3-2143 O Imām, the real meaning of the takbīr90 is this: “We have become a sacrifice,

o God, before You.”

3-2144 At the moment of slaughtering the victim you say Allāhu Akbar: even say so
when you slaughter the carnal soul (= nafs) which ought to be killed

3-2145 The body is like Ismā’īl (Ishmael)91, and the spirit like Ibrāhīm (Abraham): the
spirit has pronounced the takbīr over the noble body.

3-2146 By lusts and desires the body was merely killed, but by the words Bismi’Llāh
uttered in the ritual prayer it was sacrificed92.

3-2147 While praying they were drawn up in ranks before God, as at the Resurrection,
and engaged in self-examination and prayers,

3-2148 Standing in God’s presence and shedding tears, like one who rises up on the
Day of rising from the dead.

3-2149 On that Day God will say, “What have you produced for Me during this term
of respite which I gave you93?

3-2151 Where have you dimmed the brightness of your eye? Where have you
dissolved your five senses?

3-2154 Even if hundreds of thousands of such sorrowful messages come from the Lord

3-2155 At the time of standing in prayer94 these words return from God to the
worshipper, and out of shame he is bent double while bowing down.

3-2156 Out of shame, he loses the power to remain standing, and out of abashment he
recites a litany of glorification while his knees are bowed.

3-2157 Then comes the Divine command, “Lift up your head from bowing down and
tell what you have to say in answer to God.”

3-2158 The shamefaced one lifts up his head from bowing down; then the man whose
works are imperfect falls on his face.

3-2159 Again the Divine command comes to him, “Lift up your head from the
prostration and give an account of your deeds.”

3-2161 Again He says, “Lift up your head and relate your deeds, for I will interrogate
you about them, hair by hair.”
90
Takbīr: proclaiming the greatness of God by uttering the phrase Allāhu Akbar (meaning “God is the Greatest”,
“God is Greater than anything man can imagine”).
91
Whom Abraham was ordered to sacrifice. See Qur’ān 37:99 ff. (Nich.).
92
When Muslims ritually slaughter an animal, it is customary to say Bismi’Llāh (“in the Name of God”) and
Allāhu Akbar (“God is the Greatest”).
93
Qur’ān 36:65.
94
This passage describes the real essence of the ritual prayer, which shall be made manifest at the Resurrection.
Cf. verse 3-2174 (Nich.).

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