23- All of this, then, is part and parcel of realizing lā ilāha illā Allāh.

24- As for “Allāhu akbar,” it belongs to every Divine Name that conveys His superiority over everything else.

25- Thus He says: “Recite, for your Lord is the Most Generous” (96:3);

26- and: “So blessed is Allah, the best of creators” (23:14);

27- and: “and You are the Most Merciful of the merciful” (7:151);

28- and: “and You are the best of those who forgive” (7:155).

29- Likewise, the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said to ʿAdiyy b. Ḥātim: “Does it trouble you that it is said ‘Allāhu akbar’? Is there anything greater than Allah?” (1)

The error of those who claim that akbar merely means kabīr

30- Some grammarians have asserted that akbar simply means kabīr (“great”). This is a mistake, running contrary both to the explicit wording of the Messenger, peace and blessings be upon him, and to the meaning of the Name as it has reached us by uninterrupted mass transmission.

31- Others say that He is “greater” only in the sense of being beyond all knowledge and description; they take akbar to mean that He surpasses what hearts can conceive and tongues can express—in other words, that He is above the knowledge of the knowers. While that sense is valid, it carries little weight, for the prophets and messengers, the angels, Paradise and Hell, and whatever other creatures Allah wills are likewise greater than people truly comprehend.