Allah hears him who praises Him
Hazrat Khalifatul Masih Rabi‘(rh) said,
“Why have these words been placed after Ruku‘? The reason is that for praise to be heard, the praise of the tongue only is not enough. God does not hear praise of the tongue until it creates the spirit of obedience, until that obedience takes the form of action.”
“Thus, that praise, which does not rise from the heart and does not carry deep truth, is not heard by God. When praise results in our having started obeying, when man has started offering sacrifices, when he has started creating pure changes within himself, then his praise is worthy of being heard. It is this subject that the Holy Quran describes when it says that good words are exalted by righteous conduct. Until good actions are combined with good words, those words are not elevated and they do not reach the throne of God; they do not reach their destination. Thus, Ruku‘ has taught us that if we wish to praise Allah in a way that is heard by Him, then we must obey Him and bow down before Him. Then we will hear these words, “Allah accepts that praise which is true praise.” Now God says, “Yes, I hear that praise, I hear that person who praises me with a true heart.” (Dhauqe ‘Ibadat, pp. 494, 495)
Allah Almighty has not placed the words “Allah hears” at the end of Qiyam because we had not yet come under the full definition of “him who praises Him.” We had spent Qiyam praising Allah with the most perfect of praise in Suratul Fatihah, but we still were not worthy of being called “him who praises Him.” The reason is that no matter how perfect our words may be, they are only words. They do not carry weight until they are supported by a spirit that moves us to action.
Allah hears all of our praise, but he does not accept all of it. The words “Allah hears” after Ruku‘ have the meaning of acceptance. 
also means, he accepted it, answered it. 
God has accepted the praise of him who has praised Him.” (Dictionary of the Holy Quran, pp. 410) It is a great glad tiding to be told that Allah has accepted our praise, but it has to be earned. When we put our praise into action by bowing down before Allah in obedience, and when the praise of Allah leads us to happily cut off every worldly support and lean on Allah alone, then is the praise of our Ruku‘ exalted to the point of acceptance. Now we rise from Ruku‘ having attained something we did not have before. Our words are only exalted by the action of lowering ourselves in Ruku‘.
In commentary of 35:11 of the Holy Quran, Hazrat Khalifatul Masih Rabi‘(rh) said,
“Unto Him ascend good words, and righteous conduct exalts them.” (35:11) No matter how good and pure our words appear, if righteous conduct is not working behind it like a motor that keeps lifting it, it is impossible that those words be acceptable to Allah. In a very beautiful way, it has been explained that mere words will not be of any use, it is righteous conduct that will exalt it. The more a person does righteous conduct, the more exaltation his words will achieve.” (Tarjumatul Quran Class, 4 Feb 98, , @18:50)
One meaning of “Allah hears him who praises Him” is in application to prayer, meaning Allah only hears our prayers when the praise of Allah precedes them.
Hazrat Khalifatul Masih Rabi‘(rh) said,
“Praise has a deep connection with the acceptance of prayer. The words we say when rising from Ruku‘ describe this subject, “Allah hears him who praises Him.”” (Dhauqe ‘Ibadat, pp. 39)
To immediately go into our own personal prayer without praising Allah first is against the etiquette or prayer. The Holy Prophet(sa) taught that praise of Allah should precede prayer.
“The Messenger of Allah(sa) heard a man supplicating during the prayer without glorifying Allah nor sending Salah upon the Prophet(sa). The Messenger of Allah(sa) said: “You are in a hurry, O worshipper.” Then the Messenger of Allah(sa) taught them. And the Messenger of Allah(sa) heard a man praying; he glorified and praised Allah and sent Salah upon the Prophet(sa). The Messenger of Allah(sa) said: “Supplicate, you will be answered; ask, you will be given.” (Nasai, Book 13, Chapter 48)
The wisdom of this etiquette is that the praise of Allah corrects our priorities. For example, we may be praying for a job because we desperately want to be rich and have status. Our heart is filled with praise of the beauty of money, not praise of the beauty of Allah. That prayer is not motivated by spirituality; it is motivated by materialism. Allah is not the objective of our prayer; He is just a means to an end. He is a stepping stone that we step on to get money. When we go directly into prayer without glorifying Allah, our prayer may come from a heart that is filled with glorification of money. When we weep in prayer with humility and beg Allah for that job, our weeping is not out of a desperation to be near to Allah Almighty. That weeping is out of our desperation for money and status.
