Dhikr: Takbeer, Tasbeeh & Tahmeed

Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Raheem --In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

      In Islam, we learn many things every day, and probably if you are a revert to Islam or a new baby to Islam you might not know what I recently learned: the difference between takbeer, tasbeeh, and tahmeed...Everytime I would attend an Islamic lecture or gathering, one of the members would say: "Takbeer!", to which a chorus would reply: "Allahu Akbar" and I would find it fascinating but I never payed attention or would associate the term takbeer with being an Islamic terminology. MashAllah!! So, InshaahAllah, to help us enhance our vocabulary, here are 3 terminologies from the "Islamic Dictionary":

1. Takbeer: to say Allahu Akbar 
Allahu Akbar is the best way to Exalt Allah.  It means "Allah is the Greater or the Greatest" and in the Qur'an (Surah Israa, Ayah 111) says:  “and glorify Him with a great glorification”. 
      In fact, there is a deeper meaning to “Allahu Akbar” because it’s not just Allahu Akbar, it is : 
Allahu akbaru min kulli shay’in 
which means: 
Allah is greater than everything. 

So when we say Allahu Akbar, we are implying this whole phrase!!



2. Tasbeeh: to say SubhanAllah
SubhanAllah is another way to Exalt Allah and it means Glory be to Allah.  The word is composed by Subhan and Allah.  The word Subhan means to glorify, praise, magnify, extol Allah, by tongue or by heart but by saying Glory be to Allah (in English) we are just translating and doesn't include the complete meaning of the word in Arabic, which includes: 

1. To say He has no flaw in His Perfection, that He is Far above any imperfection.

2. He is far above and beyond any similarity to His Creation.

3. He is free from and above all kinds of association and any un-divine attributes.

When we do tasbeeh, we negate any flaw and we affirm all perfection in Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala.

3. Tahmeed: to say Alhamdulillah
Alhamdulillah is another great way to exalt Allah.  It is a reverence that means 'All praise is due to Allah.'  We should say Alhamdulillah when we sneeze, when we wake up and all the time.  If you are good: Alhamdulillah! If you are not that good: Alhamdulillah! because thanks to Allah subhana wa ta'ala and His great mercy is that we are alive.  


Allah says,
Therefore remember Me, I will remember you, and be thankful to Me, and do not be ungrateful to Me. (2:152)


-- When you so Dhikr (rememberance of Allah) it is good to do takbeer 33 times, tasbeeh 33 times and tahmeed 33 times for a total of 99 times (Allah also has 99 qualities, subhanAllah). The we can close it saying "La Ilaha Illah-Allah" which means “None has the right to be worshiped except Allah.”




Til next time, InshaahAllah (God willing)!
Salam, Kiria


You can check out the following link to read some great invocations:
http://www.duas.org/Misc/invocation.htm