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Tahir ibn Muhammad al-Maqdisi (1) informed us; Muhammad ibn al-Husayn reported to us; al-Qasim ibn Abi al-Munḏir narrated to us; ʿAli ibn Ibrahim ibn Salamah (2) said: Muhammad ibn Yazid informed us; Bakr ibn Khalaf (3) related to us—Yahya ibn Saʿid told me (4)—from Musa ibn Abi ʿIsa al-Tahhan, from ʿAwn ibn ʿAbd Allah, from his father or from his brother, on the authority of al-Nuʿman ibn Bashir, who said:
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “Among the expressions with which you magnify Allah’s Majesty are the tasbih (saying ‘Subhan Allah’), the tahlil (saying ‘La ilaha illa Allah’), and the tahmid (saying ‘Al-hamdu lillah’); they circle around the Throne (5) with a humming like the humming of bees (6) and they make mention of the one who uttered them. Would any of you not love to have—or to keep on having—something that remembers him?” (7)
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Muhammad (8) informed us; Ahmad ibn al-Hasan ibn Khayrun (9) reported to us; Abu al-Qasim ibn
(1) In MS (m): “Abu Tahir.” The remainder of the name is absent in it and in all other manuscripts.
(2) Absent in other manuscripts.
(3) In MS (m): “Bakīr,” which is erroneous.
(4) In other manuscripts: “thana.”
(5) yatattafun hawla al-‘arsh: literally “they curve around the Throne,” i.e. they form arcs around it out of compassion and mercy for its Owner. Al-Lisan al-‘Arab explains: “‘attafa ‘alayh” means to feel compassion; al-‘aṭf is compassion and mercy. See Lisan al-‘Arab, Ma‘jam Maqāyīs al-Lughah (entry “‘aṭf”) and Mun‘ al-Ṭālib by Ibn al-Athīr, p. 553.
(6) duwī al-nahl: the buzzing of bees. In Lisan al-‘Arab, al-duwī is a low sound, as that of bees; one also says “I heard the duwī of rain and thunder” when hearing them from afar. See entry “dawā.”
(7) This hadith is recorded in:
– Ibn Mājah, Sunan (Kitāb al-Adab), “The Virtue of Tasbīḥ,” no. 3809; vol. 2, p. 1252.
– al-Ḥākim, al-Mustadrak (Kitāb al-Du‘ā’), vol. 1, p. 503 (it meets Muslim’s criteria).
Al-Dhahabī transmits it as marfūʿ from al-Nu‘mān b. Bashīr (p. 51) and as mawqūf from Ka‘b al-Aḥbār (p. 93), affirming its authenticity. Ibn Abī Shaybah also records it as mawqūf from Ka‘b in Kitāb al-‘Arsh (p. 72).
(8) In other manuscripts: “Muḥammad b. ‘Abd al-Bāqī.”
(9) “Ibn Khayrūn” does not occur in other manuscripts.