52 / The Meaning of the Takbīr and What It Signifies

The preceding discussion concerned the merit of the takbīr and its place in the religion. We shall now discuss its meaning and what is intended by it, for properly understanding the prescribed forms of remembrance and their intended meanings is an essential foundation and a lofty objective that cannot be dispensed with.

The takbīr is to magnify and revere the Lord—Majestic and Exalted is He—and to believe that nothing is greater or more exalted than Him. All that is great thus becomes small before His majesty. He is the One before whom necks bow, tyrants are abased, and faces are humbled. He has subdued all things, and all creatures submit to Him. Before the greatness of His majesty, grandeur, sublimity, exaltedness, and power, all things are humbled, while created beings become submissive and dwindle into insignificance before Him, under His dominion and irresistible might.

Imam al-Azharī said in his book Tahdhīb al-Lugha: “Regarding the worshipper’s words, ‘Allah is greater,’ and likewise the muezzin’s, there are two interpretations:

“The first is that it means, ‘Allah is great,’ as in the words of Allah, Glorious and Mighty, ‘And that is easier for Him’1—that is, easy for Him. Similarly, Ma'n ibn Aws said:

“‘By your life, I do not know, though I am indeed more fearful.’

“That is, ‘though I am indeed fearful.’

“The other interpretation is that an implicit term is understood: the meaning is, ‘Allah is greater than every great one.’ Likewise, ‘Allah is the mightiest’ means ‘mightier than every mighty one.’ Al-Farazdaq said: