And when they stand at ‘Arafah supplicating Allah, do they raise their hands, or lower them to the ground?

It is astonishing that they raise their hands while claiming that Allah is in the earth! We ask Allah for well-being.

The point is that, when we say, “Glory be to my Lord, the Most High,” we recognize that Allah is high in His Essence and high in His attributes; indeed, He is higher than everything. Allah, Exalted is He, has sometimes described Himself as “the Most High” and sometimes as “the High,” because both descriptions are affirmed for Him: highness and being the Highest. Likewise, He is described as “the Great” and “the Greatest,” “the All-Knowing” and “the Most Knowing.” In such cases, the comparative-superlative form retains its proper meaning; it is not merely equivalent to an active participle, as some scholars claim.

Concerning the words, “and he says: ‘Glory be to my Lord, the Most High,’” we mentioned at the beginning of the chapter on the manner of prayer that a person must make himself hear every obligatory utterance. We also mentioned that the stronger view is that this is not a condition (1). Rather, the condition is that he articulates the letters from their proper points of articulation, whether or not he hears himself.

The author did not mention here how many times one should say it, nor did he mention whether one should recite anything else along with it. The sunnah is to repeat it three times and to add the supplications also reported in the sunnah, such as: “Perfectly Glorified, Most Holy, Lord of the angels and the Spirit” (2); and, “Glory be to You, O Allah, our Lord, and praise be to You. O Allah, forgive me” (3).