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Al-Hadi

The All-Guiding

He is The One Who guides and directs His servants towards all that will be of benefit to them and away from all that will bring them harm. He is The One Who teaches them what they did not previously know and guides them with a guidance that keeps them firm upon the Straight Path. He is The One Who inspires their hearts with piety (being conscious of Allah) and makes them penitent and compliant to His commands. (1)

قال الله تعالى: {وَلِيَعْلَمَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْعِلْمَ أَنَّهُ الْحَقُّ مِنْ رَبِّكَ فَيُؤْمِنُوا بِهِ فَتُخْبِتَ لَهُ قُلُوبُهُمْ وَإِنَّ اللهَ لَهَادِ الَّذِينَ آَمَنُوا إِلَى صِرَاطٍ مُسْتَقِيمٍ} الحج 54

And that those who have been given knowledge may know that it (this Quran) is the truth from your Lord, and that they may believe therein, and their hearts may submit to it with humility. And verily, Allah is the Guide of those who believe, to a Straight Path.

Surah Al-Hajj [22: 54]

Allah is The All-Guiding, and His guiding of us is related to His mercy, knowledge and wisdom. First Allah guides us to Him; to know Him, to believe and affirm that He is our Lord, our Creator. He guides our hearts to believe in Him and in His Oneness, and because He is our Lord He shows us the way to attain His pleasure and His love, how to earn His reward and enter His Paradise. He guides us in a very detailed manner.

Allah’s perfect wisdom and mercy makes it impossible that He would leave us without guidance and knowledge. Truly Allah does not leave us like this; not knowing our goal or our path. No! Rather, He sent us Messengers with detailed guidance. So we say “alhamdulillah”  [all praise belongs to Allah] that Allah is The All-Guiding. Allah, The Most High, says,

قال الله تعالى: {وَقَالَ الرَّسُولُ يَا رَبِّ إِنَّ قَوْمِي اتَّخَذُوا هَٰذَا الْقُرْآنَ مَهْجُورًا ، وَكَذَٰلِكَ جَعَلْنَا لِكُلِّ نَبِيٍّ عَدُوًّا مِّنَ الْمُجْرِمِينَ ۗ وَكَفَىٰ بِرَبِّكَ هَادِيًا وَنَصِيرًا} الفرقان 30-31

And the Messenger (Muhammad ) will say: “O my Lord! Verily, my people deserted this Quran (neither listened to it, nor acted on its laws and orders). Thus have We made for every Prophet an enemy among the Mujrimun (disbelievers, polytheists, criminals, etc.) But Sufficient is your Lord as a Guide and Helper.

Surah Al-Furqan [25: 30-31]

There are two types of Guidance:

First is the general type of guidance:

This guidance is for the entire creation. Allah created all creation and He guides every single creature to its welfare and provision. He has created every creature in a manner which enables each one of them to manage in its surrounding environment. Allah guides us to that which is beneficial to us in regards to food, health, social relationships, rulings prohibiting the harmful acts and every single thing other than these.

This guidance includes all types of creatures, and it is not limited to humans. For example, Allah guides the animals to be able to differentiate between harmful (grass) and good grass in the wild. Allah guides the birds to know their way while flying thousands of kilometers when they migrate. Allah guides the ants to store their food for winter time. Moreover, ponder on how the tribes of animals appoint a leader and follow that leader, knowing the importance of being united in one group in order to avoid being attacked, glorified is Allah.

Allah guides each and every creature to what will benefit it, as well as guiding it away from what which will harm it. The amazing thing is that the lives of the animals, birds, fish and insects has been studied by the disbelievers. They have written books, made videos, and more; yet they fail to acknowledge and accept the existence of The Creator!

Allah is The All-Guiding, He did not create His creatures to leave them, without guidance. Allah, The Most High, says concerning this,

قال الله تعالى:{ الَّذِي خَلَقَ فَسَوَّى وَالَّذِي قَدَّرَ فَهَدَى } الأعلى 2-3

Who has created (everything), and then proportioned it; And Who has measured (pre ordainments for each and everything even to be blessed or wretched); then guided (i.e. showed mankind the right as well as wrong paths, and guided the animals to pasture).

Surah Al-Aʻla [87: 2-3]

So our ability to contemplate and reflect upon Allah’s guidance of His creation with His perfection and wisdom, is a clear sign of Allah’s divinity. Allah gave human beings a brain with which to think, comprehend and to draw conclusions. Even though we do not see Allah, we can surely see the acts of Allah in His creation. This entire universe with its many and varied creatures is a sign of the existence of a Creator; Allah, The Creator, The All-Guiding. This is one of the things that distinguishes us from the animals; the ability to comprehend something from its apparent and clear signs.

The second type of guidance is the guidance of knowledge and revelation  (“Hidayah Al-Irshad”):

There is a general guidance which Allah has given to everyone, meaning that Allah has established and clarified the truth upon everyone. (2)

Allah says concerning this,

قال الله تعالى: {وَأَمَّا ثَمُودُ فَهَدَيْنَاهُمْ فَاسْتَحَبُّوا الْعَمَىٰ عَلَى الْهُدَىٰ فَأَخَذَتْهُمْ صَاعِقَةُ الْعَذَابِ الْهُونِ بِمَا كَانُوا يَكْسِبُونَ } فصلت 17

And as for Thamud, We showed and made clear to them the Path of Truth (Islamic Monotheism) through Our Messenger, (i.e. showed them the way of success), but they preferred blindness to guidance, so the Sa’iqah (a destructive awful cry, torment, hit, a thunderbolt) of disgracing torment seized them, because of what they used to earn. Surah Fussilat [41: 17]

Allah will not punish anyone unless He has first sent to them a Messenger conveying the truth and guiding them to that which is correct.  He will not punish them until He has sent to them someone who conveys the truth to them in a very clear, vivid, and comprehensive manner that they can understand.

قال الله تعالى: { أَنْ تَقُولَ نَفْسٌ يَا حَسْرَتَا عَلَى مَا فَرَّطْتُ فِي جَنْبِ اللَّهِ وَإِنْ كُنْتُ لَمِنَ السَّاخِرِينَ أَوْ تَقُولَ لَوْ أَنَّ اللهَ هَدَانِى لَكُنتُ مِنَ الْـمُتَّقِينَ، أَوْ تَقُولَ حِينَ تَرَى الْعَذَابَ لَوْ أَنَّ لِى كَرَّةً فَأَكُونَ مِنَ الُْمحْسِنِين،  بَلَى قَدْ جَآءَتْكَ ءَايَـتِى فَكَذَّبْتَ بِهَا وَاسْتَكْبَرْتَ وَ كُنْتَ مِنَ الْكَـفِرِين} الزمر -59-56

Lest a person should say: “Lest a person should say: “Alas, my grief that I was undutiful to Allah (i.e. I have not done what Allah has ordered me to do), and I was indeed among those who mocked [at the truth! i.e. La ilaha ill-Allah (none has the right to be worshipped but Allah), the Quran, and Muhammad and at the faithful believers, etc.] Or (lest) he should say: “If only Allah had guided me, I should indeed have been among the Muttaqun (pious and righteous persons). Or (lest) he should say when he sees the torment: “If only I had another chance (to return to the world) then I should indeed be among the muhsinun (good-doers).”Yes! Verily, there came to you My Ayat (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.) and you denied them, and were proud and were among the disbelievers.

Surah Az-Zumar [39: 56-59]

Allah has revealed the Books and sent us Messengers, providing us with proofs of His existence and His deserving to be worshipped alone. Allah has set rulings for us by which we must abide; rulings which clearly show us what is allowed and what is forbidden. Allah’s rulings and legislation are another vivid proof and sign of Allah’s divinity. Reflect on the fact that Allah prohibited alcohol over a thousand years ago, and yet now you see that governments are beginning to strictly regulate alcohol after “discovering” its dangerous harm for society! Furthermore, Allah also forbade gambling, which is an obvious cause of the destruction of many homes, even driving some people to suicide! Allah has guided us through His complete, perfect and just legislation, in order to protect our minds, health, religion, money and our souls, in every single aspect of our life.

The third type of guidance is the guidance to success (Hidayah at-Tawfiq):

This is a special kind of guidance wherein Allah guides His slaves to act upon the righteous path. He guides their hearts to accept the truth revealed by Him; He guides their hearts to believe in Him, understand about Him and to surrender to Him with love, glorifying and hoping in Him. This guidance is not for just anyone, it is solely for those who deserve it. Allah is The Wise, and His wisdom denies that He guides an arrogant, cruel heart. Allah will guide only those who are willing to acknowledge and truly know the truth and allow their hearts to submit to the truth by choosing to be a sincere slave of Allah. Any heart in which Allah sees a sincere search for the truth and readiness to accept, then this heart is deserving of His guidance.

قال الله تعالى: {  وَمَا كَانَ اللهُ لِيُضِلَّ قَوْمًا بَعْدَ إِذْ هَدَاهُمْ حَتَّى يُبَيِّنَ لَهُمْ مَا يَتَّقُونَ إِنَّ اللهَ بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ عَلِيمٌ } التوبة 115

And Allah will never lead a people astray after He has guided them until He makes clear to them as to what they should avoid. Verily, Allah is The All-Knower of everything.

