An Arabi came to the Prophet ﷺ and said, "Messenger of Allah, teach me something good."The Prophet ﷺ took his hand and said, "Say, Glory be to Allah, praise be to Allah, there is no god but Allah, and Allah is the greatest."The Arabi counted these on his fingers and went off. He thought it over, then came back. The Prophet ﷺ smiled and said, "The poor man has been thinking."The Arabi came and said, "Messenger of Allah, Glory be to Allah, praise be to Allah, there is no god but Allah, and Allah is the greatest. This is for Allah, so what is there for me?"The Prophet ﷺ said to him, "Arabi, when you say, Glory be to Allah, Allah says, You have spoken truly. When you say, Praise be to Allah, Allah says, You have spoken truly. When you say, There is no god but Allah, Allah says, You have spoken truly. When you say, Allah is the greatest, Allah says, You have spoken truly. When you say, O Allah, forgive me, Allah says, I have done so. When you say, O Allah, have mercy on me, Allah says, I have done so. And when you say, O Allah, provide for me, Allah says, I have done so."The Arabi then counted seven on his fingers and turned away.
جاء أعرابي إلى النبي ﷺ فقال: يا رسول الله علمني خيرا فأخذ النبي ﷺ بيده فقال: قل: سبحان الله، والحمد لله، ولا إله إلا الله، والله أكبر. قال: فعقد الأعرابي على يده، ومضى، فتفكر، ثم رجع، فتبسم النبي ﷺ قال: تفكر البائس، فجاء، فقال: يا رسول الله، سبحان الله، و الحمد لله، و لا إله إلا الله، و الله أكبر، هذا لله، فما لي؟ فقال له النبي ﷺ: يا أعرابي، إذا قلت: سبحان الله، قال الله: صدقت. و إذا قلت: الحمد الله، قال الله: صدقت، وإذا قلت: لا إله إلا الله، قال الله: صدقت، وإذا قلت: الله أكبر، قال الله: صدقت، و إذا قلت: اللهم اغفر لي قال الله: قد فعلت، و إذا قلت: اللهم ارحمني، قال الله: فعلت، وإذا قلت: اللهم ارزقني قال الله: قد فعلت. قال: فعقد الأعرابي على سبع في يده ثم ولى.
Abu Jafar Ibn Bukhtari, Muhammad bin Amr, related it in his volume (21) — a collection containing the compilations of Abu Jafar bin Bukhtari — and from his route Bayhaqi related it in Shuab (610), from Hasan bin Thawab Abu Ali, who said, Ammar bin Uthman Halabi Abu Uthman told me, Jafar bin Sulayman Dubai told me, from Thabit, from Anas, who said such and such. Its chain is hasan on account of Jafar bin Sulayman Dubai, for his hadith is hasan when he does not contradict others, and this is such a case, since there is no contradiction in it, but rather an addition, because some narrators abridged it while others related it at length. Hasan bin Thawab was deemed trustworthy by Daraqutni, as recorded in Tarikh Baghdad (10/291).As for what is reported from Tamim Dari, from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, that he said, "Whoever says, I bear witness that there is no god but Allah alone, with no partner, one God, one, self-sufficient, who has not taken a consort nor a child, and who has no equal, eleven times, Allah will record for him forty million good deeds." Its chain is daif. Tirmidhi (3473) and Ahmad (16952) both related it through Layth bin Saad, from Khalil bin Murrah, from Azhar bin Abdullah, from Tamim Dari, who related it. Tirmidhi said, "This is a gharib hadith, we do not know it except through this route, and Khalil bin Murrah is not considered strong among the scholars of hadith. Muhammad bin Ismail said he is munkar al-hadith." I say, also in it is Azhar bin Abdullah, who did not hear from Tamim Dari, as Mizzi stated.It is also reported from Ibn Umar that he said, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said one day to his companions, "Say, Glory be to Allah and praise Him, one hundred times. Whoever says it once, ten good deeds are recorded for him. Whoever says it ten times, one hundred are recorded for him. Whoever says it one hundred times, one thousand are recorded for him. Whoever says more, Allah increases him. And whoever seeks forgiveness, Allah forgives him." Tirmidhi (3470) related it, and the wording is his, and Nasai in Amal al-Yawm wal-Layla (160), both through routes from Matar Warraq, from Nafi, from Ibn Umar, who related it. Tirmidhi said, "This is a hasan gharib hadith." I say, there is considerable disagreement over its chain, which Daraqutni set out in Ilal (2992), and the sahih position is that it is reported from Ibn Umar as a stopped narration (mawquf), as Abu Hatim Razi stated in Ilal (2045).On this subject there is also a report from Abdullah bin Umar that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ told them, "A servant among the servants of Allah said, O Lord, to You belongs praise as befits the majesty of Your Face and the greatness of Your dominion. This baffled the two angels, and they did not know how to record it. So they ascended to heaven and said, Our Lord, Your servant has said something we do not know how to record. Allah said, though He knew best what His servant had said, What did My servant say? They said, O Lord, he said, O Lord, to You belongs praise as befits the majesty of Your Face and the greatness of Your dominion. Allah
said to them, Record it just as My servant said it, until he meets Me, and I will reward him for it."Ibn Majah (3801) and Tabarani in Al-Kabir (12/343–344) both related it through Ibrahim bin Munzir Hizami, who said, Sadaqah bin Bashir, freedman of the Umariyyin, told us, I heard Qudama bin Ibrahim Jumahi relate that he used to visit Abdullah bin Umar bin Khattab while he was a young boy, wearing two saffron-dyed garments. He said, Abdullah bin Umar related to us, and he mentioned it.I say, in its chain is Sadaqah bin Bashir. A number of people related from him, but no one deemed him trustworthy, and he meets the criterion of Ibn Hibban. That is why Hafiz said in Taqrib, "Acceptable," meaning when corroborated, and I have not found a corroborating narration for him. Likewise, Qudama bin Ibrahim Jumahi was not deemed trustworthy by anyone except that Ibn Hibban mentioned him among his trustworthy narrators. That is why Ibn Hajar said, "Acceptable," meaning when corroborated, and I have not found a corroborating narration for him.