and its plants are: Subḥān Allāh, al-ḥamdu lillāh, lā ilāha illā Allāh, Allāhu akbar. (1)

ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr and Ibn Masʿūd once sat together. Ibn Masʿūd said, “For me to take a path along which I say: Subḥān Allāh, al-ḥamdu lillāh, lā ilāha illā Allāh, Allāhu akbar is dearer to me than to spend their number in gold dinars in the cause of Allah.” ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr replied, “For me to take a path and say them is dearer to me than to furnish their number of horses for the cause of Allah.” (2)

ʿUbayd ibn ʿUmayr said: “A single Subḥān Allāh wa bi-ḥamdih recorded in a believer’s scroll of deeds is better for him than if the mountains of this world were made to march with him—or melt and flow beside him—as gold.” (3)

As for verifying the attribution of the book to its author: the compiler himself (may Allah have mercy on him) alluded to it when discussing this very point, saying, “We have expanded elsewhere on the reality of tasbīḥ and taḥmīd, and on the meaning of ‘tasbīḥ by His praise.’” (4)