The Arabic term “tasbih” usually refers to the phrase “SubhanAllah”. It is a phrase which Allah has approved for Himself, and has inspired His angels to say, and guided the most excellent of His creation to declare. “SubhanAllah” is commonly translated as “Glory be to Allah”, however this translation falls short in conveying the full meaning of the tasbih.

The tasbih is composed of two words: Subhana and Allah. Linguistically, the word “subhana” comes from the word “sabh”, which means distance, remoteness. Accordingly, Ibn 'Abbas explained the phrase as the purity and absolving of Allah above every evil or unbefitting matter. In other words, Allah is forever far away and eternally high above every wrongdoing, deficiency, shortcoming and inappropriateness.

This phrase appears in the Qur’an in order to negate inappropriate and incompatible descriptions attributed to Allah:

No offspring did Allah beget, nor is there any ilah (god) along with Him. If there had been many gods, certainly, each god would have taken away what he had created, and some would have tried to overcome others! Subhan-Allahi ‘amma yasifun (Allah is far and high above what they attribute to Him)

Quran - 23:91

(interpretation of the meaning)

A single tasbih suffices to negate every flaw or lie attributed to Allah in every place and every time by any or all creation. Thus, Allah refutes numerous lies attributed to Him with a single tasbih:

Now ask them, 'Does your Lord have daughters while they have sons? Or did We create the angels as females while they were witnesses?' Unquestionably, it is out of their falsehood that they say, 'Allah has begotten (offspring)' and indeed, they are liars. Has He chosen daughters over sons? What is (wrong) with you? How do you make judgement? Then will you not be reminded? Or do you have a clear authority? Produce your scripture, if you should be truthful. And they have claimed between Him and the jinn a lineage, but the jinn know well that they have indeed to appear (before Him). Subhan-Allahi ‘amma yasifun (Allah is far and high above what they attribute to Him)

Quran - 37:149-159

(interpretation of the meaning)

The purpose of the negation is so that its opposite is affirmed. For example, when the Quran negates ignorance from Allah, then the Muslim negates ignorance and in turn affirms the opposite for Allah, which is all-encompassing knowledge. The tasbih is fundamentally a negation (of deficiencies, wrongdoing and false statements) and therefore, according to this principle, entails the affirmation of the opposite, which is beautiful existence, perfect conduct and utmost truth.

Sa'd bin Abu Waqqas (May Allah be pleased with him) reported:

We were with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ (peace be upon him) when he asked, "Is anyone of you unable to earn a thousand good deeds?" One of those present asked: "How can one earn thousand good deeds in a day?" He ﷺ (peace be upon him) replied, "By saying: SubhanAllah a hundred times, then one thousand good deeds will be recorded for him or one thousand sins will be blotted out from his record."

Sahih Muslim, 2698

Source: daralarqam.co.uk