Hazrat Khalifatul Masih Rabi‘(rh) said,
“Praise is only attributed to God in words, whereas in reality, it is other things in God’s world that are truly worthy of praise in man’s eyes. When he cries before God, he does not cry because of praise of God. He cries because his desire is not being fulfilled. When a sick person screams, he does so because of some pain. His screams are not going to cure his illness; he will be cured through the knowledge of medicine. There is also a science in worship. There is a science to prayer. Only those prayers are accepted that are worthy of being accepted.” (Dhauqe ‘Ibadat, pp. 11-12)
When our heart is filled with praise for the world, then as soon as we get that job, we will forget about Allah because we never really saw Him as praiseworthy or beautiful. Since our heart is filled with the praise of money, then obviously when we get that money we will be engrossed in it. The only thing that may bring us back to God is a fear of loss of that money. Sometimes we rationalize to ourselves that we will be righteous after we get the money and status we want. We are fooling ourselves similar to how the brothers of Hazrat Yusuf(as) said, “you can thereafter become a righteous people.” (12:10) If our heart does not praise the beauty of Allah, then we will forget Him as soon as we have used Him to get what we want. That job will take us away from Allah, not bring us closer to Him. That prayer is not a blessing or a means of nearness to God; that prayer may be a curse.
The Promised Messiah(as) said,
“For prayer, man should examine his thoughts and his heart as to whether his inclination is to the world or to religion. Are the frequency of his prayers for worldly comfort, or for service of religion? If he finds that, whatever he is doing, it is worldly concerns that occupy his mind and religion is not his objective, then he should weep at his condition.” (Malfuzat (10 vol. edition), vol. 7, pp. 117)
The purpose of praising Allah before our prayer is to remove every materialistic priority from our mind and only make Allah our objective. We reflect on how perfect and infinite our Beloved is and how temporary and flawed everything is that distracts us from Him. Such praise changes the priorities in our prayer. After praising Allah, the prayer that seemed urgent and important before now seems small. The object of our prayer is no longer the thing we want; it is Allah. If we pray for a job after praising Allah, we now only want the job as a gift from Allah and as a sign of the acceptance of prayer so that it brings us closer to Allah. The thought of that job taking us away from Allah makes it repulsive in our eyes; we want nothing to do with it. We now only want that job if it increases us in the greater praise of Allah and nearness to Him.
Hazrat Musleh Mau'ud(ra) said,
“When Allah Almighty does a favor to a believer, then he will say Alhamdulillah, but he will also say, “All praise belongs to Allah for this favor, but my destination is still far.” When he receives another favor, he will say, “All praise belongs to Allah for this favor, but I want to attain You, these small things are not my purpose.” He continues advancing step by step, and ultimately he attains God Almighty.” (Ta‘luq Billah, pp. 54)
When a person’s heart is filled with praise for Allah, then his prayers will never take him away from Allah. His prayers will never be for an objective that opposes the laws of Allah. By praising Allah in Qiyam and putting our praise into action in Ruku‘, we have followed the etiquette of prayer. We have acted according to the science of prayer. For such people, Allah Almighty gives glad tidings that He accepts the prayers of those who praise Him. This glad tiding is particularly relevant at this portion of Salat because here the worshipper is about to go into Sajdah, which is a special opportunity for prayer. We are given a glad tiding of the acceptance of the prayers we have asked in Qiyam and Ruku‘, and the special prayers we plan to ask in Sajdah.
Hazrat Zainul ‘Abidin Waliyullah Shah(ra) said,
““Allah hears him who praises Him.” These words of the Imam are a motivational announcement for the followers that they should not hold back in their prayers in Sajdah. This is what our attention is drawn to with the words “Allah hears.” In a state of Sajdah, there is greater opportunity for prayer, as the Holy Prophet(sa) said, “while prostrating yourselves be earnest in supplication, for it is fitting that your supplications should be answered.” (Sahih Muslim, Book 4, Chapter )” (Commentary Sahih Bukhari, vol. 2, pp. 193-194)
Our Lord! and Yours is the Praise
Hazrat Khalifatul Masih Rabi‘(rh) said,
“In reality, “Our Lord!” in itself is a complete prayer. When we say “Allah hears him who praises Him,” then we pray, “Our Lord! and Yours is the Praise.” Why does the “and” come in between? If the “and” were not here, then the translation would be, “O our Lord, Yours is the praise.” But the “and” has broken the connection between “Our Lord!” and the sentence that comes after. The reason for this is that “Our Lord!” is a complete prayer in itself. … There is a narration that Hasan (ra) said that once the Holy Prophet(sa) continuously recited only “Our Lord!”, repeating it again and again.” (Darsul Quran, , @34:50)
The prayers we recite are only words that convey the sentiment of prayer behind them. It is the sentiment that is of real value, not the words. A prayer can be a prayer even if it is not a prayer in its words. Some prayers are only an expression of a sentiment.
