Surah al Ala in my Life – Part 1

Rana Rais Khan – Founder Hiba Family Resource Centre

Ibn Abbas (rta) used to pray Witr with three units including the Surahs: ‘Glorify the name of your Lord, the Most High’ (Surah al Ala), ‘Say o you disbelievers’ (Surah al Kafiroon) and ‘Say He is Allah, the One’ (Surah al Ikhlaas). (An Nasai)

Surah al Ala is among the seven Musabbihaat Surahs that begin with the glorification of Allah (swt). Surah al Ala is one of the early Surahs revealed at Makkah.

سَبِّحِ اسْمَ رَبِّكَ الْأَعْلَى الَّذِي خَلَقَ فَسَوَّىٰ  وَالَّذِي قَدَّرَ فَهَدَىٰ  وَالَّذِي أَخْرَجَ الْمَرْعَىٰ فَجَعَلَهُ غُثَاءً أَحْوَىٰ سَنُقْرِئُكَ فَلَا تَنْسَىٰ إِلَّا مَا شَاءَ اللَّهُ ۚ إِنَّهُ يَعْلَمُ الْجَهْرَ وَمَا يَخْفَىٰ

1. Exalt the name of your Lord, the Most High.
2. Who created and proportioned.
3. And Who destined and (then) guided.
4. And Who brings out the pasture.
5. And (then) makes it black stubble.
6. We will make you recite, (O Muhammad) and you will not forget,
7. Except what Allah should will. Indeed, He knows what is declared and what is hidden.

Allah (swt) is the most High in His names, attributes and actions. He is upon the Arsh (throne) above the seven heavens. Hence He is physically also the highest as nothing is above Him. No one shares this majestic, exclusive and noble status with Him. 

In the first verse, the doctrine of Tauheed is stressed upon. Allah’s (swt) name should be glorified as He is the Highest. Prophet Muhammad (sa) was being commanded to declare and maintain Allah’s (swt) perfection. Through him, we have been ordered to do the same.

But in hardships we are invaded by negative and evil thoughts. At times it is because of our Nafs and its self-talk. Otherwise it can be the Shaitan’s whispers or influence from around us in the form of people and media. What has that got to do with Tasbeeh?

When we are disappointed with our fate (Taqdeer) we unintentionally begin to blame Allah (swt). Remember that our life is a package of good and bad days as Dunya is a place of tests.

This is not the destination. Hence we have to trust Allah (swt) and keep glorifying Him until either He grants us Jannah or relief in Dunya. 

• When we make Tasbeeh of our Rabb, we must remember His status.
• Hence Allah (swt) should not be remembered by any name which might reflect a deficiency, fault, weakness or likeness with the creation.
• No words, thought or action of ours should minimize His status corrupting our belief.
• No name should be invented for Allah (swt) other than the ones He has taught us through the Quran and the Sunnah.
• Due to limitation of language or our ignorance, actions or appearance must not be attributed to Allah (swt) that may seem common between the creation and the Creator such as ‘to hear’, ‘to have hands’ etc.
• Understand that there is no resemblance, similarity or common trait between Allah (swt) and us.
• Allah (swt) is perfect and His creation is imperfect.
• Allah (swt) is unlimited whereas the creation is limited.
• Allah’s (swt) attributes are innate whereas the creation’s qualities are acquired as they have been granted to them by Allah (swt).
• Allah (swt) is the Master, is Most Powerful and Independent. The creation is a slave, weak in nature and dependent upon Allah (swt).

As the creation we have to maintain this distinction.   

The literal meaning of ‘Sabbaha’ is to swim. When man lives his life exalting Allah (swt) mindfully, he stays afloat. The occasional darkness or dejection in life doesn’t drown him.

As per the grand plan, the entire creation has always glorified Allah (swt), is currently doing it and will always glorify Him until it is alive. We are being drawn towards a reality of the world around us to develop the habit of declaring Allah’s (swt) perfection especially when things become difficult and overbearing.

 Ask yourself how do you declare the perfection of Allah, al Ala? Some beautiful Tasbeehat are as follows:

سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ وَبِحَمْدِهِ، سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ العَظِيمِ

سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ وَالْحَمْدُ لِلَّه

سُبْحَانَ رَبِّكَ عَمَّا يَصِفُونَ

سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ وَبِحَمْدِهِ عَدَدَ خَلْقِهِ

لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا أَنْتَ سُبْحَانَكَ

In the second verse Allah (swt) tells us how He created everything from nothing. Nothing existed before Allah (swt). Allah, The Most High, not only created man, Jinn, animals, angels, galaxies and all that exists but also beautified and proportioned them. Allah (swt) created and perfected them. The creation is exactly as it was meant to be created. Their role, function, size, place, number, weight, texture was all planned, decided, designed and granted by Allah (swt).

Humans can only redesign or emulate after observing Allah’s (swt) model creations. Man doesn’t have the power to originate anything. Also his inventions are faulty, time barred and imperfect. They need to be renewed and redesigned with time. 

In the third verse, Allah (swt) informs us how He set the destinies of His creation and guided them.

50,000 years before anything came into existence Allah (swt) decided their destiny and once they were created they knew exactly what to do and how to perform. But that doesn’t take away their freedom to choose in certain areas. Allah (swt) Al Aleem has the power to know what they will choose in their lives.

From people to planets every creation has been guided by Allah (swt). For e.g. kittens know how to suckle from their mother cat, the honey bees know which flower to visit to prepare honey, atoms know how and in which direction to move, the winds know when and how fast to blow, etc. Nobody has been left unguided by the Rabb, Most High.

In the fourth and fifth verses, Allah (swt) highlights the vegetation, how it is grown and then crumbled.

Allah (swt) grants life to His creation and then causes it to die. That is the nature of Dunya. Everything in it has been created temporary and transitory.

Man too after his birth begins to degenerate with time until Allah (swt) takes away his life. This is a critical reality of our life. Our concern should be to ask ourselves, are we reaching the prime of efforts, blooming and bearing fruit with Allah’s (swt) worship and obedience?  Time is limited.

Allah (swt) has explained this reality with an analogy of how He brings forth green pasture, then reduces it to black rubbish. Our life cycles are exactly like the vegetation that thrives for a decreed time in the world.  

Surah al Ala came down at a time when Prophet Muhammad (sa) was not yet fully accustomed to receiving revelation and feared that he may forget the words. The Messenger (sa) realized that he had a huge divine task assigned to him to spread the message to humanity.

In the sixth verse, Allah (swt) comforted the Prophet (sa) and lightened his burden that He will make the prophet (sa) recite Allah’s (swt) revelation (the Quran) so he won’t forget any of it except for what Allah (swt) wills as per Taqdeer (Allah’s swt divine decree).

He assured Muhammad (sa) that, everything was in Allah’s (swt) control and hence the Prophet (sa) should not worry. Allah (swt) is Superior and has absolute authority and awareness about His slaves. He knows what they intend, think, say and write. This is especially relevant to today’s world when we are broadcasting our opinions and sentiments on the social media forums round the clock. Without realizing that we are under Allah’s (swt) constant surveillance.

Allah (swt) knows what we reveal. Similarly, He knows what we conceal, namely our intentions, our thoughts, our faith, our evil and our goodness, etc. And Allah’s (swt) awareness is not something passive. It also means that we are accountable before Him.  

Please continue reading Part 2 of the post titled ‘Surah al Ala in my life – part 2.’

(Partially adapted from a course titled ‘In depth study of Juzz 30’ taught by Safiya Khan).