Surah At-Tawbah [9: 115]

Allah’s justice denies that He would let anyone go astray unless this person came to know the truth and then deliberately refused it and turned away from it. Accordingly, it is not likely that one who deviates from the straight path has not been shown the truth. No! Rather, it is he who deserves to be astray due to his rejection of this truth. Once you understand this, then you must be certain that you never refuse the truth concerning any issue when it has been made apparent to you, and you should not feel pity for those people who refuses to follow the truth, as indeed they have refused to follow the correct path and have chosen to follow the wrong one.

We have an excellent example in one of the Companions of the Prophet (peace be upon him), Salman al-Farisi, may Allah be pleased with him. He was born in Persia. His father was the chief of his town and they worshipped fire, and yet Salman, in this far land and in this pagan environment passed by a church and saw the praying of the Christians. When he saw this, he felt that their religion was better than his and he asked to learn more about it. He kept moving from one country to another, searching for the truth, and eventually was told that a prophet would soon be sent. Allah arranged that he travel to Madinah where he met the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him and he became an honorable Companion. Now, Who guided Salman Al-Farisi to Islam and brought him from this distant land where they worshipped fire? Allah did. And this is an example of special guidance; a guidance to success.

Imam Ibn Al-Qayyim said,

This special guidance has certain steps that must be followed, and one must constantly and consistently ask Allah’s aid to guide one through each step:

1- Guidance of true knowledge about Him and about His legislation

2- Guidance to accept this knowledge.

3-  Determination to act upon this knowledge

4- The ability and power to act upon this knowledge

5- Remaining steadfast upon it till one dies. (3)
This is what we need to realize and to ask Allah when we say in our prayers:

إهدنا الصراط المستقيم } الفاتحة 6}

Guide us to the Straight Way. Surah Al-Fatihah [1: 6]

Finally, from the very special guidance of Allah is His guidance of you through your own heart. Your heart will be an indication or sign of whether or not you are on the right path. How? An example would be performing a certain act thinking that this act pleases Allah; for instance, deserting your mother because she is sinful. In your mind, you believe this is for Allah’s sake, yet you feel a tightness in your heart that tells you otherwise. This tightness is special guidance from Allah which tells you that something is wrong with this act you are engaging in. At this point you need to stop and ask Allah to guide you to do the correct thing. Never ignore this feeling in your heart. Look more deeply into the situation and hasten to correct yourself.

Whomever Allah guides to the truth in this life, He will then guide him to answer the questions in the grave correctly. The more one adheres to and is firm upon the righteous path in this world, the quicker he will be able to pass the bridge (the bridge, fine as a razor’s edge, over which all who enter paradise must pass). The more one searches for the truth, the more light he will be give on the day of reckoning to be able to find his way in the darkness of the bridge.

There is no way to keep on the right path except by adhering firmly to the way of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. There is no way to reach Allah and the Paradise except through his way. Allah did not send him only to the Arabs; rather, He sent him for all of mankind, for the entire creation.You will never be guided without understanding the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad, upon the understanding of the Salaf, who are the righteous people of the Prophet’s generation and their offspring up to and including the third generation. Indeed, these generations preserved the Sunnah (the way of the prophet peace be upon him) and conveyed it to us.

Prophet Muhammad was a human Messenger, and it is from Allah’s mercy that we are commanded to follow a Messenger who shares with us the same human attributes and feelings that we ourselves have. The Prophet, peace be upon him, put the verses of Quran into practice in every way. He showed us how Islam is to be practiced practically, in our everyday lives. He acted according to what pleased Allah in every way. He clarified all matters by which, if we truly follow his guidance concerning them, we will certainly win in both lives: this life and the hereafter.

The more you understand, comprehend, and acknowledge those things in which you truly need Allah’s guidance, the more sincerely you will then be able to supplicate to Him. The truth is, we need Allah’s special guidance in every aspect of our lives, including  decision making, using wisdom in all that we do and say, standing firm when faced with tests and trials and other than these.  And if Allah does not guide you, you will most definitely go astray.

1- Explanation of Allah’s names, by Imam Nasir As-Sa’di

2- Explanation of Haiya Abu Dawood – Sheikh Saleh Al-Fawzan

3- Madarij As-Salikin, by Imam Ibn Al Qayyim

العزيز الجبار

Al-‘Aziz Al-Jabbar  


 The Mighty, The Compeller

The name of Allah Al-‘Azeez :

The One to Whom belongs might/honor in its entirely, the might/honor of strength, of conquest and of preventing. So He has prevented any of His creation from encompassing and grasping Him, He is Omnipotent over everything that is in existence, the whole of creation is subject and indebted to Him and yielding before His greatness. (1)

إِنَّ الْعِزَّةَ لِلَّهِ جَمِيعًا} يونس 65}

All Al-‘izzah (power and all the mightiness and all the strength) belong to Allah. Surah Yunus [10: 65]

 

The name of Al-‘Azeez comprises three meanings:

Firstly: It denotes the meaning of Power, Mightiness and Strength, as Allah says:

إِنَّ الله هُوَ الرَّزَّاقُ ذُو الْقُوَّةِ الْمَتِينُ} الذاريات 58}

Verily, Allah is The All Provider, Owner of Power, The Most Strong. Surah Adh-Dhaariyaat [51:58]

 

When the people of ʿAd, asked their Prophet Hud: “Who is mightier than us in strength?”

{فَأَمَّا عَادٌ فَاسْتَكْبَرُوا فِي الْأَرْضِ بِغَيْرِ الْحَقِّ وَقَالُوا مَنْ أَشَدُّ مِنَّا قُوَّةً ۖ} فصلت 14

As for ‘Ad, they were arrogant in the land without right, and they said: “Who is mightier than us in strength?” Surah Fussilat [41:14]

 

What did Allah say? He responded with :

أَوَلَمْ يَرَوْا أَنَّ الله الَّذِي خَلَقَهُمْ هُوَ أَشَدُّ مِنْهُمْ قُوَّةً ۖ} فصلت 15}

Did they not see that Allah Who created them, Is mightier in strength than them? Surah Fussilat [41:15]

 

The answer is: Your Creator is definitely more powerful, so this is the power and strength that is intended.

Secondly: the meaning of Al ‘Azeez also includes His being free of needing the creation. This is ‘izzah of abstention which means the impossibility of any shortcomings, the impossibility of anyone being equal to Him and the impossibility that anyone can ever harm Him, glorified and exalted is He; He is too high and mighty to be in need of anyone. He is The All Rich and all the creation are in need to Him.

He is free of any shortcomings whatsoever. He, glorified and exalted is He, has the most perfect and complete names, attributes and actions.

وَلَهُ الْمَثَلُ الْأَعْلَىٰ فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ ۚ وَهُوَ الْعَزِيزُ الْحَكِيمُ} الروم 27}

He has the highest description, i.e. none has the right to be worshipped but He, and there is nothing comparable to Him in the heavens and in the earth, and He is The All Mighty, The All Wise. Surah ar-Rum [30: 27]

Thirdly: The meaning of conquering, overpowering. Allah conquers and overpowers the whole of creation. The entire creation is submissive to His power and submissive to His will. All forelocks are under His control, no one in this creation can make anything in any way except with His permission and only if He wills.(2)

قُلِ اللَّهُمَّ مَالِكَ الْمُلْكِ تُؤْتِي الْمُلْكَ مَنْ تَشَاءُ وَتَنْزِعُ الْمُلْكَ مِمَّنْ تَشَاءُ وَتُعِزُّ مَنْ تَشَاءُ وَتُذِلُّ مَنْ تَشَاءُ ۖ بِيَدِكَ الْخَيْرُ ۖ إِنَّكَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ} ال عمران 26}

Say O Muhammad (peace be upon him): O Allah, Possessor of the Kingdom, You give the kingdom to whom You will, and You take the kingdom from whom You will, and You endue with honor whom You will, and You humiliate whom You will. In Your Hand is the good, verily, You are able to do all things.  Surah Al-Imraan [3: 26]

 

Look at your own creation—do you have any choice in your height, the way you look, in your intelligence, in your gender, how long you will live, your sickness or health? Do you have any choice? No, no choice. We all submit to His power and to His will regarding all these matters.

وَهُوَ الْقَاهِرُ فَوْقَ عِبَادِهِ} الأنعام 18}

And He is the Irresistible (Supreme), above His slaves. Surah Al-An-‘am [6:18]

One should ponder that the amazing thing is we do not even have the choice over our own hearts. Can you make your heart feel happy when there is a pain in it? Can you make your heart to love a specific thing or person? No, it is only if Allah wills. Even for your heart to love Allah, we need Allah’s will first. This is an example of how Allah overpowers His creation.

Now, if we do understand this name of Allah, we need to react to this understanding and subsequently to worship Allah according to this understanding. If you know that Allah is the All Powerful, the All Mighty, The Honorable, then how are you going to receive His orders? How will you react to His commands?

