Al-Isra · Makki · ayah 43 of 111

Al-Isra 17:43

سُبْحَـٰنَهُۥ وَتَعَـٰلَىٰ عَمَّا يَقُولُونَ عُلُوًّا كَبِيرًا

“Exalted is He and high above what they say by great sublimity.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Glorified is He, and exalted above every word they say about Him, by a height their claims cannot even reach.

A reflection

The only praise that is never rounded up

A builder's van passes on the ring road. Painted along the side, in gold: The Best Builder in the County. Nobody believes it, and nobody minds. We all know how self-praise works. A person describing himself rounds up. He leaves out the leaking roof and the job that ran three months late.

Then comes this ayah, in which Allah declares His own perfection. Subḥānahu wa-taʿālā: glorified is He, and exalted. An early commentator explained the moment. He glorifies Himself when a slander has been said against Him. The slanders are the ones just quoted: daughters given to Him, and gods beside Him.

Here the comparison with the van breaks down completely. When a human praises himself, the praise is larger than the truth. When Allah describes Himself, the description is never larger than the truth, because nothing could be. Tasbīḥ is declaring Him clear of every flaw. For Him, that is not boasting. It is simply accurate.

That is what shrinks the ego. We are the ones who round up. We polish our stories, enlarge our part, and wince when the truth is told plainly. Beside the One whose praise of Himself is only the truth, our self-advertising looks like gold paint on a van.

Is it not strange for God to glorify Himself, when we are told not to claim purity for ourselves (53:32)? It is not a double standard. It is the difference between a false statement and a true one. The surah closes on the same note, as a command. Say, praise be to Allah, who has taken no son and has no partner, and magnify Him greatly (17:111). He tells us the truth about Himself because we need to know it. He is the Free of need, the Praiseworthy (35:15). Our praise adds nothing to Him. Hearing His adds everything to us.

The full entry has 5 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.