani in al-Silsilah al-Saheehah (hadeeth no. 64). 

Secondly: 

As for the hadeeths which depict the palm tree that is planted for saying Subhan Allah, and describe its leaves and branches in detail, none of them are saheeh. Three marfoo’ hadeeths (reports attributed to the Prophet) were narrated concerning this – according to what we have read – and all of them are severely weak or false. Here follows a more detailed discussion about them. 

The first hadeeth was narrated from Ibn ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: A man came to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and complained to him of poverty or debt. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said to him:

“What about the prayer of the angels and the tasbeeh of all creation by means of which Allah sends down provision from heaven?”

Ibn ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: I said: What is that, O Messenger of Allah? 

The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) sat up straight, as he had been reclining, and said:

“O Ibn ‘Umar, from the break of dawn until Fajr (early morning) prayer say: Subhan Allah wa bi hamdihi, subhan Allah al-‘Azeem wa astaghfir Allah (Glory and praise be to Allah, glory be to Allah, the Almighty, and I ask Allah for forgiveness), one hundred times, and worldly pleasure and comfort will surely come to you, and for every word that you say, Allah will create an angel who will glorify Him, and you will have his reward until the Day of Resurrection.”

This hadeeth was narrated by three isnads, all of which are false and fabricated. 

1.

It was narrated via Ishaq ibn Ibraheem al-Tabari from ‘Abd-Allah ibn al-Waleed al-‘Adani from Malik ibn Anas from Nafi’ from Ibn ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with him). 

It was also narrated by Ibn Hibban in al-Majrooheen (1/138) with this isnad, and via Ibn al-Jawzi in al-Mawdoo’at (3/164). It was narrated by Ibn ‘Adiyy in al-Kamil fi’l-Du’afa’ (1/343) and al-Daylami in Musnad al-Firdaws (3731). It was quoted by al-Hafiz in Lisan al-Mizan via the isnad of al-Daraqutni in al-Ruwat ‘an Malik. Perhaps al-Daraqutni was narrating it here from Ibn Hibban , as is also the case with the isnad of Ibn al-Jazwi. In al-Khasais al-Kubra (2/262), al-Suyooti attributed it to al-Khateeb al-Baghdadi in Ruwat Malik. In Takhreej Ihya ‘Uloom al-Deen (1/299), al-‘Iraqi attributed it to al-Mustaghfiri in al-Da’wat. 

I say: this isnad is munkar jiddan (strongly denounced), because of Ishaq ibn Ibraheem al-Tabari, of whom Ibn Hibban said: He is munkar al-hadeeth jiddan (i.e., his narrations are very weak); he narrated fabricated things from trustworthy narrators, and it is not permissible to write down his hadeeth except by way of demonstrating how strange his narrations are. End quote. 

2.

It was narrated by Ibn al-Jawzi in al-Mawdoo’at (3/164) from some unknown (majhool) narrators, where he said: It was narrated by another isnad, Allah knows best what it is: Isma’eel ibn Abi Salih al-Muadhdhin told us, ‘Abd-Allah ibn ‘Ali ibn Ishaq al-Faqeeh told us, Abu Hassan Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Muzakki told us, Abu’l-Husayn Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Jabir al-‘Attar narrated to us, Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Ibraheem al-Harawi narrated to us, Abu Raja Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Hamdawayh narrated to us, ‘Ali ibn Jahm narrated to us, ‘Abd-Allah ibn Waleed narrated to us, from Malik ibn Anas, from Nafi’, from Ibn ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with him): that a man came to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and said: O Messenger of Allah, I work hard and I hardly earn anything. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said to him: What about the tasbeeh of the angels? They asked: What is it? He said: “If you say tasbeeh one hundred times before you pray Fajr, (saying) Subhan Allah wa bi hamdihi, subhan Allah il-‘Azeem, Allah will send your provision (rizq) to you thereby even if you do not want it.” End quote.   

3.

Al-Suyooti said in al-La’ali al-Masnoo’ah fi’l-Ahadeeth al-Mawdoo’ah (1/462): 

It has another isnad. Al-Hakim said in his Tareekh: Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Nasarabadhi narrated to us: Al-‘Abbas ibn Hamzah narrated to us: Ahmad ibn Khalid al-Shaybani narrated to us: ‘Abd-Allah ibn Naafi’ al-Madani narrated to us, from Malik, and he mentioned it in the same words as were narrated in the first isnad. Ahmad ibn Khalid: it seems that he is al-Juwaybari, one of the greatest charlatans. And Allah knows best. End quote. 

Hence the muhadditheen (scholar specializing in the sciences of hadeeth) are unanimously agreed that this hadeeth is da’eef (weak). 

Ibn Hibban said concerning it in al-Majrooheen (1/138): It has no basis at all, and I do not doubt that it is a fabrication attributed to Malik. End quote.  

In his book al-Kamil fi’l-Du’afa, Ibn ‘Adiyy said: It is falsely attributed to Malik. 

