Understanding Salat — Page 5
Qiyam 5 All ā hu Akbar , the Imam lowers his hands and folds them on his chest so that the right arm is over his left arm. ( S al a t-The Muslim Prayer Book, pp. 32, 33) ُ اَلل ُّٰ اَكْبَر Allah is the greatest The word ‘greatest’ has to bring to our mind the other things that it is being compared to. For example, the state- ment ‘Allah is great’ does not necessitate a comparison. In the statement ‘Allah is great’, the greatness of Allah can be expressed in and of itself. However, in the statement ‘Allah is the greatest’, the greatness of Allah is expressed in direct comparison to all other things. When we stand before Allah presenting ourselves to Him, but our mind is thinking about someone else, then in that moment, that someone is greater to us than Allah. Hadrat Mu s le h Mau‘ ū d ra said, When All ā hu Akbar is called he is warned: Stand with full attention because the One in Whose pres- ence you are standing is the Greatest. ( Remembrance of Allah, pp. 43) ‘Greatest’ is a comparison