We should submit to His orders and commands and humble ourselves to Him, because Allah, the All Mighty and the All Powerful, deserves this.

We need to know that each name necessitates a special act of worship. There are names which make you worship Allah lovingly, and other names which make you seek hope in Allah and put your reliance on Him. Yet another name will incline you to hope and seek His forgiveness and there are names like this name, Al-‘Azeez, which will incline you to submit and humble yourself to Him.

The question in front of us now is: Do you want to be honourable and mighty (having ‘izzah)? Do you want to feel this special type of honor (‘izzah)?

So what is meant by honor and glory with regards to ourselves? The Scholars say ‘izzah legislatively means: A state of feeling distant from being defeated and overcome.

This ‘izzah is a feeling which fills the heart and soul with transcendence, due to the strong attachment to Allah, where the soul is elevated from any humiliating position and frees itself from the slavery of its lusts and desires, and from the degradation of greed.

So, when you free your heart and soul from being attached to the people regarding your needs and hopes and fears (no attachments at all in anyway), it is only then, you will feel this honor. When you are attached only to Allah, asking only Him, and fearing only Him, you will be able to free yourself from the creation, you will be able to deal with people knowing that no one can bring benefit to you and no one can harm you, it is only Allah Who can do that.

وَلِلَّهِ الْعِزَّةُ وَلِرَسُولِهِ وَلِلْمُؤْمِنِينَ} المنافقون 8}

To Allah only belongs the Honor, Power and Glory and to His Messenger and to the believers. Surah Al-Munafiqun [63:8]

 

If you want this honor and glory then only Allah can grant you this.

The honor of being a slave only to Allah, our Creator, The King, The All Mighty and the All Powerful. This is the true freedom. To humble yourself only to Allah.

This freedom of creation has a very special joy. Only a free person can taste the true feelings of submission and lowering himself only to Allah. When he puts his face on the ground in his prostration, and says: “I submit only to You Allah and I lower myself only to You Allah,” then he can truly feel this great pleasure and the joy of these words. The honor to be a slave only to Allah and no one else, this is in reality tawheed and the honor that comes with tawheed.

The only way to achieve this honor and this freedom from the creation, is by honoring Allah’s religion and to honor His commands. So the more you humble yourself to Allah, the more you will be honorable.

 

مَن كَانَ يُرِيدُ الْعِزَّةَ فَلِلَّهِ الْعِزَّةُ جَمِيعًا} فاطر 26}

Whoever desires Al-‘izzah (honor, power and glory), then to Allah belong all ‘izzah (power and glory). Surah Faṭir [35:26]

Imagine living a life free from any fears, from any worries, free from needing the people. You will only fear Allah and will hope in Allah, and surely He will suffice you and protect you and provide for you, He the All Mighty, the All Powerful.

‘Umar ibn Al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, said:

” نحن قوم أعزنا الله بالاسلام فمهما ابتغينا العزة بغيره أذلنا الله “

We are people Allah made us honourable with Islam, and if we seek honor from other than Islam Allah will humiliate and lower us (3)

This honor, ʿUmar ibn Al-Khattaab mentioned, deserves to be pondered at. How the arabs before Islam were just scattered tribes, they looked at the Roman and Persian Kingdom as the major powers which they can never dream of opposing, nevermind defeating. Then after Islam was established in their lands and after they abided to the rules of Islam and submitted to Allah, He enabled them to conquer these two major powers, and lead them to conquering the world from east to west.
A man asked Al-Imam Al-Hasan Al-Basri for an advice, so he told him:

 ” أعز أمر الله حيثما كنت، يعزك الله حيثما كنت ”

Honor Allah commands wherever you are and in every situation, and Allah will honor you wherever you are and in every situation. (4)
This meaning was demonstrated by Sheikh Al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah when he said (referring to his stay in prison):

What can my enemies do to me? They have no authority on me, my paradise is in my heart. My imprisoning is an opportunity for privacy with Allah, deporting me is a vacation, killing me is martyrdom (Shahaadah). (5)
So this is how one feels the honor and pride and dignity of not fearing anyone except Allah. This is the outcome of a true understanding of Allah’s name Al-‘Azeez.

We need to understand, that this honor and pride and glory we are talking about, is an inner feeling which fills our soul.

Yet, when we deal with people in general and especially other Muslims, we have to be humble ourselves amongst them. We must never mistreat them out of pride or arrogance. We should lower ourselves to the good believers out of mercy for them.

Allah hates those who are arrogant and proud with others. Why? Because we are slaves ourselves and we are weak helpless creatures, so why the arrogance? Only Allah deserves to be proud, because He is The Creator, The King and we are His slaves.

 

الجبار
Al-Jabbar (الجبار)

The name of Allah Al-Jabbar has three meanings:

The first is the attribute of conquering and overpowering as mentioned in the name al-‘Azeez previously.

The second beautiful meaning of His name Al-Jabbar (The Compeller) is that Allah restores the weak with His mercy. He restores the broken hearts and restores the sick person by guiding him to be patient, by facilitating his cure and by rewarding him for his pain with the greatest rewards.

Restore (يجبر): it comes with the meaning of restoring your defects to a good condition, to compensate for any hardship, to remedy your broken heart, to mend our defects in worship and to mend our injured dignity.

Allah restores the hearts of the believers, who have submitted to Him, and who are attached with their hopes only in Him. Those who feel they need His guidance and His aid. Allah will restore these believers by enlightening their hearts with knowledge about Him and by guiding them. He will restore them from their defects and whenever they do an act of disobedience, He will guide them to repent and will accept their repentance so they can complete their faith again. (6)

To understand the meaning of restoring, it has a root word in arabic which means ‘cast’ (as in a cast put on a broken bone). This cast fixes the broken bone and restores it back to its complete state and as such, the weakness disappears and strength is restored.

This meaning of restoring, you will find in the supplication of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, between the two prostrations in his prayers:

اللَّهُمَّ اغْفِرْ لِي وَارْحَمْنِي وَاجْبُرْنِي وَاهْدِنِي وَارْزُقْنِي

I ask you Allah to forgive me and to have mercy upon me and to restore my weakness and my defects (i.e restore them to strength) and to guide me and to provide for me. (7)

Now reflect, O reader! When you say this supplication in your prayers, do you really ponder on the meaning of each word? Do you know what are you asking Allah with inside your heart? Do you feel a great need for Allah to respond to what you have asked? Do you realize your need for the forgiveness of Allah, His guidance and provision? Do you realize how your heart needs Al-Jabbar to restore any defects in it or ease any pain it feels? If we do not feel this then this supplication will not have its desired effect.
You will find this second meaning of the name of Allah, Al-Jabbar in the Quran in many places. Allah glorified and exalted is He, commands us to take care of the orphan because he is weak. Allah commands us to have special care with our parents when they are old because now they are weak. Allah prohibits us from hurting the feelings of the poor when we help them with money. Allah restores our good state after any hardship we face due to practicing our religion by telling us that He will compensate us with the Paradise and we will be the only winners in the Hereafter. Through this He puts calmness and tranquility in our hearts which will give us the strength to continue and endure.

A third meaning of the name of Allah, Al-Jabbar is related to His highness and His elevation over His creation.

Allah is the only Compeller, Who overpowers and conquers the whole of creation and these attributes are deserved only to Allah. Anyone who tries to act with arrogance or tries to overpower people Allah, glorified and exalted is He, will strongly avenge him. (

 

كَذَٰلِكَ يَطْبَعُ الله عَلَىٰ كُلِّ قَلْبِ مُتَكَبِّرٍ جَبَّارٍ} غافر35}

Thus does Allah seals up the heart of every arrogant, tyrant, so they will not be able to guide themselves to the right path. Surah Al-Ghafir [40:35]

 

وَاسْتَفْتَحُوا وَخَابَ كُلُّ جَبَّارٍ عَنِيدٍ مِنْ وَرَائِهِ جَهَنَّمُ وَيُسْقَىٰ مِنْ مَاءٍ صَدِيدٍ يَتَجَرَّعُهُ وَلَا يَكَادُ يُسِيغُهُ وَيَأْتِيهِ الْمَوْتُ مِنْ كُلِّ مَكَانٍ وَمَا هُوَ بِمَيِّتٍ ۖ وَمِنْ وَرَائِهِ عَذَابٌ غَلِيظٌ} إبراهيم 15-17}

And they (the Messengers) sought victory and help, from their Lord, and every obstinate arrogant dictator (who refuses to believe in the oneness of Allah) was brought to a complete loss and destruction, in front of Him is Hell, and he will be made to drink boiling festering water. He will sip it unwillingly, and he will find a great difficulty to swallow it down his throat, and death will come to him from every side, yet he will not die and in front of him, will be a great torment. Surah Ibrahim [14: 15-17]

 

Imam Ahmad mentions that Abu Hurairah, may Allah be pleased with him, said that the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon Him, said:

“يخرج عنق من النار يوم القيامة له عينان يبصر بهما، و أذنان يسمع بهما، و لسان ينطق به، فيقول:  إني وكلت بثلاثة: بكل جبار عنيد و بكل من ادعى مع الله إلها آخر و المصورين.”

