Maryam

فَخَرَجَ عَلَي قَوْمِهِ مِنَ الْمِـحْرَابِ فَاَوْحَي إِلَيْهِمْ أَن سَبّـِحُوا بُكْرَةً وَعَشِيّاً

11. “Then he went out (of the sanctuary) unto his people and made signs unto them that they should glorify (Allah) morning and evening.”

The Qur’anic word /bukrah/ is used for the length of time between the dawn until the sunrise. The term /mihrab/ (sanctuary) is called such since it is a fighting-place against Satan and the temptations which hinder man’s concentration of thought. Perhaps, the sanctuaries of the Children of Israel had been the same places of prayer which people had chosen for their Divine service and they worshipped therein. According to what Tabarsi and Fakhr-i-Razi have said, the purpose of /tasbih/ (to glorify), used in this verse, is ‘prayer’, because ‘prayer’ contains ‘glorification’. After this glad tidings and that clear Sign, Zachariah came out of his prayer niche and went unto his people.

Then he signed to them that they should glorify Allah every morning and evening. For, the result of the great bounty, which Allah had bestowed Zachariah, would encompass all those people and could be effective in their fate totally. The verse says:

Moreover, this bounty, which was counted a miracle, could firm the foundations of belief in their hearts.

Some Traditions

1. The Messenger of Allah (S) said:

“The most beloved sayings with Allah, the Glorious, is that the servant says: ‘Glory be to my Lord and praise be to Him’.” ⁸

2. Imam Sadiq (as) said:

“Whoever glorifies Allah thirty times every day, Allah, the Blessed, the Exalted, may remove seventy afflictions from him, the least of which is poverty.” ⁹

3. Imam Sadiq (as) said:

“The hymns of Fatimatuz-Zahra, after every prayer, is more beloved with me than one thousand units (rak‘ah) of prayer in a day.” ¹⁰