What Does Allahu Akbar Really Mean?

What is Allahu Akbar referring to? How do we understand it? Well, there are two levels of understanding of this particular important term that we utter. The first level of understanding, and that is what you find in translations in English, is when people say Allahu Akbar it means Allah is the greatest, or Allah is great, or Allah is greater. This is in relation to the concept that when I say Allahu Akbar in my Salah, when I say Allahu Akbar in my life, Allah is greater than what? Than my worries, greater than my concerns. He is greater than my health, than my wealth, than my children, than my job, than my community Allah is greater than my life, Allah is greater than everything in this existence.

Therefore, that utterance highlights the superiority of the Almighty, Subhana wa Ta'ala, and the very fact that we submit to this realisation, that we are nothing before Him and that Allah, Subhana wa Ta'ala, is the Owner of all things. He is the Sustainer, He is the Creator, He is the One who provides, He is the One who takes away. He is the one that cannot be compared to anything else.

That statement of Allahu Akbar in Salah and outside Salah, at the first level needs to be understood in which way? In the notion that imagine when I stand in Salah, and I say Allahu Akbar and I enter into prayer. Throughout the prayer, my mind is thinking, I have not paid the rent, for example, for this month. My mind is thinking, I have to finish this job and I have to call this individual. My mind is thinking, what am I going to say to a friend of mine who is not speaking to me because of a conflict that we had?

Yes. This Allahu Akbar that I mentioned, what does it mean? It means Allah is greater than all these things. If I say Allahu Akbar, then my mind is worried in Salah about worldly affairs, then this Allahu Akbar has not penetrated my heart. It is not something that I have understood, because Allahu Akbar is mentioned just by tongue. But, throughout my mind and my heart, there are many other things that are greater concern and I am placing them above the Almighty, Subhana wa Ta'ala.

Because I am here to speak to Allah, I am here to communicate to Allah. I am here to worship Allah, Subhana wa Ta'ala, not here to think about worldly matters. Not here to divert my attention towards affairs of this world. No doubt. That is why the recognition from the 'A'imma, alayhum as-salam, is when you stand to say Allahu Akbar in Salah. Imagine the following imagine you are on the Day of Qiyama, and you are standing before the Sirat, the Path. On your right is Jannah, on your left is Jahannam and Allah, Subhana wa Ta'ala.

Allah has placed the Mala'ika right in front of you, and you are about to be held accountable for your deeds. The 'Ai'mma, alayhum as-salam, say: enter into prayer by saying Allahu Akbar with this imagine in your mind. Other narration says approach Takbirat ul-Ihram and Salah as if it is your last prayer. If it was your last prayer, I tell you, you would not be thinking, Ya Allah, when are we going to get the next president?

You would not be thinking about anything else. You would be thinking primarily about what? About how to save yourself, how to remember Allah, how to be somebody who is a devout worshipper of the Almighty, Subhana wa Ta'ala. No doubt, this is of great importance in our lives, to appreciate and understand our position when it comes to uttering Allahu Akbar.

I remember reading that Alexander the Great one day was passing by, when he was passing by, he passed by in the desert with a huge army, and he found a tent, somebody inside the tent. He dismounted from his horse. He came, he entered the tent. He saw an individual sitting there. He said to him "I have come with a huge army. And you were not fazed by this? You remained in your tent. You did not come out to greet me. You did not come out to say that you are a peaceful individual? You are not afraid that I would be hurting you?"

That man looked at Alexander the Great and said "it is because I was speaking to a Being that has a much greater army than yours." Alexander then said to him "Very well, I would like you to eat with me. You seem to be an individual who is wise. Please have some food with me." He says "I can not." He said "Why?" He said "I will only eat with you if you can guarantee me a number of things." He said "what do you want me to guarantee?" "That tomorrow I will not fall ill, that tomorrow I will have wealth, and that tomorrow I will not die."

He said "I cannot guarantee this for myself, let alone for you." He said that "I am speaking to the One who is in control of this and can guarantee me this." Alexander the Great looked at this man and said "who are you speaking to?" He says "My Lord the Almighty God." Yes. He is greater than whatever comes to your mind.

Therefore the realisation, as far as our lives are concerned, is that we have to keep this into perspective. That is the first element that we must be observant of that God or the Almighty, Subhana wa Ta'ala, is the greater element of anything in our lives.

There is a deeper, much more profound, much more beautiful understanding of Allahu Akbar given to us by the Holy 6th Imam. Imam Ja'far Ibn Muhammad As-Sadiq, salawat Allahi wa as-salamu alayh [Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa Aali Muhammad]. Once Imam As-Sadiq, alayhi as-salam, asked an individual: "what does Allahu Akbar mean?" That individual said "God is the greatest." Imam As-Sadiq said to him: "Greater than what?" That man said "greater than all of His creation." Imam As-Sadiq says "Therefore, you are placing Him on a scale with His creation."

That man was bewildered. He said "then what does Allahu Akbar mean?" Imam As-Sadiq says "by your definition, you are comparing the Absolute, Perfect Being, the Creator, with the created, because by saying God is greater, you are comparing Him towards His creation."

Imam As-Sadiq says: Allahu Akbar means: "Allahu Akbar min an yusaf" God is greater than being described. What do we mean? Yes. Imam alayhi as-salam is saying that whatever comes as far as your imagination, and whatever you can think of of God, God is greater than that. That He cannot be limited, that He cannot be described by you and I except by how He described Himself, and instructed His chosen servants to talk about Him.

God is greater than being described. Why? Because the Quran in itself says what? "Wa ma qadaru Allahu haqqa qadrih" (6:91), [arabic] In chapter six, verse ninenty-one. Allah says that the people have not understood Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala. They have not grasped Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala. They have not comprehended the Majesty, the Power, the Might of the Lord, Allah Tabaraka wa Ta'ala.

So Allahu Akbar in a deeper meaning, means what? It means we are nothing compared to Him, and that He is our Creator. He cannot be compared to the creation.