On the Resurrection Day, there will be a neck coming out of the Hellfire, it has two eyes it sees with, it has two ears it hears with and it has a tongue it will speak with. This neck will say: Allah commanded me to capture three types of people: every arrogant obstinate individual and everyone who associated a partner with Allah and the picture makers (the one who makes or copy images imitating Allah’s creation). (9)
These are the three types of people Allah hates most.

So here we need to think again, yes Allah is merciful, and Allah restores us and forgives us, but He is Al-‘Azeez, Al-Jabbar, don’t ever think to oppose Allah. Because we need to know our limits as slaves to Allah, Al-‘Azeez, Al-Jabbar.

The limit of a slave is that he reacts to the command of Allah by saying only one thing: “Yes Allah, we hear and we obey”.

 

We seek refuge in Allah from Hellfire, and we ask Him His pleasure and forgiveness and to guide us to the best manners and actions.

 

1- Explanation of Allah Names – Imam Nassir As-Saadi

2- Fiqh Al-Asma Al-Husna, by Sheikh Abdur Razzaq Al-Badr.

3- Taken from Ibn Al-Mubarak in Az-Zuhd page 584 and it is authentic.

4- Reported by Ka’b, author of Tahrir

5- Conveyed by Imam Ibn Al-Qayyim in his book Al-Wabil As-Sayyib

6- Fiqh Al-Asma Al-Husna, by Sheikh Abdur Razzaq Al-Badr.

7- Corrected by Imam Al-Albani in Sahih At-Tirmidhi

8- Fiqh Al-Asma Al-Husna, by Sheikh Abdur Razzaq Al-Badr.

9- Reported by Imam Ahmad and At-Tirmidhi, corrected by Imam Al-Albani

الله
God

The name Allah originates from the Arabic word “ilah” (Deity); ilah is combined with the word “Al” which is equivalent to “the” in English. So the meaning of Al-ilah or Allah is The Only One worthy of worship. Allah says:

قال الله تعالى: {وَمَا أُمِرُوا إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُوا إِلَٰهًا وَاحِدًا ۖ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ ۚ سُبْحَانَهُ عَمَّا يُشْرِكُونَ} التوبة 31

While they (Jews and Christians) were commanded [in the Tawrat (Torah) and the Injil (Gospel)] to worship none but One ilah (God – Allah) La ilaha illa Huwa (none has the right to be worshipped but He). Praise and glory be to Him, (far above is He) from having the partners they associate (with Him).

Surah At-Tawbah [9: 31]

Allah created us for one noble purpose, to worship Him alone and to live according to His guidance and commandments. All the Prophets from Adam to Nuh (Noah) to Idris (Enoch), Ibrahim (Abraham), Yaʿqub (Jacob), Musa (Moses), Dawud (David), Sulayman (Solomon),  ‘Isa (Jesus) and Muhammad, peace be upon them all, were sent by Allah with the same Message, worship Allah and associate nothing with Him.
Each Prophet conveyed this consistent Divine Message of worshiping one God alone, Allah.

قال الله تعالى: {أم كنتم شهداء إذ حضر يعقوب الموت إذ قال لبنيه ما تعبدون من بعدي قالوا نعبد إلهك و إله أبائك إبراهيم و إسماعيل و إسحاق إلها واحدا و نحن له مسلمون} البقرة 133

Or were you witnesses when death approached Ya’qub (Jacob)? When he said unto his sons “Who will you worship after I die?” They said, “We shall worship your Ilah (God – Allah), the Ilah (God) of your fathers, Ibrahim (Abraham), Ismaʿil (Ishmael), Ishaq (Isaac), One Ilah (God), and to Him we submit (in Islam).  

Surah al-Baqarah [2:133]

The most comprehensive and best meaning of “Allah” is what has been attributed to Abdullah Ibn ‘Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, when he said:

Allah is the Possessor of Divinity and Worship over all creation.(1)
This explanation combines between two affairs:

Firstly: The description that is attached with this Noble Name. His Divinity is attached to the wording “Allah,” just as knowledge is attached to Al-’Aleem, might and power is attached to Al-’Azeez, wisdom is attached to Al-Hakeem, mercy is attached to Ar-Raheem, and other attributes which show and are attached to His Essence. Allah is The Possessor of Divinity, and this is a tremendous description which He is deserving of. Rather, none should have a share with this tremendous attribute.

Secondly: The description that is attached to servitude. The slaves worship and single Him out alone .

Allah the Most High said:

وَهُوَ ٱلَّذِى فِى ٱلسَّمَآءِ إِلَـٰهٌ۬ وَفِى ٱلۡأَرۡضِ إِلَـٰهٌ۬‌ۚ} الزخرف 84}

It is He Who is the only God (to be worshiped) in the heaven and the only God (to be worshiped) on the earth…

Surah Az-Zhukhruf [43: 84]

Meaning, the inhabitants of the heaven and earth are subjugated to Him. Everything is submissive to His Greatness, obedient to His Want, Will, and Mightiness. The slaves of Ar-Rahman single Him out in worship and exert themselves in worshipping Him through their hearts, spirits, statements, and actions.

Allah combined these two meanings (Divinity and servitude) in numerous places in the Quran like His statement,

إِنَّنِىٓ أَنَا ٱللَّهُ لَآ إِلَـٰهَ إِلَّآ أَنَا۟ فَٱعۡبُدۡنِى وَأَقِمِ ٱلصَّلَوٰةَ لِذِڪۡرِىٓ} سُوۡرَةُ طٰه, 14}

Verily! I am Allah! La ilaha illa Ana (none has the right to be worshipped but I), so worship Me, and perform As-Salat (the prayers) for My Remembrance.

[Surah Taha: 14]

This great attribute of Divinity, is due to His perfect and complete names and attributes and actions by which He deserves to be worshipped alone without associating any partners with Him. (2)

وَمَآ أَرۡسَلۡنَا مِن قَبۡلِكَ مِن رَّسُولٍ إِلَّا نُوحِىٓ إِلَيۡهِ أَنَّهُ ۥ لَآ إِلَـٰهَ إِلَّآ أَنَا۟ فَٱعۡبُدُونِ} سورة الأنبياء , 25}

And We did not send any Messenger before you (O Muhammad) but We revealed to him (saying): ‘None has the right to be worshiped but I (Allah), so worship Me (Alone and none else).

Surah Al-Anbiya [21: 25]

 

The name Allah is the origin of all of the beautiful names of Allah and this name necessitates all the other perfect names and attributes, because to be “Allah” He has to be The Creator, The Sustainer, The Everliving, The All Knowing, The King, The All Powerful, The All Seeing, The All Hearing, The All Forgiving, The All Wise and so on. (3)

قال الله تعالى: {الله لا إله إلا هو له الأسماء الحسنى} طه 8

Allah! none has the right to be worshipped but Him, To Him belong the perfect names.  Surah Ta-ha [20: 8]

So, why is Allah The Only One Who deserves to be worshiped? Because Allah is The Only Creator and there is no Creator but Him. He is the All Strong and Almighty and no one is stronger than Him. He is The Conqueror and everyone submits to Him. He is The King and we are slaves to Him. He provides and sustains for the entire creation and we all are in need of Him. To be Allah, He has to be The Self Sufficient (Al-Ghani) as he does not need any of His creation.

قال الله تعالى: {رب السماوات و الأرض و ما بينهما فاعبده و اصطبر لعبادته، هل تعلم له سميا} مريم 65

Lord of the heavens and the earth, and all that is between them, so worship Him (Alone) and be constant and patient in His worship. Do you know of any who is similar to Him? (of course none is similar or co-equal or comparable to Him, and He has none as partner with Him.)  

Surah Maryam [19: 65]

The word “Al-Uluhiyyah” in Arabic has a beautiful meaning. It means to do acts of worship to Allah lovingly seeking His closeness and His pleasure. Worship is based on love, hope, fear, and our love to Allah should precede our hope and fear.

Allah deserves to be worshiped lovingly due to His beautiful and perfect attributes and acts. To understand this, try to ponder and think about the attributes you wish that “Allah” (The One Who controls all your affairs, The One Who will recompense you) will be described with.

Imagine you don’t yet know about Allah and you are told that you are created to worship Allah, what will you say you wish his attributes to be?

I would say I wish Allah is merciful and forgiving, otherwise I will be punished for every wrong deed I do (and who could tolerate this in reality?). I wish Allah to hear me and hear my needs and to be capable of providing for me. I wish Allah to be just and appreciative. I wish Allah to be strong and mighty in order to protect me from my enemies. I wish Allah to be of vast wisdom and knowledge.

Now all the beautiful and perfect attributes you can think of and wish to find in Allah, you will find it and much much more, even beyond what your mind can comprehend.

This is what you need to feel whenever you say alhamdulillah (all praise is to Allah). We praise Allah with love and gratitude for His names, attributes and actions. You need to feel this love and this happiness with Allah’s names and attributes.

