Audible or silent recitation of Tasbihat Arba'ah

✅ Regarding the audible and silent recitation of the 'tasbihat' in the third and fourth rak'ahs of prayer, no specific narration has been transmitted in the four books (of hadith) or other authentic sources. However, the following text is narrated in the book Fiqh al-Reza:

1 فِقْهُ الرِّضَا، : أَسْمِعِ الْقِرَاءَةَ وَ التَّسْبِيحَ أُذُنَيْكَ فِيمَا لَا تَجْهَرُ فِيهِ مِنَ الصَّلَوَاتِ بِالْقِرَاءَةِ وَ هِيَ الظُّهْرُ وَ الْعَصْرُ وَ ارْفَعْ فَوْقَ ذَلِكَ فِيمَا تَجْهَرُ فِيهِ بِالْقِرَاءَةِ

📚 Fiqh al-Reza (peace be upon him), p. 105

Recite the recitation and the tasbih in the prayers where the recitation is not audible so that you can hear it with your own ears, which are the Zuhr and Asr prayers, and in the prayers where the recitation is audible, raise your voice higher than that.

✅ Although the book Fiqh al-Reza is attributed to Imam Reza (peace be upon him), its contents, especially its unique and anomalous parts, require corroboration from authentic narrations to be acted upon.

✅ Regarding the first part of the Fiqh al-Reza text, there are authentic corroborations in the narrations, including:

2 عَنْ عَلِيٍّ فِي حَدِيثِ الْأَرْبَعِمِائَةِ قَالَ: إِذَا صَلَّيْتَ فَأَسْمِعْ نَفْسَكَ الْقِرَاءَةَ وَ التَّكْبِيرَ وَ التَّسْبِيحَ

📚 Al-Khisal, p. 628

Ali (peace be upon him) said in the 400 Hadith: '(In prayer), make the recitation, the takbir, and the tasbih reach your ears!'

3 زرارة عَنْ أَبِي جعفر قال: لَا يُكْتَبُ مِنَ الْقِرَاءَةِ وَ الدُّعَاءِ إِلَّا مَا أَسْمَعَ نَفْسَهُ

📚Al-Kafi, Vol. 3, p. 313

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him) said: 'Nothing is written of the recitation and supplication except what a person makes reach his own ears!'

✅ This means that in all prayers, the minimum volume for recitation, supplication, and tasbih must be such that one can at least hear oneself, otherwise it will not be recorded.

✅ As for the second part of the Fiqh al-Reza text, which indicates reciting the recitation and tasbih audibly in audible prayers, i.e., Maghrib, Isha, and Fajr, and reciting them silently in silent prayers, i.e., Zuhr and Asr, there are multiple corroborations in the narrations regarding the recitation, but there is no corroboration in the narrations regarding the tasbih.

✅ If there is no specific reliable narration regarding the audible and silent recitation of the tasbih in the third and fourth rak'ahs, the following general narration is to be acted upon:

4 قال الصَّادِقُ كُلُّ شَيْءٍ مُطْلَقٌ حَتَّى يَرِدَ فِيهِ نَهْيٌ

📚Faqih, Vol. 1, p. 317

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) said: 'Everything is absolute until a prohibition comes regarding it.'

✅ According to the above principle, in the absence of a workable narration to determine the audible and silent recitation of the tasbih in the third and fourth rak'ahs, the matter is absolute. This means that after observing the instruction in narrations 2️⃣ and 3️⃣, which is to make oneself heard, a person is free to choose between audible and silent recitation because no prohibition has been transmitted for it.

However, although there is no corroboration for the text of Fiqh al-Reza regarding the tasbih, the general principle in hadith 4️⃣ comes next. But since acting on the text of Fiqh al-Reza, which is attributed to Imam Reza (peace be upon him), does not create a complete contradiction with the principle of being absolute, i.e., it is possible to act on both simultaneously, we act on this text attributed to Imam Reza (peace be upon him) so that, in addition to acting on the absoluteness and the text attributed to Imam Reza (peace be upon him), we have also acted on the principle of precaution, which is the instruction of the Ahl al-Bayt (peace be upon them) in such cases.

✅ So, by using the text attributed to Imam Reza (peace be upon him), along with benefiting from the principle of absoluteness and observing the principle of precaution, we recite the 'Tasbihat Arba'ah' in the third and fourth rak'ahs of prayer audibly in the Maghrib and Isha prayers and silently in the Zuhr and Asr prayers.

✅ Since the narrations also permit reciting only Surah Al-Fatiha in the third and fourth rak'ahs of prayer, in the case of reciting Al-Fatiha, in addition to the above reasons, the hadiths on the necessity of audible recitation in the Maghrib, Isha, and Fajr prayers, and the necessity of silent recitation in the Zuhr and Asr prayers, also confirm and emphasize it.

✅According to the hadiths in question 230, audibility is not incumbent upon women.

✅ It should be noted that the popular belief regarding the necessity of silent recitation of the 'Tasbihat Arba'ah' in the third and fourth rak'ahs has no specific or general narrative basis. The existing specific and general texts, along with the principle of precaution, dictate that we recite the 'Tasbihat Arba'ah' in the third and fourth rak'ahs of prayer audibly in the Maghrib and Isha prayers, just like their recitation, and silently in the Zuhr and Asr prayers, just like their recitation. And to realize the days of the emergence of the Imam of our time and to gain more knowledge in this regard, we should say frequently, continuously, and with humility:

اللَّهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلَی مُحَمَّدٍ وَ آلِ مُحَمَّدٍ

وَ عَجِّلْ لِوَلِیِّکَ الْفَرَجَ وَ الْعَافِیَةَ وَ النَّصْرَ