For example, the Holy Quran teaches us the prayer,
“Our Lord, we have wronged ourselves; and if You forgive us not and have not mercy on us, we will surely be of the lost.” (7:24)
This prayer, which we observe often, is not a prayer at all in its wording. There is nothing that we ask for in its words. However, we cannot say that it is not a prayer because its sentiment conveys a powerful prayer. We express the reality of our condition and the vulnerability of our position. That expression itself is a prayer. Whether we ask for the mercy and forgiveness of Allah with our words or not is irrelevant. With the sentiment behind these words, the prayer is conveyed clearly without any words of prayer.
Similarly, there are times when we do not even say any words; our circumstances and the state of our heart becomes the most powerful prayer in and of itself.
For example, the Promised Messiah(as) said,
“When the disbelievers threw Hazrat Ibrahim(as) into the fire, the angels came to him and asked him if he needed anything. He replied, “Yes I am in need, but I am in no need of putting my needs before you.” The angels said, “Then at least pray to God Almighty.” Hazrat Ibrahim(as) replied, “He is so aware of my condition that I am in no need of asking.” (Malfuzat (10 volume edition), vol. 2, pp. 209-210)
The reality of every prayer is not in its words but in its sentiment. The words are optional; they are only an attempt to convey the sentiment of that prayer. When we say the words “Our Lord!” after coming up from Ruku‘, we should ask ourselves what our sentiment is. We stand before our Lord and present our condition to Him. When we say “Our Lord!”, we use our condition as the words of our prayer. It is our state that begs our Lord for His mercy, not our words. Summarizing this sentiment, Hazrat Nawab Mubarakah Begum(ra) wrote in a couplet, “What prayer can I ask, I am an embodied prayer. I am not a person who prays, from head to toe I am a prayer.” (Durre ‘Adan, pp. 86)
The same use of “Our Lord!” is also found in one of the prayers we offer at the end of Salat,
“My Lord, make me observe Prayer, and my children too. Our Lord! and accept my prayer.” (14:41)
The words “Our Lord” can be an expression of repentance.
The Promised Messiah(as) said,
“The truth of the matter is that there is a subtle indication towards repentance in the word Rabbana [our Lord]. The word Rabbana requires [and implies that] a person has left other gods which he had previously adopted, and turned towards this Lord. Furthermore, this word can only be uttered from the heart of a person with true anguish and fervour.”(Tafsir Hazrat Masih Mau'ud, vol. 2, pp. , 2:202)
“The fact of the matter is that a person creates multiple gods for himself. He has the utmost faith in his schemes and deceptions, as if those are his gods. If he is proud of his knowledge or power, then that is his god. If he is proud of his beauty or wealth, then that is his god. In short, there are thousands of such gods that are attached to him. Until he does not forsake them all, bow his head before the One True Lord and fall at His threshold, supplicating the words of Rabbana with true heart-wrenching emotions, he will not be able to understand the nature of the True Lord. When one accepts his sins and supplicates with true pain and fervour, then (he) addresses his Lord, ‘Rabbana i.e. O our Lord! You were in fact the True God! Yet in my error, I wandered away from You, but now I have abandoned those false gods and I sincerely proclaim your Providence and I come to Your threshold.” (Tafsir Hazrat Masih Mau'ud, vol. 2, pp. , 2:202)
The words “Our Lord!” can also be an expression of gratitude.