Ibn Al-Qayyim, may Allah be pleased with him, said:

As for the particular virtues of the meaning of this name Allah, the most knowledgeable of the creation (Prophet Muhammad, peace upon him) himself said:

“I could not praise You enough as You deserve. You are as You have praised Yourself”. (4)
So how can we enumerate the special virtues of the name of the One Who comprises every perfection unrestricted, every praise and commendation, every adulation and exaltation, all splendor, all perfection and glory, all beauty, all good, eminence and all generosity? Excellence and goodness is for Him and is from Him.

This name Allah is not mentioned upon a small amount of something except that it causes it to increase. Nor is it mentioned in a state of fear except that it removes it. Nor is it mentioned on any misfortune except that it relieves it. Nor in any state of anxiety and distress except that it brings relief to it. Nor upon any state of difficulty except that it brings ease to it. None that is weak resorts to it, except that it brings strength to him. Nor anyone in a state of humiliation, except that it brings honor to him. Nor anyone in poverty, except that he is enriched. Nor anyone who feels estranged and uneasy, except that it causes him to feel at ease. Nor is it mentioned by one who is overcome, except that it brings aid and victory for him. Nor by one who is in straitened circumstances, except that his difficulty is removed. Nor is it mentioned by some one who seeks refuge, except that he finds his refuge.

It is the name ­”Allah”, through which distress is removed, through which the descent of blessings is sought, and through which supplications are answered. Through it slips are corrected, sins are warded away, and good deeds are brought closer.

It is the name with which the heavens and earth were established, with which the revealed Books were sent down, and with which the Messengers were sent. With it the legislated laws were prescribed. Through it the prescribed punishments were established, and with it striving against infidelity was prescribed. Through this name the creation will become divided into the fortunate and the wretched. With it the true and tremendous Day (the Day of Judgement) will be established. With it the Scales of Justice are set up, the bridge laid down and the Paradise and the Fire are established. With it The Lord of all creation is worshiped and praised. For its right the Messengers were sent. It will be asked about in the grave and for it there will be the Resurrection. Judgement is to it, and alliance and enmity are for it. Through it, those who know it and establish its rights will be the fortunate ones. Through it, those who are ignorant of it and leave its rights will be the wretched ones.

This name Allah, is the reason for creation and commands and through it they are established and confirmed, and to it they arrive at a conclusion. The creation comes about through it, returns to it, and exists because of it. (5)

قال الله تعالى {رَبَّنَا مَا خَلَقْتَ هَٰذَا بَاطِلًا سُبْحَانَكَ فَقِنَا عَذَابَ النَّارِ } آل عمران 191

Our Lord, You have not created (all of) this without purpose, glory to You (exalted are You above all that they associate with You as partners). Give us salvation  from the punishment of the Fire.

Surah Al-Imran [3: 191]

Allah, exalted is He, is “IIaah” in the heavens and in the earth. All the creation submits to His power and His will, either people are willingly or unwillingly each and everyone of us is under His power and His will. He can do with us whatever He wills, whenever He wishes. Both believers and nonbelievers are slaves to Allah, and both are under His will.

وَهُوَ الَّذِي فِي السَّمَاءِ إِلَٰهٌ وَفِي الْأَرْضِ إِلَٰهٌ ۚ وَهُوَ الْحَكِيمُ الْعَلِيمُ  } الزخرف 84}

It is He (Allah) Who is the only Ilaah (Deity to be worshiped) in the heaven and The Only Ilah (Deity to be worshiped) on the earth. And He is The All Wise, The All Knower.

Surah Az-Zhukhruf [43: 84]

The true believers, the true slaves of Ar-Rahman (The Possessor of Vast Mercy), are those who choose to be slaves to Allah willingly and submissively. They eagerly do their utmost to please Allah with their hearts, souls and actions according to their level of Iman (faith). They know why they were created and they are acting on fulfilling the purpose of their creation. (6)

(1) Tafsir ibn Jarir At-Tabari

(2) & (3) Fiqh Al-Asma Al-Husna – Sheikh ‘Abdur-Razzaq Al-Badr

(4) Reported by Muslim

(5) Reported in Taysir Al-‘Aziz Al-Hamid Book – Sheikh Sulayman ‘Ali Sheikh

(6) Fiqh Al-Asma Al-Husna – Sheikh ‘Abdur-Razzaq Al-Badr

الحافظ الحفيظ

Al Hafiz, Al-Hafiz Al-Hafeez

The Guardian, The Preserver

These two great names indicate Allah’s attribute of Preserving and this attribute itself has two meanings.

The first aspect of His preserving has to do with His complete knowledge. Allah’s knowledge encompasses all that He brought into existence and He preserves all that occurs in this Universe. He also preserves and protects anything from being forgotten. Every little thing is written and kept until we will be reckoned for.

As Allah says:

قال الله تعالى : {إنّ ربي على كل شيء حفيظ } هود 57

My Lord is Guardian over all things. Surah Hud [11: 57]

قال الله تعالى: {و ما كان ربك نسيا} مريم 64

And your Lord is never Forgetful. Surah Maryam [19: 64]

قال الله تعالى : {أحصاه الله و نسوه} المجادلة 6

Allah has kept account of it, while they have forgotten it. Surah Al-Mujadilah [58: 6]

Allah preserves each and every deed and He never forgets them. Whatever occurs in this Universe, Allah is aware of it. Allah knows everything that occurs in this Universe and retains it; it is written in the Preserved Tablet. (1)

Can you now imagine how far and wide Allah’s knowledge spreads?

Allah glorified and exalted is He, knows each and every thought that passes through our mind; every word we utter, every look, every feeling and every move. If you ever envied someone for a bounty they had that you did not, Allah knows it. If you ever belittled someone, perhaps by gesturing to them in a condescending manner, then Allah knows the movements you made and He records it. So think about how you respond to Allah’s commands. Do you accept His commands submissively or do you reject them? Indeed Allah is aware of everything that you do and all your inner thoughts.

When you know and understand the meaning of His name Al-Hafeez there must be an outcome to this; something has to change within you. As we have mentioned previously; each and every name of Allah requires a specific worship. So, if you know that Allah is Al-Hafeez, The Preserver, then what should be the consequence of this and what should you do?

I would say the first thing that would come to my mind (knowing the numerous sins I used to commit) is to say, “O’ Allah I ask your forgiveness for that which You know of and I don’t know, for the sins I did and forgot about and for the sins which I did without even noticing”.

Then onwards, we need to start to watch ourselves, watch for our thoughts, our words and our acts. We need to strive to make sure that when Allah looks at us, He does not see something He hates.

قال الله تعالى: {وان عليكم لحافظين، كراما كاتبين، يعلمون ما تفعلون} الإنفطار 10 – 12

But verily, over you (are appointed honourable Angels in charge of mankind) to watch you, and who writes down your deeds, they know all that you do.

Surah Al-Infitar [82: 10-12]

Do you understand this verse and realise that each and every word or act we do is written by the Angels?

The second meaning of  Al-Hafiz and Al-Hafeez  Is that Allah preserves and protects the entire creation. He protects the Heavens and the Earth, the oceans and everything that is contained within them, as well as all those who live in them. The skies and the earth will remain in existence until Allah wills. They will be preserved without any object falling on another or anything going out of its place. Allah preserves the Universe with no difficulty. (2)

قال الله تعالى: { و يمسك السماء أن تقع على الأرض إلا بإذنه} الحج 65

He withholds the heaven from falling on the earth except by His permission

Surah Al-Hajj [22: 65]

قال الله تعالى: {وجعلنا السماء سقفا محفوظا وهم عن آياتنا معرضون} الأنبياء 32

And We have made the Heaven a roof, safe and well-guarded, yet they turn away from its signs (i.e. the sun, moon, winds, clouds.)

Surah Al-Anbiya [21: 32]

Who protects us from the sky by keeping it raised and not collapsing on us? Just imagine that the earth is a rounded sphere, yet the ocean does not flood the earth. How is it the water does not overflow onto to the ground? Who holds the water of the seas and the oceans from overflowing and drowning us all? Who preserves this land from shaking? Allah is preserving it.

Glorified is Allah.

Moreover, Allah guaranteed to preserve and protect His Book, The Quran, from any alteration or replacements. Indeed we can all see how the Quran has been preserved for all these years. The Quran is exactly the same and all the verses of the Quran are preserved and kept as it was revealed to Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him.

قال الله تعالى: {إنا نحن نزلنا الذكر و إنا له لحافظون} الحجر 9

Verily, We, it is We Who have sent down the Dhikr (the Quran), and surely We will guard it (from corruption).

Surah Hijr [15: 9]

We can test this today by reading the Quran incorrectly to (even) a child who has memorised it. You will find the child will stop you and tell you that what you had said was incorrect and is not the Quran. On the other hand there are so many alterations and versions of the Bible and Torah today, that if you were to read the Bible or Torah incorrectly, it is extremely unlikely anyone will notice that an error has been made. This is due to the fact that the Quran is the only Book that Allah has promised to preserve from any corruption. It is preserved until the Day of Judgement.

