A man addressed the Holy Prophet ﷺ: “O Messenger of Allah, I intend to set out on a journey, so counsel me.” He ﷺ said, “Be conscious of Allah, and when ascending towards the raised ground, you should recite: “Allahu Akbar (Allah is Greatest). When descending towards the lower ground, you should recite SubhanAllah (Glory be to Allah).” When the man turned away, he ﷺ said, “O Allah! Shorten the distance for him and make his journey easy.”
Ascent and descent (as commonly understood) are part and parcel of the human experience. Imam Ali is reported to have said: “One day is for you, one day is against you.” When one reaches a high point in one’s life, when the universe has conformed to one’s desires, the Holy Prophet ﷺ gave instructions to proclaim ‘Allah is Greatest’. Success is by means of His Mercy. Victory is a gift presented to us despite of our inherent human flaws, not as a product of our own intellectual capacity. When an Ottoman Sultan would enter the ceremonial chambers for the sake of a state event, after the customary formal introduction that included his titles ‘commander of the believers’ and ‘sword of Allah’, it was part of the ritual that the gathered military guard would chant “Allahu Akbar! O Sultan, do not think thyself great, for Allah is forever Greater.” For the awakened being, societal norms are inverted. Rather than being cause for an extravagant celebration or pompous, self-important rhetoric, achievements are a time for skepticism and careful self-monitoring. The best of times can be the worst of times, as they often induce a sense of self-reliance and significance. It is easier to forget about one’s Lord in times of plenty than it is in times of challenge. We live in an age of self-aggrandisement and the ‘personal brand’. The objective of the masses is significance, while the people of Allah yearn for anonymity. They acknowledge that whatever good resides within them is a product of Allah’s greatness, and that they are but a grateful actor in the Divine Theatre, whose role it is to bear witness to His Majesty as the scene unfolds.
Descent is widely considered a cause for shame or embarrassment. The inability to bend existence to one’s will is considered a sign of weakness or poor planning. However, the awakened ones know that the descent can be the most spiritually fertile of times. When one’s life disintegrates before one’s eyes, introspection is unavoidable. An awakened being who has not experienced disaster is rare. When we are facing a descent, the Holy Prophet instructed us to be curious, amazed, and grateful. ‘SubhanAllah’ is a statement of bewilderment, an admission that we are incapable of managing our existence for ourselves. It is in times of severe pain that we finally submit to His Omnipotence. After all of the efforts, all of the energy, planning, organising, politicking, sweet-talking, studying, and hoarding, it still collapsed. And perhaps, in the face of disappointment and agony, we are sufficiently humbled and bruised to acknowledge that we are not here to ‘build an empire’, a common tag-line for business consultants and lifestyle gurus, but rather to bear witness to the Beauty of Allah’s creation. Most of those whom He loves are carefully dismantled, often more than once, so as to destroy the ego that frosts the window of perception through which they interpret the universe. The descent is a time of growth and progression on the path, while the ascent is a time for caution. And He knows best.
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