Ruku'

1. What it contains: It contains a very sublime aspect of worship, joining the movement of the body with the tongue: when a servant bows in ruku', he must lower his head and bend his body, and then declare Allah's transcendence and magnify Him. Al-Khalil ibn Ahmad Al-Farahidi, one of the famous scholars of the Arabic language, explains that the meaning of (Subhanallah) is: "Declaring Allah free from everything that is unfit to be ascribed to Allah." (See: Al-Ain 3/151) That is why Allah made ruku' one of the pillars of the prayer. This is because of the greatness and importance of that movement in the prayer. 2. What it contains: This dua gathers three very important things: declaring transcendence, magnifying, and praise. So a servant must always declare Allah free from every deficiency and magnify Him, for nothing can exceed Allah's greatness, so that he always puts Allah first throughout his life. He must also always praise Allah for every blessing Allah has given him, especially the blessing of Islam, the blessing of faith, and the blessing of walking upon the sunnah of His Messenger. It should also be known that declaring Allah's transcendence and praising Him carry a very great virtue, as in the hadith of Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him): the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: « كَلِمَتَانِ خَفِيفَتَانِ عَلَى اللِّسَانِ ثَقِيلَتَانِ فِى الْمِيزَانِ حَبِيبَتَانِ إِلَى الرَّحْمَنِ سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ وَبِحَمْدِهِ سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ الْعَظِيمِ » [translation not shown] (Narrated by Al-Bukhari, no. 6682, and Muslim, no. 2694) 4. What it contains: It contains declaring Allah's transcendence, praise for Allah, and then asking forgiveness. This is one of the etiquettes of asking of Allah: when a servant asks, he should begin with beautiful praises, declaring Him free from every deficiency and magnifying Him, and only after that mention his request. One of the requests fit for His servant to utter is to ask forgiveness for all the faults he has committed, whether known or unknown. 5. What it contains: This dua contains a servant's complete submission to his Lord. He also brings all the parts of his body to submit to Him: his hearing, his sight, his mind and his bones. All of these are the most important parts of a person's body, and he gives all of them over solely to submission to Allah alone, making all his deeds sincerely for Allah alone. This is no easy matter. Sincerity requires very hard effort for a servant to attain complete sincerity in his heart, and one way to do so is to bring every part of his body into submission to Allah alone. Sahl ibn Abdillah at-Tustarī was once asked: أَيُّ شَيْءٍ أَشَدُّ عَلَى النَّفْسِ؟ قَالَ: الإِخْلاَصُ لِأَنَّهُ لَيْسَ لَهَا فِيْهِ نَصِيْبٌ 'What is the hardest thing for the soul?' He answered: 'Sincerity, because the soul has no share in sincerity.' (See: Jami'ul Ulum Wal Hikam, p. 84) 7. What it contains: It contains declaring Allah's transcendence and magnifying Him with respect to His lordship (rububiyyah): that Allah is the Being who owns all kingdoms, and who possesses power, grandeur and majesty. When a servant knows the reality of his Creator's majesty and knows that there is no rival who can rival his Creator, this makes him depend on Allah alone. Al-'Aini said: الْجَبَرُوْتُ فَعَلُوْتُ مِنَ الْجَبْرِ وَالْقَهْرِ، وكذلك الْمَلَكُوْتُ فَعَلُوْتُ مِنَ الْمُلْكِ...ويقال: إن زيادة الواو والتاء لأجل المبالغة في التعظيم “الْجَبَرُوْتُ is the فَعَلُوْتُ form of the words al-jabr and al-qohr (power), and likewise الْمَلَكُوْتُ is the فَعَلُوْتُ form of الْمُلْكِ “kingdom/ownership” ... and it is said that the added letters و and ت (in the words الْجَبَرُوْتُ and لْمَلَكُوْت) are for intensification in magnifying.” (Syarh Sunan Abi Daud 4/80) 8. What it contains: It contains declaring transcendence, praise, affirming Allah's oneness, and acknowledging that none has the right to be worshipped except Allah. It is for this that humankind and the jinn were created and the messengers were sent, as Allah says: وَمَا خَلَقْتُ الْجِنَّ وَالْإِنسَ إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُونِ “And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me” (Saheeh International, Qur'an 51:56) (Surah Adz-Dzariyat: 56) And also the word of Allah (glorified and exalted is He): وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَا مِن قَبْلِكَ مِن رَّسُولٍ إِلَّا نُوحِي إِلَيْهِ أَنَّهُ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا أَنَا فَاعْبُدُونِ “And We sent not before you any messenger except that We revealed to him that, "There is no deity except Me, so worship Me” (Saheeh International, Qur'an 21:25) (Surah Al-Anbiya': 255)