Ibn al-Jawzi said in al-Mawdoo’at (3/164): 

This hadeeth is not soundly narrated from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). End quote. 

Al-‘Iraqi said in Takhreej Ihya ‘Uloom al-Deen li’l-Ghazali (1/299): 

It was narrated by al-Mustaghfiri in al-Da’wat from the hadeeth of Ibn ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with him), and he said: It is ghareeb from the hadeeth of Malik, and I do not know of any basis for it in the hadeeth of Malik. End quote. 

Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar said in Lisan al-Meezan (3/434), in his biography of ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad al-Yahmadi, or it was said al-Tameemi: 

He is an unknown Shaykh. Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Ghalib, who is known as Ghulam Khaleel but he is worthless, narrated from him. Al-Daraqutni narrated in al-Ruwat ‘an Malik from Dawood ibn Habeeb, from Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Ghalib, from him, from Malik, from Nafi’, from Ibn ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) who said: A man said: O Messenger of Allah … and he mentioned the same hadeeth. 

Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar said: It was narrated by al-Khateeb via Abu’l-Fath al-Azdi, from ‘Abd-Allah ibn Ghalib, from Ghulam Khaleel, from ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad al-Tameemi. 

And he narrated a similar report via Abu Hammah Muhammad ibn Yoosuf, from Yazeed ibn Abi Hakeem, from Ishaq ibn Ibraheem al-Tabari, from Malik, and he said: It is not saheeh from Malik, and I do not think that Ishaq met Maalik. 

And it was narrated by a group with isnads which are all weak. End quote. 

The ruling on it has been mentioned in the answer to question no. 110949

The second hadeeth:

Al-Suyooti narrated in al-Hawi lil-Fatawi (2/40) a hadeeth with a similar meaning: 

“Whoever says Subhan Allah wa bi hamdihi, Allah will create for him an angel with two eyes and two wings and two lips and a tongue, who will fly with the angels and seek forgiveness for the one who says it until the Day of Resurrection.” 

It was narrated by the author of al-Seerah al-Halabiyyah (1/246) and also in Nuzhat al-Jalis (p. 287). 

We could not find the isnad of this hadeeth. 

The third hadeeth: 

It was narrated that Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: 

“Whoever says Subhan Allah wa bi hamdihi, Allah will plant for him one thousand palm trees in Paradise, with trunks of gold and branches of pearl, with fruits like the breasts of virgins and sweeter than honey and softer than butter. Every time he takes something from it, it will be restored as it was.” 

This was narrated by Ibn ‘Adiyy in al-Kamil fi’l-Du’afa’ (2/150). He said: Hudhayfah narrated to us, Abu Umayyah narrated to us, Ja’far ibn Jasr ibn Farqad al-Qasaab narrated to us, from his father, from Thabit, from Anas (may Allah be pleased with him). 

I say: With regard to this Ja’far ibn Jasr, Ibn ‘Adiyy said of him in al-Kamil (2/150), after quoting this hadeeth of his among the munkar (weak and odd) reports: 

Ja’far ibn Jasr narrated munkar ahadeeth other than that which I have mentioned, and I did not see any comment concerning him from those who speak of men’s biographies, and I do not know how they could have overlooked him, because most of what he narrated is munkar. I mentioned him when I criticized the isnads and texts (mutoon) that he narrated. Perhaps that is because he is like his father, because his father was discussed by those who came before us and spoke of weak narrators (al-du’afa’), as I have not seen Ja’far narrate from anyone but his father. End quote. 

Al-‘Aqeeli said in al-Du’afa’ al-Kabeer (1/187): 

His memory is very bad, and he narrated munkar reports. End quote.

Ibn al-Jawzi said in al-‘Ilal al-Mutanahiyah (2/833): 

This hadeeth is not saheeh. End quote. 

He was classed as da’eef by Ibn al-Qayyim in al-Manar al-Muneef (p. 43) and by al-Hafiz al-Dhahabi in Meezan al-I’tidal (1/404). In the comments of Shahr ibn Hawshab, the famous narrator, it says: 

“Whoever says Subhan Allah wa bi hamdihi, Allah will create an angel for these words of his, who will go to the fourth heaven and wash in a river called the River of Life, then he will emerge from it and shake his wings, from which there will fall something like drops of rain, and from each drop Allah will create an angel which will glorify Him and sanctify Him, and that will continue until the first Trumpet blast.” 

This was narrated by Abu’l-Shaykh al-Asbahani in al-‘Azamah (1/492) who said: al-Fadl ibn al-‘Abbas ibn Mahran narrated to us, Yahya ibn ‘Abd-Allah ibn Bukayr narrated to us, Muslim ibn Khalid narrated to us, from Ibn Abi Husayn, from Shahr ibn Hawshab. 

To sum up, there is no saheeh hadeeth which says that if a Muslim glorifies his Lord, Allah will create an angel who will pray for forgiveness for him until the Day of Resurrection. 

And Allah knows best.