تعالى
Taʿālā
To be exalted above all things, which only God can be; used after His name to affirm His transcendence.
What it means
Taʿālā is a verb from the root ʿ-l-w, meaning to be high. Faruqi explains it as to transcend everything, an act of which only God is capable. When said after His name, as in Allāh taʿālā, it means “may God be affirmed as standing high above all things”. The Quran uses it in this sense: “Exalted is God, the True King” (20:114), and “Exalted is God above what they associate with Him” (7:190). The word expresses the Islamic teaching that God is unlike His creation and is beyond every comparison, which Faruqi called divine transcendence. Muslims use it after the name of God in speech and writing.
Often misunderstood as
English “Most High” or “Exalted” is a fair gloss, but a simple adjective hides that the Arabic is a verb stating what God is above.
What the sources say
The Quran says there is nothing like Him (42:11), and it joins the verb with the denial that He has partners or offspring (23:91–92). Scholars of creed cite these verses to teach that God’s attributes are not to be compared with those of creatures.
Term and Arabic as listed in Ismail al Faruqi, Toward Islamic English (International Institute of Islamic Thought, 1995), p. 40, listed as TAʿĀLĀ. The definition is restated here.