The Two Beloveds of Allah
Discussion Join
See Also
Subhan:
http://www.untiredwithloving.org/sobhaan.html
Rahman: http://www.untiredwithloving.org/rahman_1_13.html
"Kalimatān (Two Phrases), slight upon the tongue, heavy upon the scale,
Habibatān (two beloveds) of Ar-Rahman:
Subhānallāh (Glory for Allah) and
with/by ITs/His
Hamd (Gratitude,
Praise),
Subhānallāh (Glory for Allah)
Al-'Azim (The
Colossal)" said the Prophet, peace be upon him.
الجامع الصغير.
الإصدار 3,22 - لجلال الدين السيوطي
المجلد الخامس >> [تتمة باب حرف الكاف]
6376- كلمتان خفيفتان على اللسان، ثقيلتان في الميزان، حبيبتان إلى
الرحمن: "سبحان الله وبحمده سبحان الله العظيم"
التخريج (مفصلا): أحمد في مسنده ومتفق عليه [البخاري ومسلم] والترمذي وابن
ماجة عن أبي هريرة
تصحيح السيوطي: صحيح
Kirmani: Kalimatān means two
phrases, like Kalimat Shahādat or the phrase of bearing witness.
Habibatān means two beloveds as dual objects of someone's love, not the
doer i.e. the lover but the beloveds.
قال
الكرماني كلمتان أي كلامان و الكلمة تطلق على الكلام كما يقال كلمة
الشهادة و الحبيبتان بمعنى المفعول لا بمعنى الفاعل
Q: The term Habibatān (two beloveds) is gendered as dual-female
beloveds, due the introduction of the additional Tā (T sound in
Arabic), why?
A: Note that the addition of Tā (T sound in Arabic) for making a word
feminine is must for singular forms and optional for the dual-forms
i.e. two of something, it is possible that Tā (T sound in Arabic) was
introduced to be female gendered as are the words 'slight' and 'heavy'
in this Hadith, and it should be noted that both of the latter words
are doers and not objects i.e. being slight or heavy is the doing of
the doer and not something that is done to the object, however
Habibatān refers to being loved and breaks the pattern of the previous
two doers. Therefore the best way we can understand the introduction of
Tā (T sound in Arabic) is: it was introduced to transform the words
from adjective-form to noun-form! The same transformation in the
following sentence:
"Take your ZabihaTak (Slaughtered animal), the sheep that is not
slaughtered" Here the Tā (T sound in Arabic) was introduced to the word
Zabiha to make it a noun an identifier for something as opposed to
description of something since the sheep is not yet slaughtered, the Tā
(T sound in Arabic) sound gives the living sheep the name 'slaughtered
animal' and the description of the animal is definitely not one that is
slaughtered.
قال الكرماني فإن قيل
فعيل بمعنى مفعول يستوي فيه المذكر والمؤنث ولا سيما إذا كان موصوفه معه،
فلم عدل عن التذكر إلى التأنيث؟ فالجواب أن ذلك جائز لا واجب وأيضا فهو
في المفرد لا المثنى سلمنا لكن أنث لمناسبة الثقيلتين والخفيفتين أو لأنها
بمعنى الفاعل لا المفعول والتاء لنقل اللفظة من الوصفية إلى الاسمية وقد
يطلق على ما لم يقع لكنه متوقع كمن يقول خذ ذبيحتك للشاة التي لم تذبح
فإذا وقع عليها الفعل فهي ذبيح حقيقة، وخص لفظ الرحمن بالذكر لأن المقصود
من الحديث بيان سعة رحمة الله تعالى على عباده حيث يجازى على العمل القليل
بالثواب الكثير
Dara: The addition of Tā (T sound in Arabic) into the words Habibatān
(two beloveds), is not to gender it as female word, but it is to form a
noun identifying something that is loved by Allah, though
that
something i.e. the words have not yet been uttered by the human being!
