Servant Before Messenger

When the Shahādah is said — I declare that there is none worthy of worship besides Allah, and that Muhammad (peace be upon him) is His servant and Messenger — two words are mentioned: ʿabd and Messenger, ʿabduhu wa-rasūluh. Why is Messenger not mentioned before ʿabd? ʿAbd means servant. Is messengerhood, messengership, not his highest status? No. In Islam, the highest rank a person could ever achieve with Allah (swt) is the maqām of ʿabd. That is why he has al-Maqām al-Maḥmūd: that station belongs to the servant who is the highest of servants, Muhammad (peace be upon him). The Riḍwān al-Akbar of Allah (swt), His greatest good pleasure, is given to such a servant. So Muhammad (peace be upon him) is first an ʿabd — the highest, the purest servant of Allah (swt), Muhammad Muṣṭafā, the pure one — and after that he is a Messenger of Allah (swt). If, in ṣalāh, a person begins to contemplate in his mind, in tafakkur, with ikhlāṣ, the taḥiyyāt whose meaning has just been given, his ṣalāh will take on a different dimension: he is rehearsing, he is repeating, the conversation that took place between the Creator and the best of creation, Muhammad Muṣṭafā (peace be upon him). May Allah (swt) enable us to pray with such khushūʿ, with presence of mind.