Understanding Salat — Page 106
Understanding S al A t 106 When we say ‘Allah is the greatest’ ( ُ اَلل َُّ اَكْبَر ), we describe how great Allah Almighty is in and of Himself, whether we see that greatness or not. We speak in more of a matter of fact way, saying that He is greater than everything in every way. When we say that Allah Almighty is ‘My Lord, the Most Great’ ( ِ ى َ الْعَظِيْم ِّ رَب ), we speak more based on our experience of the magnitude of that greatness. We describe how enormous the manifestation His grandeur is. When we compare Al-‘A zī m to the rest of the attributes of Allah Almighty, a unique quality of this attribute appears. Whenever we experience the manifestation of any attrib- ute, we see its ‘A z mat [greatness]. The attribute of Al-‘A zī m expresses our living experience with every name of Allah Almighty. Hadrat Khalīfatul Masīh IV rta explained that the attrib- ute of Al-‘A zī m is unique in that it is the only attribute that can be applied to all other attributes. We would generally not say that Allah Almighty is the Gracious Avenger or the Forgiving Avenger. But we can say that Allah is the ‘A zī m Ghaf ū r [the Great Forgiver], or the ‘A zī m Muntaqim [the Great Avenger], or the ‘A zī m Zā hir [the Great Manifest], or the ‘A zī m Awwal [the Great First]. This cannot be done in the same way with any other attribute. The word of ‘A zī m manifests each attribute of Allah in a new glory. For example, if a person is seeking the forgiveness of Allah Almighty for His sins, then when he says ‘my Lord, the Most Great’ ( َ ى ِّ ِ رَب الْعَظِيْم ), he can be reminded of the grandeur of the forgiveness