Therefore the beloved here is not a description rather it is the name
of the words that human being might utter and at the moment of their
utterance these words become beloveds of Allah. In this interpretation
we believe, that there is pre-creation Divine
Love and post-creation
Divine Love i.e. Allah loves our words that remembers Hu
prior to their
creation in our mouths. So the Dhikr (Remembrance)
is not something of
our mind or heart or tongue, it is the very Divine Love emanating from There to Here, pointing
from Allah to us. You may say the Tā (T sound in Arabic) indicates the
primordial Divine Love that loved us and our words, before our creation.
Dara: The addition of Tā (T sound in Arabic) into the words Habibatān
(two beloveds), indicates as the addition to the male gendered words
indicates, the 'Idafah (Annexation) of a name to Allah's, since
had
Allah not allowed this annexation no word and nothing can be added to
Hu's
Names e.g. She-camel of Allah, House of Allah or messenger of
Allah. The female gendered words normally are obtained by annexing some
letters to the default shortest form which is called the male gendered
form i.e. the shortest default base, so the parallel: Subhān (Glory) must
be added to the word Allah
else it has no nobility and divinity of any kind. And this annexation
is tagged with Tā (T sound in Arabic) compliant as the female gendered
under the grammatical rules of Arabic.
Bukhari: Chapter 'virtues of
Tasbih (Glorifying Allah), as was
noted by Qastalani:
Note: In Arabic there are two forms of Masdar
(Verbal Noun), Masdar is the state of being something or somehow e.g.
walking:
1. Masdar a verbal noun extracted
from the three-letter Arabic verb
2. Ismul-Masdar verbal noun that is
not extracted from any known verb e.g. Qahqarā which means drifting
backwards.
قهقرا
Q: Is Subhān (Glory)
a Masdar or Ismul-Masdar? In other words is this
word a state of something in and of itself, or is it extracted from an
actual verb?
A: The learned sages inclined towards both options, some said
Subhānallāh (Glory for Allah) is
Masdar a verbal noun extracted from
the verb Sabaha and some others said Subhānallāh (Glory for Allah) is
an Ismul-Masdar again a verbal noun though it is not extracted from any
verb i.e. Subhān (Praise) is a Hāla (State) of Wujud (Being) and has
no
verbal equivalent.
Q: Is Subhān (Glory)
definitive (Ma'rūf) or in-definitive (Nakarah)
word?
A: In Arabic if a word is definitive then usual juxtapositions of Irab
(declension)/Nunation (Tanwin) would not apply. Let me say it in an
easier way: if the Subhān (Glory) is
definitive then the word cannot be
manipulated much, yet if it is not definitive then it is like any other
word subject to grammatical declension and conjugational deformations.
Qastalani gives example from Arabic poetry that shows Subhān (Glory) is
subjected to Nunation (Tanwin) and concludes, best I can tell, that
Subhān (Glory) is not definitive.
The counter argument: the Alif-Nun added to the end of Sabaha i.e. what
made it into the deformation Subhān (Glory),
causes this word to be
singled out and therefore it is definitive due to the addition of the
two extra letters at the end i.e. Alif and Nun.
Some said: Subhān (Glory) is
like that of 'before' or 'after' i.e. they
appear adjacent to a word and if that word is definitive then they are
definitive and if the word is not definitive then they are not
definitive either. So Subhān (Glory) can appear before the name of
Allah or
other than Allah's name, and in general it inherits all
grammatical Declension/Nunation of its adjacent word.
