—that is, they proclaim Allah’s transcendence. To glorify Allah (tasbih) is to declare Him free of every imperfection and flaw; this is the essence of tasbih. When you say, “I glorified Allah,” you have pronounced Him exalted and absolved Him of all deficiency, for He—glorified and exalted—is perfect in every attribute; all shortcomings are negated with respect to Him.

His words “with praise of their Lord” employ the preposition “with” to indicate accompaniment: they utter this glorification coupled with praise.

Praise (hamd) is to describe the One praised as possessing absolute perfection while one’s heart is filled with love and veneration.

This is the meaning of hamd. When you say, “I praised Allah,” you affirm that He possesses complete attributes and you voice that conviction. If the praise is repeated it becomes thanaʾ (commendation), as shown in the hadith of Abu Hurayrah in which the Prophet ﷺ said: “I have divided the prayer between Me and My servant into two halves. When he says, ‘All praise belongs to Allah, Lord of the worlds,’ Allah says, ‘My servant has praised Me’; when he says, ‘The Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful,’ Allah says, ‘My servant has extolled Me.’”

“And they are not arrogant”—meaning, they do not disdain to worship Allah. Whenever He commands them, they comply in humility and submission, fully conscious of their servitude and of the perfection of Allah’s divinity and lordship.

“their sides forsake” means their flanks withdraw from their beds; that is, they leave their resting places and spend the night in prayer and remembrance of Allah. When they complete their devotions they seal them with seeking forgiveness, as the Most High says, “and in the pre-dawn hours they would seek forgiveness” (51:18). One of the early generations said: This points to the depth of their self-awareness: they rise