No one has until this day been able to corrupt the Quran and this is despite the fact that the enemies of Islam have at their disposal a plethora of media platforms and television channels. I would like to highlight a point here; the same way that Allah has preserved the Quran, He shall preserve the Sunnah (the way and the sayings and the biography of Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him), because the Sunnah explains the Quran. Allah’s wisdom denies that He will order us to follow the Sunnah without preserving it for us.

The third meaning of Allah’s name Al-Hafiz has to do with the protection of His creation from any harm which they would hate. There is a protection in both a general and specific sense.

General Protection: Allah protects them by providing them with all their needs from food, drink, and by guiding them to all the means they need to be able to live and survive. This type of protection includes the believers, disbelievers and even the animals are included here.

قال الله تعالى: {الذي أعطى كل شىء خلقه ثم هدى} طه 50

Our Lord is He Who gave to each thing its form and nature, then guided it aright.

Surah Ta-Ha [20: 50]

قال الله تعالى: {له معقبات من بين يديه و من خلفه يحفظونه من أمر الله} الرعد 11

For him (each person), there are Angels in succession before and behind him. They guard him by the command of Allah”

Surah Ar-Raʿd [13: 11]

Allah assigned special Angels who are made responsible to protect mankind, they are called “the Angels who protect”. They protect people by the command of Allah; for each person Allah assigns guardians from the Angels who stand before him and behind him, who watch over him by Allah’s command. (3)

Imam Ibn Al-Qayyim said that we need to ponder over why the most necessary things needed to survive are vastly provided and free of cost. Oxygen for instance, is for free and so is water. If you drink from a natural source such as a river or spring then it will completely be free. Glorified is Allah, see how when Allah creates He creates with wisdom, knowledge, power and mercy.

Allah gives to each and every creature what it needs according to its environment.

Every living thing, whether it be a human, or from the birds or insects and so forth, has been given the characteristics to live and survive according to its environment; the desert, sea, hot or cold climates, and so on. Allah has even taught the animals to think and plan; the way they hide, the way they search for food, the way they save food for winter. Glorified is Allah.

The special protection: it is only for His true believers, whom He loves. In addition to His general protection, Allah protects the believers from any doubts (with respect to their religion), from any dangerous desires which could affect their faith, from their enemies from jinn and mankind and their plots. Allah will aid them and will grant them victory over their enemies.

قال الله تعالى: {إن الله يدافع عن الذين آمنوا} الحج 38

Truly, Allah defends those who believe. Surah Al-Hajj [22: 38]

The amount of faith a believer has in his heart determines how much defence he will receive from Allah.

Let us ponder on the verse mentioned above. If you are a believer (a true believer) Allah will defend you. After knowing this, how can you ever fear anything on this Earth again? Actually, the enemies of the religion are and will be afraid of you. This is why it is well known that the disbelievers amongst the jinn are afraid of the true believers and are afraid of the people of Tawhid (those who single out Allah with all forms of worship, so that they make all of their worship for Allah alone). The devils know that they have no authority over the believers. That is why they try desperately to keep people away from learning Tawhid. If you read the biography of the Prophet peace be upon him and his companions, you will find that the devils were afraid of his Companions,

“قال رسولُ اللهِ صلَّى اللهُ عليهِ وسلَّمَ: “والذي نفسي بيدِه، ما لقيك الشيطانُ قطُّ سالكًا فجًّا إلا سلك فجًّا غير فجِّك

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said to Umar (may Allah be pleased with him):

“By Him in Whose Hands my soul is, whenever the Devil sees you taking a path, he follows a path other than yours.”  (This is out of fear from Umar) (4)

Sheikh ul-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah said:

The Devil (kaffir Jinn) transgresses against and oppresses a person through his desires (i.e. the person’s evil desires); whereas Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) subdued his desires. (5)
Accordingly, the more you preserve Allah commands and resist your own desires and lusts, the more Allah will protect you and preserve you until the devils will have no way to harm you.

Today many Muslims are ignorant with regards to Tawhid (true monotheism), committing all kinds of shirk (associating other than Allah in worship). They have become afraid of the jinn and they are suffering from their abuse. This is happening because they have violated Allah’s commands and as a consequence they lost His protection and they lost His defence.

We have these beautiful words, which the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, taught his cousin ‘Abdullah Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with both of them :

عَنْ ابْنِ عَبَّاسٍ قَالَ كُنْتُ خَلْفَ رَسُولِ اللهِ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ يَوْمًا فَقَالَ:

يَا غُلَامُ إِنِّي أُعَلِّمُكَ كَلِمَاتٍ احْفَظْ اللهَ يَحْفَظْكَ احْفَظْ اللهَ تَجِدْهُ تُجَاهَكَ إِذَا سَأَلْتَ فَاسْأَلْ اللهَ وَإِذَا اسْتَعَنْتَ فَاسْتَعِنْ بِاللَّهِ وَاعْلَمْ أَنَّ الْأُمَّةَ لَوْ اجْتَمَعَتْ عَلَى أَنْ يَنْفَعُوكَ بِشَيْءٍ لَمْ يَنْفَعُوكَ إِلَّا بِشَيْءٍ قَدْ كَتَبَهُ اللهُ لَكَ وَلَوْ اجْتَمَعُوا عَلَى أَنْ يَضُرُّوكَ بِشَيْءٍ لَمْ يَضُرُّوكَ إِلَّا بِشَيْءٍ قَدْ كَتَبَهُ اللهُ عَلَيْكَ رُفِعَتْ الْأَقْلَامُ وَجَفَّتْ الصُّحُفُ

Ibn Abbas (May Allah be pleased with them) said:

One day, I was riding behind the Prophet (peace be upon him) when he said, “O boy! I will instruct you in some matters. Be watchful of Allah (commandments of Allah), He will preserve you. Safeguard His Rights, He will be ever with you. If you beg, beg of Him Alone; and if you need assistance, supplicate to Allah Alone for help. And remember that if all the people gather to benefit you, they will not be able to benefit you except that which Allah had foreordained (for you); and if all of them gather to do harm to you, they will not be able to afflict you with anything other than that which Allah has preordained against you. The pens had been lifted and the ink has dried up”. (6)
Imam Ibn Al-Jawzi said:

I was stunned when I read this hadith. I feel sorrow for people who are ignorant of this hadith and how they are deprived. This is because this hadith contains the great meaning of Tawhid; to believe that The Only One Who can benefit you is Allah, so place your hopes only in Him and do not fear anyone except Allah. If you need assistance, if you need guidance, if you want to be cured from a sickness, ask only Allah and hope only in Allah. (7)
This hadith teaches us about important matters of Tawhid such as putting your hopes in Allah alone, seeking refuge in Him alone and fearing him alone.

Those who understood this hadith free themselves from the need of people. They find themselves never suffering humiliation by asking of people. They have no fear of either mankind nor jinn because they know that no one can bring harm to them except if Allah wills. They only care about how to be a good slave to Allah. They know that anything that may happen to them is in accordance to Allah’s decree, this knowledge makes them feel secure at all times. Because Allah’s decree is according to His knowledge, wisdom, mercy and justice, there is no need to worry if you are a true slave to Allah.  Who protected Prophet Musa, while he was still a helpless baby thrown in the river Nile? Who put the love of Prophet Musa in the heart of the wife of Firaun (Pharoah)? Who protected him while living in the castle of his most dangerous enemy? Only Allah.

قال الله تعالى: {والحافظون حدود الله و بشر المؤمنين} التوبة 112

And those who observe the limits set by Allah (do all that Allah has ordained and abstain from all kinds of sins and evil deeds which Allah has forbidden). And give glad tidings to the believers.

Surah At-Tawbah [9: 112]

What is the greatest command from Allah that we need to act upon and to protect? It is Tawhid. We need to achieve Tawhid (to single out Allah with all forms of worship, so that you make all of your worship for Allah alone) and to protect it from any kind of shirk (polytheism). Then we protect and observe our prayers and all acts of worship ordained in Islam. So what will happen if we protected our Tawhid in every way? Allah will reward us by protecting this Tawhid and this faith for us from any doubts and from anything which might affect it.

قال الله تعالى: { فالله خير حافظا و هو أرحم الراحمين} يوسف 64

But Allah is Best to guard, and He is The Most Merciful of those who show mercy.

Surah Yusuf [12: 64]

So, Allah is The Best to guard and The Best Protector. Accordingly, if you want Allah to protect you, make sure to protect His commands: if you do this, you shall surely receive the protection He has promised.

(1,2,3)– Fiqh Al-Asma Al-Husna, by Sheikh Abdur Razzaq Al-Badr.

4- Narrated by Al-Bukhari

5– Minhaj As-Sunnah – Imam Ibn Taymiyyah

6– Narrated by Imam Ahmad & At-Tirmidhi

7- Jami’a Al-’Uloom wal-Hikam – Imam Ibn Rajab Al-Hanbali

 الْغَنِيُّ

Al-Ghaniyy

The All Rich, the name, The Self Sufficient

He is The Self-Sufficient, completely and unrestrictedly. He has absolutely no deficiency of any kind. Self-sufficiency is from the necessary consequences of His Essence; He is not in need of anything or anyone. He is the Self-Sufficient in Whose hands lie the treasures of the heavens and the earth, and the treasures of this life and the Hereafter. He suffices for the whole of His creation generally and is especially sufficient for the believers in that He confers upon their hearts nurturing knowledge and the realities of faith. (1)

قال الله تعالى: { لَّهِ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضِ إِنَّ اللهَ هُوَ الْغَنِيُّ الْحَمِيدُ } لقمان 26

To Allah belongs whatsoever is in the heavens and the earth. Verily, Allah, He is Al-Ghaniyyy (The Rich, free of all wants), The Worthy of all praise.

