He also encouraged his community to say after every prayer: “Glory be to Allah” thirty-three times, “Praise be to Allah” the same number of times, and “Allah is the Greatest” likewise. To complete one hundred, they should say: “There is no god but Allah alone, with no partner. To Him belongs dominion and to Him belongs all praise, and He has power over all things” (1). In another form, “Allah is the Greatest” is said thirty-four times, thus completing one hundred (2).
Another form is to say “Glory be to Allah” twenty-five times, “Praise be to Allah” the same number of times, “Allah is the Greatest” likewise (3), and likewise: “There is no god but Allah alone, with no partner. To Him belongs dominion and to Him belongs all praise, and He has power over all things” (4).
Another form is to say “Glory be to Allah” ten times, “Praise be to Allah” ten times, and “Allah is the Greatest” ten times (5).
Another form is eleven repetitions, as recorded in Sahīh Muslim (6) in some
(1) Recorded by Muslim (597), from Abū Hurayra. The remainder reads: “His sins are forgiven, even if they are like the foam of the sea.”
(2) Recorded by Muslim (596), from Ka‘b ibn ‘Ujra. However, al-Bukhārī records it in al-Adab al-Mufrad (622) as a statement of Ka‘b, with the wording: “Mu‘aqqibāt (recurring invocations), whose reciter will not be disappointed: subhān Allāh (Glory be to Allah), al-hamdu lillāh (Praise be to Allah), lā ilāha illā Allāh (There is no god but Allah), and Allāhu akbar (Allah is the Greatest), one hundred times.” For a detailed discussion of the disagreement over whether the report is attributed to the Prophet or only to the Companion, see al-Albānī’s Sahīh al-Adab al-Mufrad and Natā’ij al-Afkār (2/266–270).
(3) ق, مب, and ن read: tahmīdan (“praising Allah”) and takbīran (“declaring Allah’s greatness”).
(4) Recorded by Ahmad (21659), Ibn al-Mundhir in al-Awsat (3/403), Ibn Hibbān (2017), and al-Bayhaqī in al-Da‘awāt al-Kabīr (1/78), from Zayd ibn Thābit. It was authenticated by Ibn Khuzayma, Ibn Hibbān, and al-Hāfiz in Natā’ij al-Afkār (2/277). The hadith uses the term tahlīl without specifying its wording; it may therefore also mean only lā ilāha illā Allāh (“There is no god but Allah”).
(5) Recorded by al-Bukhārī (6329), from Abū Hurayra, may Allah be pleased with him.
(6) No. 595/143. Muslim explicitly states that Rūh’s narration from Suhayl includes the addition: “Suhayl says: ‘Eleven of each, making thirty-three in all.’”