Question:
Assalamu `alaykum,
Someone asked:
What does it mean when they say ‘Huu, Huu, Huu‘ in the dhikr? I Googled it, but it’s very complex. At first I thought it was like ‘Huwa‘ (He), but shortened.
Answer:
Alaykum Salam,
It is the Arabic third person singular subject pronoun and refers to Allah Most High. “He is Allah, besides Whom there is no god but He (Huwa Allāhu al-ladhī lā ilāha illā Hū).
It is said to be the Greatest Name (al-ism al-a`zham): this is a position al-Rāzī supports in his Lawāmiʿ al-bayyināt and Mafātīḥ al-ghayb on the basis of the tripartite Name-sequence in the first verse of Sūrat al-Ikhlāṣ, qul: Huwa Allāh, Aḥad (Q 112:1) and due to its absolute, unqualified singularity (fardāniyya) beyond linguistic composition (tarkīb) as well as the reverential awe (hayba) it evokes since it refers par excellence to the unfathomability (ṣamadiyya) of the unknowable One (Rāzī, Lawāmiʿ pp. 73-79; Tafsīr, sub 2:163 and 2:255).
Hajj Gibril Haddad
