Supplication 19: …سبحان الله وبحمده عدد خلقه

سُبْحَانَ اللهِ وَبِحَمْدِهِ: عَدَدَ خَلْقِهِ، وَرِضَا نَفْسِهِ، وَزِنَةَ عَرْشِهِ وَمِدَادَ كَلِمَاتِهِ

Glory is to Allah and praise is to Him, by the quantity of His creation, by His Pleasure, by the weight of His Throne, and by the extent of His Words.

To be recited three times in the morning

 

Brief Commentary

  • The Prophet (SallaAllahu ‘alayhi wasallam) left the house of his wife Juwairiyah at Fajr, and she was in her place of worship [engaging in the remembrance of Allah]. When he returned after sunrise, she was still in the same position, so he asked her, “You are still in the same state as I left you?” She said, “yes”, so he replied, “After I left you, I have said four words, three times. If they were compared to [all] of what you said today, they would outweigh them. سُبْحَانَ اللهِ وَبِحَمْدِهِ: عَدَدَ خَلْقِهِ، وَرِضَا نَفْسِهِ، وَزِنَةَ عَرْشِهِ وَمِدَادَ كَلِمَاتِهِ [1]
  • “Glory is to Allah” is a way of praising Allah and freeing Him from any deficiencies, so we begin the supplication by glorifying Allah through negating any deficiencies in Him
  • We follow this up by praising Allah in a complete manner which encompasses praising Him for the qualities that He possesses, and for the good He has done for us
  • When we say we glorify Allah and praise Him by the quantity of His creation, we are not saying that we are praising Allah this many times, as it is inconceivable that someone can say I am praising Allah x number of times without actually doing so an x number of times
  • When we say we glorify Allah and praise Him by the quantity of His creation, we are saying that He deserves to be glorified and praised by this much, and more, because His creation are constantly on the increase
  • Other than Allah Himself, nothing falls outside His creation, therefore He deserves to be glorified and praised an infinite number of times
  • Allah is the Most Noble, and He only accepts and is pleased with good things, therefore when we glorify Allah and praise Him by His pleasure, we are saying that He deserves to be glorified and praised in the best manner possible as He is only pleased with that which is good
  • Another understanding of this phrase is that when Allah is pleased with something, He gives the best reward for it, so His pleasure is a great and noble thing
  • The throne of Allah is the heaviest of the creation. We already read in the commentary of ayatul kursi that the prophet (SallaAllahu ‘alayhi wasallam) said, “The heavens (universe) in comparison to the footstool are but like a ring in an empty desert, and the example of the footstool in comparison to the throne of Allah is like this ring in the empty desert” [2]
  • As the throne is the heaviest and largest object, we are saying that Allah deserves the largest and weightiest form of glorification and praise
  • The “quantity of His creation” dealt with the quantity of this praise, “His Pleasure” dealt with the nobility and goodness of this praise, whilst “the weight of His throne” dealt with the size of this praise, so Allah deserves to be glorified and praised in the largest, best way possible, an infinite number of times
  • The “extent of His words” encompasses all three aspects as Allah’s words are infinite, they are the best of words, and they carry the most weight. Allah describes their greatness in the Qur’an [3]

 

Action Points     

  • This du’aa is very short, yet carries a great reward. Although Juwairiya (radhiyaAllahu ‘anha) most probably did say سبحان الله وبحمده more than three times during that morning and added on top of that many other forms of remembrance of Allah, the prophet (SallaAllahu ‘alayhi wasallam) said that what he did was much better. The difference between the two is that the supplication he said, explored the greatness of what Allah deserves, so opens up the heart to contemplate over Allah. This makes the remembrance of Allah not just in the tongue, but also in the heart
  • The more present your heart is when remembering Allah, the greater your reward will be
  • Never miss out saying this supplication three times every morning, and ensure you always say it with contemplation to maximise the reward you receive

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  1. Hadith, reported in Sahih Muslim, hadith number 2726
  2. Hadith, reported by Ibn Hibban, hadith number 361, Al-Albani graded it as authentic in Al-Silsilah Al-Sahihah, hadith number 109
  3. Al-Qur’an, Surah Al-Kahf [18:109], and Surah Luqman [31:27]
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