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sabbaḥa li-llāhi mā fī s-samāwāti wa-mā fī l-ʾarḍi wa-huwa l-ʿazīzu l-ḥakīmu
Whatever there is in the heavens and whatever there is in the earth glorifies Allah, and He is the All-mighty, the All-wise.
— Ali Quli Qarai
59Al-ḤashrالحشرVerse 1 of 24
The Exile59. Al-Ḥashrالحشر
al-Ḥashr
The Banishment
MedinanVerse 1 of 24
Surah al-Hashr - Verse 1
The Arabic word sabbaha is attested 85 times in the Holy Qur’an. It is also used in different units of daily prayers in prostration and genuflexion. The word originally denotes moving rapidly in water and in the air but as a term, it connotes glorification of God of defects and promptness in worshipping him. God Almighty possesses two kinds of attributes: affirmative and negative. The former reflect His Perfect Attributes, e.g. Omniscience and Omnipotence, and the latter glorify Him of defects, e.g. need, ignorance, and weakness.
The words
and
allude to such affirmative and negative qualities. It is also worthy of note that by tasbih existential rather than legislative glorification, namely all the world of existence glorify God Almighty dispositionally rather than verbally. It is also maintained that glorification by the world of existence is both dispositional and verbal, as it is thus attested in the Holy Qur’an2:
Detailed arguments on the same are to be found in exegetic works. The blessed Verse in question is saying that whatever exists in the heavens and on the earth glorify Him and He is All-Mighty and All-Wise. All existent beings, including angels, mankind, plants, and inanimate things may verbally or dispositionally glorify God Almighty, since the wondrous system of the creation of each and every particle dispositionally reflect Divine Omniscience, Omnipotence, Glory, and Wisdom.
Some scholars also hold that each and every being possesses some share of reason, comprehension, and intelligence, though we may not be aware of the same. As a consequence, each and every being glorifies God Almighty in its own language, even if we may fail to hearken the glorification. Glorification of God Almighty is widespread in the world of existence, but we are ignorant of the same. However, those who have transcended the inanimate realm and have attained to proximity to God Almighty possess eyes through which they may see the unseen and share the secrets with all the world of existence.
Footnotes