في
أحاشية هي قال البخاري باب التسبيح قال القسطلاني يعني قول سبحان الله و
هو اسم مصدر و هو التسبيح و قيل بل سبحان مصدر لأنه سمع له فعل ثلاثي و هو
من الأسماء الملازمة و قد يفرد و اذا أفرد منه من الصرف للتعريف و زيادة
الألف و النون كقوله
أقول
لمّا جاءني فخره سبحان من علقمة الفاخر
و جاء منونا كقوله
سبحانه ثمّ سبحانا يعود له و قبلنا سبّح الجوديّ
و الجمد
فقيل صرف ضرورة و قيل
هو بمنزلة قبل و بعد ان نوى تعريف بقي على حاله و ان نكر أعرب منصرفا و هذ
البيت يساعد على كونه مصدرا لا اسم مصدر لوروده منصرفا و لقائل القول
الأول أن يجيب عنه بأن هذا نكرة لا معرفة و هو من الأسماء اللازمة النصب
على المصدرية
Dara: Even if we consider Subhān (Glory) in-definitive and even if it
applies to other than Allah, it
should be spiritually considered:
Primordially first there was Subhānallāh (Glory for Allah) and all
other praise and subjects of any praise were next and are/were
transient
i.e. not perpetually timelessly praised, their praise has a beginning
and an end
e.g. I praise someone, indeed this verb or this transience of praising
came from the Subhānallāh (Glory for Allah), an extract from before
time immemorial, I really did not praise that person all along I
praised Allah but my Nafs (Self)
causes the ambiguity that I am
praising someone other than Allah!
Kasā'i: Subhānallāh (Glory for
Allah) is a
calling i.e. O You The Glorious! But most grammarians have
objected to this.
Subhānallāh (Glory for Allah) and
with/by ITs/His Hamd (Gratitude,
Praise): Only due to the endowment and power from Allah, which I am
very grateful (Hamd), I can say Subhānallāh (Glory for Allah) else I
could not have fathomed any ability to glorify or praise Allah, this
glorification is helpless without Your aid. Therefore the phrase
Wa-Bi-Hamdehi (And with His/ITs Gratitude) means I am thankful to Allah
for letting me praising Hu (Him, IT).
قوله (وبحمده)
قيل الواو للحال والتقدير: أسبح الله متلبسا بحمدي له من أجل توفيقه
وقيل عاطفة والتقدير أسبح الله وأتلبس بحمده،
Dara: Wa of Wa-Bi-Hamdehi (And with His/ITs Gratitude) is the Wāw of
Hāla (State) i.e. Subhānallāh (Glory for Allah) WHILE I
AM in the STATE
of thankfulness. The same as the phrase: Zaid came Wāw (While, And) the
sun shining, here the phrase 'sun shining' is depicting a state or a
backdrop while Zaid came. Similarly the state or the backdrop for
Subhānallāh (Glory for Allah) is that of thankfulness, for how could I
remember You and glorify You without Your own endowment showered upon
me!
Wa-Bi-Hamdehi (And with His/ITs Gratitude): The Bi (B sound in Arabic)
could mean with Your generosity and Guidance i.e. without Your
generosity or guidance I could not have glorified You by saying
Subhānallāh (Glory for Allah). Indeed
such glorification is difficult
and impossible for the slave unless by some aid from Allah.
و
بحمده متعلق بفعل محذوف دلّ عليه التسبيح أي بحمده سبحته أي بتفضله و
هدايته هذا قولهم و كأنهم لا حظوا أنّ الحمد هنا بمعنى الشكر
The Bi (B sound in Arabic) could mean the Bi of Sabab (Causation) i.e.
You are glorified BECAUSE of Your Divine Attributes, infinitely
perfected infinitely powerful. We are helpless but to glorify and
praise You.
و تكون
الباء باء السبب و يكون معناه انك موصوف بصفات الكمال و الجمال سبّحك
المسبّحون و عظّمك المعظّمون
The Bi (B sound in Arabic) could mean that Bi of ignition or
commencement i.e. I start glorifying You by first thanking You or
praising You, hence Bi-Hamd!
Slight upon the tongue: These two praises based upon Subhān (Glory) are
few little sounds uttered by the tongue i.e. Allah made the
actualization of the Subhān (Glory) so easy, without this aid from
Allah, it is impossible for any member of Creation to say or think of
anything along the lines of Subhān (Glory).
