is disturbance to the worshipper beside him and causes him confusion. Moreover, it is feared that this may fall under the words of Allah, Exalted is He: “And those who harm believing men and believing women for something they have not earned bear the burden of a slander and a manifest sin.” [al-Ahzab] This includes both verbal and physical harm.

The obligatory minimum of bowing is that one bends such that he is closer to complete bowing than to complete standing—that is, such that anyone who sees him recognizes that this man is bowing. This is what some scholars have said (1).

The well-known position of the madhhab (166) is that he should bend to the extent that, if he is of average build, he can touch his knees with his hands—that is, if his arms are neither long nor short. But the first view is more evident.

His statement, “And he says: ‘Glory be to my Lord, the Magnificent,’” means that in his bowing he says, “Glory be to my Lord, the Magnificent.” Subhan is a verbal noun in the accusative, always functioning as an absolute object, with its governing verb always omitted. Tasbih means declaring transcendence, and there are matters from which Allah is declared transcendent:

First: every form of deficiency without qualification.

Second: deficiency in His perfection.

Third—and this may be included under the second—is resemblance to created beings. These are the three matters from which Allah is declared transcendent.

As for the first, He, Glorified and Exalted is He, is declared transcendent above ignorance, incapacity, weakness, death, sleep, and whatever resembles these.