Understanding Salat — Page 38
Understanding S al A t 38 all defects and weaknesses; he glorified God (Aqrab). The word is used about God and conveys the sense of glorifying Him and declaring Him to be free from all defects- anything that may detract from, and adversely affect, His attributes of Oneness, Knowledge, Power, Purity, etc. (Taj & Mufradat). ( The Holy Quran with English Translation and Commentary, vol. 1, pp. 90) In concept, Tasb īh may seem redundant. After all, if we believe in Allah, then we already believe that He is free of all defects. The definition of the word Allah is ‘the name of the Supreme Being Who is the sole possessor of all perfect attributes and is free from all defects. ’ ( Dictionary of the Holy Quran, pp. 28) If we already believe in Allah and know that He is free of all imperfections, then why emphasize that He is free of imperfections? The reason for this emphasis is that there is a differ- ence in believing in something in concept and believing in something in practice. There are many imperfections that we unknowingly attribute to Allah Almighty. Doing Tasb īh means we identify these and correct them. For example, in concept, we believe that Allah Almighty is near. However, we may not have experienced His nearness as a reality in a long time, or ever. As a result, if we look within ourselves, we will find that we feel that Allah is distant. This feeling of distance naturally results in weakness in our prayers. When we feel that Allah is distant, then we feel that He doesn’t