Surah Luqman [31: 26]

The Name of Allah Al-Ghaniyy is related closely to the divinity of Allah; Our ilaah (God), has to be Al-Ghaniyy, The Self-Sufficient and The All-Rich. He does not need anyone to help Him nor assist Him in the creation, nor in preserving and providing for His creatures.

This provision and sustaining to keep the heavens from falling on us, for example, or to keep the sun and the moon in their correct positions in the universe; All of these precise movements that occur, including the protection and preservation, Allah performs alone, without the need of anyone. He requires no helpers or associates, and that is why Allah, alone, deserves to be worshipped.

The richness of Allah has two meanings:

The first is The One Who is free from any needs. Linguistically “ghaniyy”, (rich) means that you are free from any need, want or desire; that you do not need anyone, and do not desire or seek benefit or support from anyone whatsoever, from any angle.

The second meaning of Al-Ghaniyy is that Allah owns the treasures of the heavens and the earth. Allah owns every single thing and what He owns is unlimited. He can create anything by just saying, “Be!” and it will be. Allah’s richness has no limits, He has vast richness; more than any mind can grasp, Glorified is He.

Allah’s name Al-Ghaniyy was mentioned many times in the Quran, and it has a beautiful meaning in every verse. For example in  Surah Al-An’am, Allah says:

قال الله تعالى: {وَرَبُّكَ الْغَنِيُّ ذُو الرَّحْمَةِ ۚ إِن يَشَأْ يُذْهِبْكُمْ وَيَسْتَخْلِفْ مِن بَعْدِكُم مَّا يَشَاءُ كَمَا أَنشَأَكُم مِّن ذُرِّيَّةِ قَوْمٍ آخَرِينَ } الأنعام 133

And your Lord is The Rich (Free of all wants), full of Mercy, if He wills, He can destroy you, and in your place make whom He will as your successors, as He raised you from the seed of other people.

Surah Al-An’am [6: 133]

In this verse Allah invites His slaves to believe in Him and to worship Him alone. However, what we need to contemplate is this; does Allah actually need our worship? Does He need our prayers and charitable acts? The answer is very clearly, no! Allah is free from All needs. That is why Allah combined two of His Names in this verse; The Self-Sufficient and The Merciful, which means that Allah is inviting us to believe in Him out of His mercy, because Allah loves to treat us with His mercy and loves to reward us. Allah loves our repentance out of His mercy and not out of His need.

To understand this I will give an example:

If your son or spouse abandoned you for some reason and then returned to you, you would, as a result, be extremely happy because you need them; their companionship and their support. But Allah, on the other hand, is in no need of anyone. He does not want anything from us; His happiness with our repentance is merely out of His mercy.         

قال الله تعالى: { يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ أَنتُمُ الْفُقَرَاء إِلَى اللهِ وَاللهُ هُوَ الْغَنِيُّ الْحَمِيدُ ، إِن يَشَأْ يُذْهِبْكُمْ وَيَأْتِ بِخَلْقٍ جَدِيدٍ ، وَمَا ذَلِكَ عَلَى اللهِ بِعَزِيزٍ } فاطر 15-17

O mankind! it is you who stand in need of Allah, but Allah is The Rich (Free of all wants and needs), Worthy of all praise. If He wills, He could destroy you and bring about a new creation. And that is not hard for Allah.

Surah Fatir [35: 15-17]

We need Allah, but Allah is Al-Ghaniyy, The All-Rich (all praise to Him), He is in no need of your worship, He is in no need of your your charity or your prayers. Does Allah need our striving against His enemies? No! Allah can destroy His enemies; indeed He can destroy all that is on this Earth, not only Histhe enemies, but every single one of us, and bring about another creation.

And thus accordingly, when you call people to Allah, to Islam, you need to know whom you are calling to. You are making dawah (calling) to Al-Ghaniyy. If all the people on the earth became good Muslims, this would not affect His Dominion, it would not increase His Kingdom. And if all the people on this earth disbelieved in Him, it would not diminish His Dominion in any way at all. Allah does not need you to be a Muslim, but you need to be a Muslim; you need to be a good slave to Allah.

Because Allah is The All-Rich, He does not benefit from those who spend for His sake, even if they were to spend millions. In the same way, people who are miserly and refrain from spending for Allah’s sake will not harm Him in any way. (2)

قال الله تعالى: {هَاأَنتُمْ هَؤُلَاء تُدْعَوْنَ لِتُنفِقُوا فِي سَبِيلِ اللهِ فَمِنكُم مَّن يَبْخَلُ وَمَن يَبْخَلْ فَإِنَّمَا يَبْخَلُ عَن نَّفْسِهِ وَاللهُ الْغَنِيُّ وَأَنتُمُ الْفُقَرَاء وَإِن تَتَوَلَّوْا يَسْتَبْدِلْ قَوْماً غَيْرَكُمْ ثُمَّ لَا يَكُونُوا أَمْثَالَكُمْ} محمد 38

Behold! You are those who are called to spend in the cause of Allah, yet among you are some who are niggardly. And whoever is niggardly, it is only at the expense of his ownself. But Allah is The Rich (Free of all wants), and you (mankind) are poor. And if you turn away (from Islam and the obedience of Allah), He will exchange you for some other people, and they will not be your likes.

Surah Muhammad [47: 38]

If you are miserly, withholding your money, you are, in reality, keeping good from your own self. You are preventing the benefit coming to you and as a result are depriving only yourself. Allah is Al-Ghaniyy, The All-Rich, but you are in need of Allah. You need His reward, you need His provision, you need Allah in every facet of your life. If you turn away from Allah and do not abide to Allah’s religion, He will surely replace you with a new people, and they will not be ungrateful like you.

Allah ordered us to spend for His sake from the pure and good money we have earned as well as from what Allah has allowed us to harvest from the earth. Do not choose the worst of your earnings or crops to give to those in need (for example almost rotten fruits or vegetables). Do not give them what you yourself would not accept unless your eyes were closed to avoid seeing the defect in it. Beware for Whom’s sake you are spending! You are spending for the Sake of Al-Ghaniyy, The All-Rich. Allah does not make it obligatory that you to spend and give away the best you own, but at least that which you give should be in good condition.

قال الله تعالى: {يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا أَنْفِقُوا مِنْ طَيِّبَاتِ مَا كَسَبْتُمْ وَمِمَّا أَخْرَجْنَا لَكُمْ مِنَ الْأَرْضِ وَلَا تَيَمَّمُوا الْخَبِيثَ مِنْهُ تُنْفِقُونَ وَلَسْتُمْ بِآخِذِيهِ إِلَّا أَنْ تُغْمِضُوا فِيهِ وَاعْلَمُوا أَنَّ اللهَ غَنِيٌّ حَمِيدٌ } البقرة 267

O you who believe! Spend of the good things which you have (legally) earned, and of that which We have produced from the earth for you, and do not aim at that which is bad to spend from it, (though) you would not accept it save if you close your eyes and tolerate therein. And know that Allah is rich (free of all wants), and Worthy of all praise.

Surah Al-Baqarah [2: 267]

From Allah’s richness is that He has no defects. He has no deficiency and He needs no one. This is why those who claim that Allah has a son, have given a great insult to Him. Allah does not need the company of anyone and no one resembles Him in any way. Allah is free from taking a wife and thus the very word (that Allah has son) is considered an insult to Allah. The perfection of Allah denies this.

قال الله تعالى: {قَالُوا اتَّخَذَ اللهُ وَلَدًا ۗ سُبْحَانَهُ ۖ هُوَ الْغَنِيُّ ۖ لَهُ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَمَا فِي الْأَرْضِ ۚ إِنْ عِنْدَكُمْ مِنْ سُلْطَانٍ بِهَٰذَا ۚ أَتَقُولُونَ عَلَى اللهِ مَا لَا تَعْلَمُونَ} يونس 68

They (Jews, Christians and pagans) say: “Allah has begotten a son (children).” Glory be to Him! He is The Rich (free of all wants). His is all that is in the heavens and all that is in the earth. No warrant you have for this. Do you say against Allah what you know not.