Heavy upon the scale: There is a scale in the universe, the scale
vis-à-vis Allah
measures the worth of the deeds of the slaves,
and these two simply uttered phrases are immense in that scale.
Qurtubi: Subhānallāh (Glory for
Allah) is an
'Alam (Flag, Identifier) posted upon the Masdar (Verbal
Noun) Sabaha (Glorified), and it is pinned into this position by the
very
declension of Nasb (Fatha 'A' sound as in cat) i.e. SubhānA. The
declensions and Nunation does not apply to Subhān (Glory), since
it is
ending with Alif-Nun like 'Uthmān, and this would cause it to be
definitive (I think this is what Sheikh Qurtubi means). And it means
Allah is free from all defects, shortcomings and wrongdoings. And
according to the verse from Al-'Asha, Subhān (Glory) means human being
is perplexed with astonishment meaning stunned by the beauty and power
of Allah.
Note:
Mubtada’ (Beginning): This is usually
a definitive name that some information about it is transmitted within
the rest of the Arabic sentence. It is always in Raf’ (Nominative)
state. Mubtada’ can also be a phrase.
Khabar (News, Information): This is
usually a phrase issuing some useful information about the Mubtada’
(Beginning). In Arabic grammar it is allowed to omit the Khabar for
variety of purposes and the Mubtada’ (Beginning) is left without any
explanation.
Example:
1. “Allah is our
Lord”: ‘Allah’ is Mubtada’ (Beginning) and ‘our Lord’ is Khabar (News,
Information).
2. “And it is
better for you that you fast” [2:184]: ‘that you fast’ is Mubtada’
(Beginning) while ‘it is better for you’ is Khabar (News, Information).
There are three states for names and
verbs in Arabic:
1. Raf’:
Nominative, vowelled with Dhamma (‘O’ sound)
2. Nasb:
Accusative, vowelled with Fat-ha (A sound as in cat)
3. Jarr: Genitive,
vowelled with Kasra (‘e’ sound as in eel or ted)
Al-Zarkashi: Kalimatān (Two
Phrases) is the upfront Khabar (The news information) and the 'slight'
and the 'heavy upon the scale' characterizations for these dual
phrases, and the Mubtada' (The Beginning) is Subhānallāh (Glory for
Allah) to the
end.
Al-Sakaky: The upfront
placement of the Khabar (The news information) is for the purpose of
yearning or awakening.
Dara: Azizam (My dearest), every plant that sprouts, whether here on
earth or
there in Paradise, is the direct consequence of Subhānallāh (Glory for
Allah) or you
may say every plant that sprouts is Isharat (Pointing)
at
Subhānallāh (Glory for Allah). So say it lightly upon your tongue or
SEE it sprout in front of your eyes. And no matter how you say it or
what you make of it, it was not you who uttered Subhānallāh (Glory for
Allah) rather it is the primordial Divine
Love that rolls upon your
tongue, That
Which loved your words even though you were not. And Hu
was Ar-Rahman's
intense and limitless Mercy, That
Which bore through
the impenetrable barrier, like unto a laser beam perforating or you may
say like unto what we call love. Thus do peep through the perforation
made up of Divine Love and see Hu glorifying Hu and your Wujud (Being)
a mere temporal entanglement—The Insān Kāmil (The Perfected
Pupil).
And this world does seem to be a continuum and its continuity due to
the extension of one Subhānallāh (Glory for Allah)
sprouting another
Subhānallāh (Glory for Allah):
Gardens be O cosmos and gardens be O Paradise
For off my tongue rolled the radiance Subhānallāh
كنز العمال الإصدار
2.01 - للمتقي الهندي
المجلد الأول >> الإكمال
2058 - من قال سبحان الله وبحمده غرس له ألف شجرة في الجنة أصلها من ذهب
وفرعها من درو طلعها كثدي الأبكار ألين من الزبد، وأحلى من الشهد كلما أخذ
منها شيء عاد كما كان.