Hazrat Khalifatul Masih Rabi‘(rh) said,
“When we hear the words, “Allah has accepted,” then spontaneously, the words rise from our heart, “Our Lord!”, saying, “how lovely is the Lord who has accepted our praise.” Our Lord! is the reply; we say, “How lovely it is, here we praised You and right away you accepted it. … Just now in Salat we were saying, “Holy is my Lord, the Most Great,” and we heard the words, “Allah has accepted the praise of him who has praised Him.” On receiving an immediate reward, the heart spontaneously says, “Our Lord!” If we only said “Our Lord!”, then everything we want to express is included therein. But by saying “Our Lord!”, we are told how great our Lord is, we say, “Our Lord! and yours is the praise,” in reality praise is only for You and for no one else.” (Tadris Namaz, pp. 34)
“When we say, “Our Lord! and Yours is the praise”, then it becomes praise of gratitude. It is after Ruku‘ that the glad tidings of the acceptance of the first praise we offered in Suratul Fatihah are given.” (Dhauqe ‘Ibadat, pp. 495)
The Holy Prophet(sa) said,
“When the Imam, during the prayer, says, “Allah hears him who praises Him”, say: “O Allah! Our Lord! All the praises are for You,” for if the saying of anyone of you coincides with the saying of the angels, his past sins will be forgiven.” (Sahih Bukhari, Book 59, Chapter )
In commentary of this Hadith, Hazrat Zainul ‘Abidin Waliyullah Shah(ra) said,
“In his elementary stages of spirituality, a person’s claim that he praises Allah does not carry any true meaning. However, when the angels claim that, “we glorify You with Your praise” (2:31), then it is a true claim. When the Holy Prophet(sa) said, “if the saying of anyone of you coincides with the saying of the angels”, the meaning of this Hadith is that a person gradually progresses to the stage of spiritual understanding where his praise of Allah becomes like the praise of the angels for Allah. The purpose of the Creator becomes his purpose. His actions are not from the desire of his lower self, rather he is as the angels are described, “who disobey not Allah in what He commands them and do as they are commanded” (66:7). Allah hears him who praises Him. When a person reaches this stage of praising Allah, Allah Almighty hears his call and responds to him and speaks to him and says, “Fear not; for I am with you both. I hear and I see.” (20:47). (Commentary Sahih Bukhari, vol. 2, pp. 193-194)
When a believer hears that Allah accepts him who praises Him, he immediately seeks this acceptance from Allah. The praise done at this point is out of a believer’s apprehension of missing a window of opportunity. Any mention of the acceptance of Allah moves a believer to try to achieve it. When he praises Allah Almighty in this spirit of spontaneous action, his obedience coincides with the obedience of the angels. The angels spontaneously obey without any delay or disobedience. Such people are given glad tidings of acceptance from Allah and forgiveness.
Praise which is plenty, pure, and blessed
Three characteristics of praise of Allah are described: its quantity, its quality, and the results it produces. We should analyze our praise of Allah to see if it carries these qualities.
The first characteristic is that it is numerous. Kathir describes something being of high quantity. When we love someone and find their beauty to be praiseworthy, naturally we will mention them frequently. When someone buys a new car, he can’t stop thinking about it because its beauty is always on his mind. The first and most basic quality of praise that is acceptable to Allah is that it is numerous. “O ye who believe! remember Allah with much remembrance; And glorify Him morning and evening.” (33:42-43).
Also, our praise being numerous is the basic sustenance for our relationship with our Creator. If we have a friend who we never think about or see, then with each passing day and week, our connection with them weakens and we lose touch. When they’re out of sight then they’re out of mind. It doesn’t matter how much we claim we love them; when we don’t think about them, our connection with them withers away. If the beauties of the world are all that we observe, Allah Almighty will disappear from our sight and mind. If our praise of the beauties of Allah is not numerous, then it will automatically be replaced with numerous praise of materialistic beauties.
The Promised Messiah(as) said,
“Why are we told to recite “holy is my Lord, the Most High” and “holy is my Lord, the Most Great” repeatedly? Wasn’t once sufficient? No. The secret is that numerous repetition leaves an effect, creating alertness in even our most neglected senses. That is why Allah Almighty says, “and remember Allah much that you may prosper.” (8:46) As repetition is connected with the mind and helps in memorization, similarly, it is connected with the soul and is needed. Without repetition, that spiritual connection cannot be sustained.” (Malfuzat (10 vol. edition), vol. 8, pp. 124)
The second characteristic is its quality. Praise that is accepted by Allah is pure. If we know that Allah is praiseworthy because He is All-Powerful, then when we feel weak, we would never turn away from Allah Almighty, we would only run towards Him. But if, when we suddenly feel vulnerable and weak, we find that we are ready to disobey Allah to save ourselves, then those words of praise of Allah were not true, they were false. When a calamity suddenly shakes us, if we find security in turning away from Allah and towards someone else, our words of praise were not pure, but they were flattery.
