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   As is shown in the Ninth Word, the above phrase and its two fellows, that is, God is Most Great!, and Glory be to God!, and All praise be to God!, form the seeds and summaries of the ritual prayers —the index of all worship— and in order to corroborate the meaning of the prayers, are repeated in the tesbihat following them. They provide the powerful answers to the questions arising from the wonderment, pleasure, and awe man feels at the strange, beautiful, extraordinary things he sees in the universe, which cause him to offer thanks and to feel awe at their grandeur. Moreover, at the end of the Sixteenth Word, it is described how at the festival a private soldier and a field marshal enter the king's presence together, whereas at other times the soldier has contact with the field marshal only through his commanding officer. Similarly, somewhat resembling the saints, a person making the Hajj begins to know God through His titles of Sustainer of the Earth and Sustainer of All the Worlds. With its repetition, it is again God is Most Great that answers all the feverish bewildered questions that overwhelm his spirit as the levels of grandeur unfold in his heart. Furthermore, at the end of the Thirteenth Flash, it is described how it is again God is Most Great that replies most effectively to Satan's cunning wiles, cutting them at the root, as well as answering succinctly but powerfully our question about the hereafter. The phrase All praise be to God also reminds us of resurrection. It says to us: "I would have no meaning if there was no hereafter. For I say: to God is due all the praise and thanks that have been offered from pre-eternity to post-eternity, whoever they have been offered by and to whom, for the chief of all bounties and the only thing that makes bounty true bounty and saves all conscious creatures from the endless calamities of non-existence, is eternal happiness; it is only eternal happiness that can be equal to that universal meaning of mine." Yes, every day all believers saying at least one hundred and fifty times after the obligatory prayers: All praise be to God! All praise be to God!, as enjoined by the Shari'a, and its being the expression of praise and thanks which extend from pre-eternity to post-eternity, can only be the advance price and immediate fee for Paradise and eternal happiness. They offer thanks since bounties are not restricted to the fleeting bounties of this world, which are tainted by the pains of transience, and see them as the means to eternal bounties. As for the sacred phrase, Glory be to God!; with its meaning of declaring God free of all partner, fault, defect, tyranny, impotence, unkindness, need, and deception, and all faults opposed to His perfection, beauty, and glory, it recalls eternal happiness and the realm of the hereafter and Paradise within it, which are the means to His glory and beauty and the majesty and perfection of His sovereignty; the phrase alludes to them and indicates them. For, as has been proved previously, if there was no eternal happiness, both His sovereignty, and His perfection, glory, beauty, and mercy would be stained by fault and defect. Like these three sacred phrases, In the Name of God and There is no god but God and other blessed phrases are all seeds to the pillars of faith. Like the meat essences and sugar concentrates that have been discovered recently, they are summaries of both the pillars of belief, and the truths of the Qur'an. The three mentioned above are both the seeds of the five daily prayers, and they are the seeds of the Qur'an, sparkling like brilliants at the beginning of a number of shining suras. So too are they the true sources and bases of the Risale-i Nur, many of whose inspirations first came while I was reciting the tesbihai following the prayers; they are the seeds of its truths. In respect of the sainthood and worship of Muhammad (Peace and blessings be upon him), these phrases are the invocations of the Muhamma-dan (PBUH) way which, following each of the five daily prayers, more than one hundred million believers repeat together in a vast circle of remembrance. Their beads in their hands, they declare Glory be to God.' thirty-three times, All praise be to God! thirty-three times, and God is Most Great! thirty-three times. You have surely understood now the great value of reciting thirty-three times after the five daily prayers, in such a splendid circle for the remembrance of God, each of those three blessed phrases, which as explained above, are the summaries and seeds of both the Qur'an, and belief, and the prayers. You have understood too the great reward they yield. (The First Topic at the beginning of this treatise forms an excellent lesson about the obligatory five daily prayers. Then, although I did not think of it, involuntarily the end here became an important lesson about the tesbihat following the prayers. Praise be to God for His bounties. Glory be unto You! We have no knowledge save that which You have taught us; indeed You are All-Knowing, All-Wise 23 ----------------------------- 23. Qur'an, 2:32. Double click for meaning of the world. | |||