(ك في التاريخ والديلمي عن أنس).
Ibn Al-Hamam: Kalimatān (Two
Phrases) is the Mubtada' (The Beginning) and the Subhānallāh (Glory for
Allah) to the
end the Khabar (Information, News).
Dara: As noted by others during his life, Ibn Al-Hamam was mistaken. If
we follow his assertion then the Beginning and the Information about
the Divine Words, are both in this world i.e. a vector from this world
to this world, and Subhan (Glory) is no
more than a Masdar (Verbal
Noun) that is derived from the transient verb Sabaha (To Glorify). This
view is what we are doing today by ignorantly and mistaken-ably
invoking the Dhikr (Remembrance)
of these Divine Word, with their
origination from this world and again pointing into the
transience of this world.
Dara: The Prophet, peace be upon him used to say during the Ruku'
(Bowing) and Sujud (Prostration): Subbuh (Glorified) Quddus (Santified) The
Lord of the angels and the Gabriel (Ruh).
Subhānallāh (Glory for Allah) is the
annexation of the word Subhan (Glory) to
Allah, since in the language of the Arab the word Subhan (Glory) or
astonishment can be annexed to any name. On the other hand, the word
Subbuh (Glorified) is not annexed to any of the Divine Names! Meaning
it is a singleton glory-state beyond even naming of any kind. It was
only used by the Prophet during the acts of obeisance and not seen in
any other Arabic literature.
Subhānallāh (Glory for Allah) is
annexed to indicate the concept of Infi'al (Actualization), that in
order for the human being to be cognizant of this form of glorification
of Allah, there is need for annexation of the 'actualization' for the
Subhānallāh (Glory for Allah) i.e. to be actualized into the transient
verbs within the Muhdath (The Transient Universe we are in). The
annexation of
Allah+Subhan
indicates a vector with the origin being Allah and the final endpoint
the glory that can be in this world in the form of transient
glorification.
However Subbuh (Glorified) is not annexed i.e. it radiates Nur (Divine Light)
and has no need for additional annexation of any kind! In this form the
human being can only absorb this Nur (Divine Light) if and only if the
heart is in the Hala (Momentary State)
of obeisance. Further evidence for this effulgent phenomenon is the
Prophetic narration: I was given a Qurrat (Something beautiful) for my
eye during the Salāt (Ritualistic
Prayers). Something of incredibly
beauty bewildered the Prophet during the prayers, so he did not wish to
abandon the prayers.
Note: Subbuh (Glorified) is actually Subbuhun
i.e. it is indefinite. That is because, this is the modality of the
Divine Presence where there is no other being and there is no other
praise for non-else other than Allah! For that
matter had the word be definite then it needs other things so it can
distinguish itself from the others. But since there are no others,
there
very concept of being definite is non-applicable.
سُنَنُ أبي دَاوُد، الإصدار 2.02 - للإمامِ أبي دَاوُد
الجزء الأول >> -2- كتاب الصلاة >> باب تفريع أبواب الركوع
والسجود >> -151- باب ما يقول الرجل في ركوعه وسجوده
872- حدثنا مسلم بن إبراهيم، ثنا هشام، ثنا
قتادة، عن مطرِّف، عن عائشة:
أن النبي -صلى الله عليه وسلم- كان يقول في ركوعه وسجوده: "سبوحٌ قدوسٌ رب
الملائكة والروح".
الجامع الصغير.
الإصدار 3,22 - لجلال الدين السيوطي
المجلد الثالث >> باب: حرف الجيم
3593- جعلت قرة عيني في الصلاة
التخريج (مفصلا): الطبراني في الكبير عن المغيرة
تصحيح السيوطي: ضعيف
©
2006-2002, Dara O. Shayda, Ahmad Bukhari
