As for the expression subḥān Allāh wa bi-ḥamdih ʿadada khalqih (“Glory be to Allah and His is the praise, commensurate with the number of His creatures”), it means that you declare Allah’s transcendence and praise Him in a measure equal to the totality of beings He has created. The true number of Allah’s creatures is known to none but Him, as He says, “And none knows the hosts of your Lord except He” (Q 74:31).

With regard to subḥān Allāh wa bi-ḥamdih zinata ʿarshih (“Glory be to Allah and His is the praise, equal to the weight of His Throne”), only Allah knows the true weight of the Throne, for it is the greatest created entity of which we have knowledge. It is related from the Prophet ﷺ that he said: “The seven heavens and the seven earths, compared with the Kursī, are like a ring thrown into a vast desert, and the superiority of the Throne over the Kursī is like the desert compared with that ring.” Thus the Throne is an immense creation whose magnitude is known only to Allah.

Concerning subḥān Allāh wa bi-ḥamdih riḍā nafsih (“Glory be to Allah and His is the praise, to the extent that pleases Him”), its sense is that you glorify and praise Allah with a praise that He Himself is pleased with; and any praise that earns Allah’s pleasure is necessarily the finest and most complete form of praise.

As for subḥān Allāh wa bi-ḥamdih midāda kalimātih (“Glory be to Allah and His is the praise, as plentiful as the ink needed to write His words”), the word midād denotes the ink with which something is written. Nothing can be compared to Allah’s words. Allah the Exalted says: “If all the trees on earth were pens, and the sea, with seven more seas to replenish it, were ink, the Words of Allah would not be exhausted. Truly Allah is Almighty, All-Wise” (Q 31:27); and He says: “Say, ‘If the sea were ink for the Words of my Lord, the sea would be exhausted before the Words of my Lord were exhausted, even if We were to bring the like of it as a supplement’” (Q 18:109). Hence, the Words of Allah are without limit or end.