Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Opening dua of Namaz

 بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

 سُبْحَانَكَ اللَّهُمَّ وَبِحَمْدِكَ وَتَبَارَكَ اسْمُكَ وَتَعَالَى جَدُّكَ وَلاَ إِلَهَ غَيْرُكَ
We say this once when we start namaz after takbeer.
This is not compulsory, and namaz can be offered without saying it. Moreover there are other substitute phrases that can be said instead of this one. But mostly people in Pakistan recite this.

The first word سبحانك consists of two words سبحان and ك (ka)
The letter ك (ka) when attached at the end of a word means "You". The word سبحان belongs to the root سبح (sa ba ha) which means "to praise". Sabah also happens to be a common Muslim girl name meaning the same as the root. Another word from this root is تسبيح tasbeeh which is both Arabic and Urdu. Sabah سبح literally means "to do something continuously without stopping". Subhan سبحان is hence the ultimate / infinte form of سبح. Allah is doing what He does continuously without stopping. Simply put Subhanaka سبحانك means you are Subhaan.

Allahuma اللهم means "O Allah". It is a synonym of Ya Allah يا الله. In my notice whenever Allah is invoked with love and affection (in the Quranic Duas) word Allahuma is used.
 سُبْحَانَكَ اللَّهُمَّ
"Subhaan (is) you O Allah!"
 وَبِحَمْدِكَ
 َّ وَ = and
 َّ بِ = with
 حمد = Praise
 كَ = You
So َّ وَبِحَمْدِكَ literally means "And with Praise (is) you"
وَتَبَارَكَ اسْمُكَ
Wa tabarak asmoka
 وَ = and
 َتَ = When ت is pre-scripted to a word it means "he is" "وہ ہے"
 بَارَكَ = Barakah (برکت)
 اسْمُ =  Name
 كَ = Your
 Hence وَتَبَارَكَ اسْمُكَ means "And blessed is your name"
 Notice how simple Arabic grammar is.. you just have to combine two words to make a sentence.
And 80% Arabic is plain Urdu.. You just need to learn to identify and connect the words. Connect the Arabic words with Urdu ones.

تعالي Ta'ala means he is above all.
Commonly spoken as Allah Ta'ala الله تعالى
This is the same عالى (Ala' with kharree zabbar on laam) which we use in Urdu meaning: best, above all
Example: wazir-e-Ala highest wazir
Khadam-e-ala highest servant
Female name Aalia عاليه means same: female above all
Urdu word Ilawa علاوة also means the same : "over and above the rest"
Male Muslim name Muta'al متعال is also one of Allah's 99 names which means "very high"
Notice all of these words have the same root ع ل
It's root is three letter ع ل و
But some specific letters are weak roots. Meaning they disappear in some word formations.
Ex: letter wow و
It appears in علاوہ but disappears in تعالى عالى عاليه and متعال
So I deliberately omitted the third root to avoid confusion and complexity.
Next word is جَدُّكَ Jadduka
The postscripted ك ka means "your"
Jaddo جَدُّ is the root ج د د which has two meanings.
One: it means discontinue, as in the Urdu word جدا
If we post script the root with a ت the root (which is always a verb) becomes a noun جدت
Discontinue becomes discontinuation.
Hence the figurative meaning of the word جدت is innovation. (Discontinuation of a current practice)
Similarly the word جدید
Second meaning of this root is "highness", highly respectful, great in respect. Urdu word for this second meaning is آباواجداد Aba-o-ajdad. Hence اجداد is used to refer to grandparents. Quran uses both meanings of the word at different points and the context will clarify itself which meaning is intended. Here the word جَدُّكَ Jadduka literally means "Your Highness" However different translators use different, more expressive, more beautiful words while translating.
وَلاَ إِلَهَ غَيْرُكَ
وَ = and
لاَ = no
إِلَهَ = god
غَيْرُ = other than
كَ = you
we discussed غير before
غير (ghair)
Means:
Other than
In Urdu it is used in the context of "other than our  relative" but in Arabic it only means "Other than".
Two urdu words derived from this root are:
1. Waghaira وغيره
2. Ghairat غيرة
In Waghaira وغيره the first letter "و" (wow) means AND ghair غير means "Other than"
Hence Waghaira وغيره literally means "And Other than (this)"
Ghairat
غيرة in Arabic
غیرت in Urdu
Is noun of this root غير
We have seen previously learned how to make a noun from a root by putting a  ت or ة
Ghairat غيرت refers to the sentiments which arise when a ghair غير interferes with something which is personal to you.
Ilah إله
Allah الله is actually Al-Ilah ال اله
AL ال means The
Ilah إله means god with a small g
Hence Al-Ilah الله means "The God" and in english we convert small g into capital G automatically when preceded with "The".
La Ilah IL Allah
لا اله إلا الله
No god except The God
(Literal translation)
From now on try to feel the meaning of each word while offering prayers.
Apart from revision, it will bring depth, quality and meaning to your prayers and mind will not be distracted with other worldly thoughts.

رب ذدني علما

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