Jābir ibn ʿAbdullāh, a companion of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ (peace be upon him), remembered a small habit from their journeys together. “When we went up a hill, we would say Allāhu akbar, God is greater. And when we went down, we would say Subḥān Allāh, glory be to God” (Bukhari 2993).
Climbing, they reminded themselves that God is greater than any height they reached. Going down into a valley, they praised Him as above every low and every lack.
When the verse “Glorify the name of your Lord, the Most High” was revealed, the Prophet is reported to have told his followers to say it in prostration (Abū Dāwūd 869). Some scholars grade that report weak, but the practice itself is universal. And he said: “The nearest a servant comes to his Lord is when he is prostrating, so make many prayers then” (Muslim 482).
So the Most High is praised from the lowest point. Muslim teachers found a quiet lesson in that: you do not reach al-ʿAliyy by climbing. You reach Him by bowing down.
Judaism
“And he blessed him, and said: 'Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Maker of heaven and earth”
Genesis 14:19 · JPS 1917
In Genesis, the priest-king Melchizedek blesses Abram in the name of El Elyon, ‘God Most High, Maker of heaven and earth’. The Psalms praise God as most high above all the earth.
Isaiah also says that the High and Lofty One dwells with the humble and contrite: the God most high is not distant from the lowly.
Every synagogue service ends with Aleinu, and at the words ‘we bend the knee and bow’ the congregation bows: the God most high is honoured from below.
Christianity
“However, the Most High doesn't dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says”
Acts 7:48 · WEB
In Luke's Gospel, the angel tells Mary that her son will be called “Son of the Most High”. Christians use the title in prayer and song.
Stephen, the first Christian martyr, reminded his hearers that the Most High is not contained in buildings. For Christians, ‘highness’ means God is beyond every place, not located far away.
The Gloria, sung at Catholic Mass and at many Anglican services, begins with the angels' song: ‘Glory to God in the highest’. In Lent, Orthodox Christians make full prostrations to the ground during the Prayer of St Ephrem.
Islam
“That is because Allah, He is the True, and that whereon they call instead of Him, it is the false, and because Allah, He is the High, the Great.”
Qur'an 22:62 · Pickthall (1930)
Al-ʿAliyy appears eight times in the Qur'an, including at the end of Āyat al-Kursī: “He is the Sublime, the Tremendous.” (2:255, Pickthall). Muslim schools of theology understand His highness in different ways. Atharī scholars, who keep closely to the wording of the texts, affirm that God is above His Throne, as the Qur'an says, without asking how. Ashʿarī and Māturīdī scholars, from two classical schools named after their founders, read it as highness of rank, power and perfection, with God not in any direction. Shīʿī theologians, from the second-largest branch of Islam, hold that He is beyond all place.
All of them agree on one thing: God is not a body in the sky, and nothing in creation is like Him (42:11).
Same and different
Jews call God El Elyon, Christians the Most High, Muslims al-ʿAliyy, and all three insist that this means God is beyond every place, not merely far above it. The Hebrew elyon and the Arabic ʿaliyy may come from the same root, though scholars are not certain. All three pair His highness with closeness to the humble. Think of Isaiah's lofty One who dwells with the contrite, the Most High overshadowing Mary, the prostration in which a Muslim is nearest to God. Christians differ in believing the Most High became incarnate in Christ. Muslim schools differ among themselves on how to speak of His being above the Throne.
families / schoolsUp and downOn your next walk with a hill, try Jābir's habit: say ‘God is greater’ (or simply ‘wow’) going up, and ‘glory be’ (or ‘thank you’) going down. Talk afterwards about what changed.
faith groupsMost High, three waysRead Genesis 14:18-20, Luke 1:30-35 and Qur'an 87:1-5 together. Ask each tradition's members to explain what ‘Most High’ means to them, and what it does not mean.
faith groups / neighboursBow at the endArrange in advance to visit a synagogue's Shabbat morning service (many welcome visitors) and watch for the bow at Aleinu near the end. Afterwards, compare notes on why people bow to the Most High.
choirs / schoolsGlory in the highestLearn a simple setting of the Gloria, ‘Glory to God in the highest’, the angels' song sung at Christmas and at many church services. Talk about why the highest praise is often sung by people kneeling.
Episode 1
