The Spirit of Allahu Akbar

The spirit of Islam in one phrase may be called the Allahu Akbar spirit. The greatest prayer of Islam is namaz, which is performed five times a day. There are, supererogatory (nafil) prayers besides the regular prayers. In all these prayers, obligatory as well as voluntary, the expression Allahu Akbar is repeated about three hundred times during the azan (call to prayer) and prayer.

Allahu Akbar means God is great. It is implicit in this that ‘I am not great’. In this way, everyday all believers refresh their minds repeatedly with the idea that greatness pertains only to God: there is no greatness for them. Congregational prayer is a practical demonstration of this reality. In congregational prayer, all the believers make one person a prayer leader and the rest stand behind him. This is a social form of expression of the Allahu Akbar spirit.

The purpose of saying Allahu Akbar is to develop the spirit of modesty. When the spirit of modesty develops in a person in the real sense, it does not stop at any point: just as this spirit manifests itself before God during prayer, it manifests itself in like manner in relation to other human beings. The sign of the true believer is that the spirit of Allahu Akbar, or the spirit of modesty, becomes a part and parcel of his everyday life.

Those who are imbued with this spirit of Allahu Akbar will never display egoism or pride. They will never distance themselves from others on minor provocations. Working under others will appear to them as an act of worship. Their spirit will find happiness in surrender and modesty rather than in making others surrender to them. They will immediately accept their mistakes. They will be totally free from any desire for leadership.