TAKBIR

The takbīr (Arabic: تَكْبِير [tak.biːr], lit. 'magnification [of God]') is an Islamic expression consisting of the Arabic phrase Allāhu ʾAkbar (Arabic: اللّٰهُ أَكْبَر [ʔaɫ.ɫaː.hu ʔak.bar] , lit. 'God is the greatest [of everything]'), conventionally translated as "God is the greatest" or "God is great", and literally meaning "God is greater". It is a fundamental and repeatedly used proclamation of the absolute supremacy of Allah. The term takbīr is the Arabic verbal noun derived from the reflexive verb kabbara, meaning "to magnify" or "to acknowledge or confess the greatness of". In technical religious usage it denotes the recitation of Allāhu ʾAkbar in Muslim worship and devotion. The expression is used in formal salah (prayer), in the ādhān or call to prayer, during the Hajj, in personal devotion and informal professions of faith, and in circumstances of distress or joy, as well as to express determination or defiance. It is also used by Orthodox Arab Christians as an expression of faith. The phrase is furthermore the official motto of Iran and Iraq. The expression is connected with the wording of 17:111, kabbirhu takbīran, rendered as "make him (God) greatly great". In this usage, "magnifying" God does not imply increasing God's greatness, but acknowledging it. In this sense it can be compared with the Christian Magnificat, in which "magnifying" similarly denotes recognition of divine greatness.