Hazrat Khalifatul Masih Rabi‘(rh) said,
“Those who praise Allah with empty words, it is as if Allah did not hear them. People have similar experiences daily. In some regions where people are in the habit of giving false praise, they will always flatter you when they meet you. Sometimes they praise to the extremes of exaggeration. If you are not false within yourself, rather than feeling love developing for them, you will feel aversion. If you are false within yourself, then you will always be pleased with false praise. Your truthfulness within will tell you the extent to which you are true. A person who is true within can never be pleased with false praise; he does not even listen to it. It is as if he never heard it. Rather, he hates it and is irritated by it. He wishes that the conversation would end quickly. Thus, that praise which does not rise from the heart and does not carry deep truth is not heard by God.” (Dhauqe ‘Ibadat, pp. 494-495)
When we recite the word “pure” in Salat, we should try to analyze the purity of our praise of Allah. If our heart is at conflict with our words, then that praise is not pure. We should find what our heart believes is worthy of more praise than Allah because that is what taints the purity of our praise. Our claim that all praise belongs to Allah may end up being nothing more than flattery. If an ordinary person would not like hearing flattery, Allah Almighty would not be pleased with it either. If we know that a cup of milk has a drop of urine mixed into it, we would never drink it because we wouldn’t consider it pure. For our praise of Allah to be pure, we should strive to remove every drop of idolatry from our praise. Then our praise will be not only numerous but also pure.
The third characteristic is the results it produces. Praise that is blessed is praise that continuously increases in quantity and quality.
Barakah is, “A blessing; any good that is bestowed by God; and particularly such as continues and increases and abounds” (Lane’s Lexicon, Root: 
Entry: 
).
Hazrat Khalifatul Masih Rabi‘(rh) said,
“A Beloved whose beauties are deeper than your initial impression is worthy of praise. When you see Him from up close and praise Him, then you find greater beauty and depth. Each time you express your love to Him, you return with more love; you don’t come back tired. Those people whose beloveds are empty and shallow, their love ends very quickly because their beauty does not have depth. Their praise remains devoid of Barkat (blessings). Thus, God Almighty has taught us that true praise has Barkat and is always increasing, and new aspects of praise continue coming to mind. The truth is that there is no being other than God whose praise has never-ending Barkat.” (Dhauqe ‘Ibadat, pp. 496)
When our praise of God has quantity, it is like many seeds scattered across the ground. When our praise has quality, it is those seeds that grow into plants. When our praise produces results, it is those plants that produce fruits; they multiply the number of seeds we had. If we find ourselves growing bored and tired of praising Allah, then we can know that our praise is not blessed because our praise will eventually decrease in quantity and quality. However, if we see that our pleasure in praising Allah is growing, our praise is becoming more meaningful, and our desire to do so more frequently is increasing, then we can know that our praise is blessed. Then we can know that our efforts are bearing fruit and our seeds are multiplying.
The meaning of Barakah, as mentioned above, is, “A blessing; any good that is bestowed by God.” We are powerless to attain this. There is nothing we can do to force Allah to bestow blessings on us. When we say “blessed,” we reach the point at which we have no choice but to adopt humility because we have lost control here. We do have a degree of control over making our praise numerous. If we discipline ourselves, we can increase the quantity of our praise and make it more numerous. We also have some degree of control over making our praise pure. By striving in self-purification and meditation, we can remove many unwanted desires from our hearts. However, what action can we possibly do that would directly result in Allah Almighty being compelled to bless our praise? “Blessed” is a response from Allah Almighty as an acceptance of our humble offerings.
When we say “blessed,” it can be said as a prayer where we beg Allah Almighty to bless our praise of Him. This sentiment of prayer will gradually work its way back to the words of “pure” where we will find ourselves asking Allah Almighty to purify our praise of Him. Then this sentiment will work its way back to the word “numerous” where we will find ourselves asking Allah to enable us to praise Him more frequently. Thus, the words “plenty, pure, and blessed” describe the characteristics of true praise of Allah, and it can also be a prayer where we ask Allah Almighty to bring our praise up to the standard of quantity and quality that will produce results.