Surah Yunus [10: 68]

Glorified is Allah, Al-Ghaniyy, He is in no need of a partner, and has no associates. How can we compare The Lord, The Creator, to any creature? How can we compare The All-Rich, The Self-Sufficient, The Sustainer, The All-Powerful, The One Who owns the heavens and the earth, with a creature who is weak in every way, needy in every way, who owns nothing and cannot benefit even his own self? (3)

قال الله تعالى: {لَقَدْ كَفَرَ الَّذِينَ قَالُوا إِنَّ اللهَ هُوَ الْمَسِيحُ ابْنُ مَرْيَمَ ۚ قُلْ فَمَنْ يَمْلِكُ مِنَ اللهِ شَيْئًا إِنْ أَرَادَ أَنْ يُهْلِكَ الْمَسِيحَ ابْنَ مَرْيَمَ وَأُمَّهُ وَمَنْ فِي الْأَرْضِ جَمِيعًا ۗ وَلِلَّهِ مُلْكُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَمَا بَيْنَهُمَا ۚ يَخْلُقُ مَا يَشَاءُ ۚ وَاللهُ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ} المائدة 17

Surely, in disbelief are they who say that Allah is the Messiah, son of Maryam (Mary). Say (O Muhammad): Who then has the least power against Allah, if He were to destroy Al-Massih (the Messiah), son of Maryam (Mary), his mother, and all those who are on the earth together?” And to Allah belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth, and all that is between them. He creates what He wills. And Allah is able to do all things.

Surah al-Maidah [5: 17]

From the perfection of His richness is that all the treasures of the heavens and the earth are in His hands alone. “Treasures” here are not limited to money. Rather, He has treasures of provisions, mercy, knowledge, happiness, health, strength and more; the list is endless. All the treasures are in the hands of Allah Alone and all praise is due to Him [alhamdulillah] for all these treasures, Al-Ghaniyy (The All-Rich), because He is The Most Generous, The Bestower of Bounties, The Merciful. He likes to be asked and likes to give. For Him giving is preferred over depriving, He loves to respond to us. His treasures are never reduced in quantity no matter how much He gives to us. The perfection and vastness of this richness shows clearly in the fact that Allah invites us to ask Him, and also in the way in which Allah rewards those who supplicate to Him!

Now that you know that Allah is The All-Rich and that His treasures and creations are endless, know Allah told us that He has prepared Paradise for His believers. Just imagine this! Allah is the All-Beautiful, The Creator of beauty, so imagine how beautiful His Paradise is! If you were invited to a resort owned by a king, what would you expect? A private island, motor boats, a private jet, gardens and greenery, delicious food and drinks and more. In anticipation you would imagine and dream of the pleasures waiting for you.Yet you must keep in mind that this king is just a poor slave of Allah. He does not provide for himself and truly his resources are extremely limited. What about the Paradise which Allah has prepared for His believers? Have you ever felt the yearning and desire for Paradise? We need to trigger our desire for the Paradise, our yearning for it, and we therefore need to resist the trials of the worldly pleasures and focus on our great aim, which should be attaining Allah’s pleasure and entering Paradise.

قال الله تعالى: { إِنَّمَا يُؤْمِنُ بِآيَاتِنَا الَّذِينَ إِذَا ذُكِّرُوا بِهَا خَرُّوا سُجَّدًا وَسَبَّحُوا بِحَمْدِ رَبِّهِمْ وَهُمْ لَا يَسْتَكْبِرُونَ ، تَتَجَافَىٰ جُنُوبُهُمْ عَنِ الْمَضَاجِعِ يَدْعُونَ رَبَّهُمْ خَوْفًا وَطَمَعًا وَمِمَّا رَزَقْنَاهُمْ يُنفِقُونَ ، فَلَا تَعْلَمُ نَفْسٌ مَّا أُخْفِيَ لَهُم مِّن قُرَّةِ أَعْيُنٍ جَزَاءً بِمَا كَانُوا يَعْمَلُونَ ، أَفَمَن كَانَ مُؤْمِنًا كَمَن كَانَ فَاسِقًا ۚ لَّا يَسْتَوُونَ، أَمَّا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ فَلَهُمْ جَنَّاتُ الْمَأْوَىٰ نُزُلًا بِمَا كَانُوا يَعْمَلُونَ، وَأَمَّا الَّذِينَ فَسَقُوا فَمَأْوَاهُمُ النَّارُ ۖ كُلَّمَا أَرَادُوا أَن يَخْرُجُوا مِنْهَا أُعِيدُوا فِيهَا وَقِيلَ لَهُمْ ذُوقُوا عَذَابَ النَّارِ الَّذِي كُنتُم بِهِ تُكَذِّبُونَ } السجدة 15-20

Only those believe in Our ayat (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.), who, when they are reminded of them fall down prostrate, and glorify the praises of their Lord, and they are not proud. Their sides forsake their beds, to invoke their Lord in fear and hope, and they spend (charity in Allah’s cause) out of what We have bestowed on them. No person knows what is kept hidden for them of joy as a reward for what they used to do. Is then he who is a believer like him who is fasiq (disbeliever and disobedient to Allah)? Not equal are they. As for those who believe (in the Oneness of Allah, Islamic Monotheism) and do righteous good deeds, for them are Gardens (Paradise) as an entertainment, for what they used to do. And as for those who are fasiqun (disbelievers and disobedient to Allah), their abode will be the Fire, every time they wish to get away therefrom, they will be put back thereto, and it will be said to them: “Taste you the torment of the Fire which you used to deny.

Surah As-Sajdah [32: 16-20]

Allah said regarding Paradise that no one can truly imagine the pleasures, joy and beauty of it. He has kept the reality of it hidden, but it awaits you if you but believe in Him. So now let us question ourselves; do we really believe in Allah’s promise? Yes, perhaps we know that Allah’s promise is true and yet the effect of our belief in this is not apparent upon ourselves or in our lives. Why are we not eager to attain Paradise?

Ibn Al-Qayyim said,

If you want to know whether you are successful or not, and if you understand the truth about this life or about yourself, then it is according to two pillars of knowledge:                                                                   The first pillar is that you must truly know yourself and realize your weakness and your dire need to Allah, while the second pillar is to know about Allah and truly comprehend His vast power, knowledge and might. (2)
You need to know your limitations and weaknesses. If you were to look at yourself  and see that you have been blessed with health, or being in the company of those who love and support you then do not ever think, “That’s it, I have everything I need”. No, do not be fooled by this health you have or the strength you are now enjoying by the Grace of Allah. One microbe, one tiny microbe which is not even seen by the naked eye, is all it takes to affect your health greatly. Indeed, it can destroy you if Allah wills. Think about the amount of pain you suffer from even a tiny abscess on your tooth and the amount of pain you suffered due to it, leaving you in agony. Imagine, even a tiny insect can cause you tremendous pain! You are helpless, you cannot stop neither harm nor pain.

We are always in need of Allah while Allah, is the All-Powerful, All- Knowledgeable, The Sustainer, The All-Rich, in need of no one. So know yourself and know Allah.

Moreover, if you understand this you can enjoy being a slave of Allah, glorified is Allah. Now you can actualise true submission, acknowledging that you are in dire need of Allah.

We need to be obedient slaves to Allah but Allah does not need anyone, He does not need our worship. Accordingly, if you do any act of obedience do not think you are doing Allah a favor. If you accept Islam never think that you have done Allah a favour, rather,

Allah is The One Who has granted you the biggest favour by guiding you to Islam. We need to understand this and make it a reality in our lives.

قال الله تعالى: {يَمُنُّونَ عَلَيْكَ أَنْ أَسْلَمُوا قُلْ لا تَمُنُّوا عَلَيَّ إِسْلامَكُمْ بَلِ اللهُ يَمُنُّ عَلَيْكُمْ أَنْ هَدَاكُمْ لِلإِيمَانِ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ صَادِقِينَ} الحجرات 17

They regard as favour upon you (O Muhammad) that they have embraced Islam. Say: “Count not your Islam as a favour upon me. Nay, but Allah has conferred a favour upon you, that He has guided you to the Faith, if you indeed are true.

Surah Hujurat [49: 17]

Once you have this understanding and realization of your true essence, only then shall you begin to accomplish what you have been created for and act according to your true purpose in life with true submission, reliance, faith, love, hope and fear.

1- Explanation of Allah’s names Imam Nassir As-Saadi

2- Tariq Al Hijratain – Imam Ibn Al-Qayyim

Ash-Shakir Ash-Shakur,

The Appreciative, The Rewarder

Ash-Shakir, The Recogniser and Rewarder of Good, and Ash-Shakur, The Appreciative. He is The One Who recognises and rewards the small good that we do, and Who forgives our large quantity of sins. He is The One Who multiplies the rewards of His sincere servants. He is The One Who recognises and rewards those who give thanks to Him and Who remembers the one who remembers Him. Allah tells us that whosoever seeks to draw closer to Him by doing righteous actions, will find that Allah draws closer to them by a greater degree. (1)

Allah says:

قال الله تعالى: {ليوفيهم أجورهم و يزيدهم من فضله إنه غفور شكور} فاطر 30

That He may pay them their wages in full, and give them even more out of His grace. Verily, He is the Oft-Forgiving (Al-Ghafur), Most ready to appreciate good deeds and to recompense (Ash-Shakur).

Surah Fatir [35:30]

In this verse, why does Allah describes the reward as a wage? Imagine you have a worker who will carry out a job for you for a particular wage. There is a contractual commitment from both the worker (to do the job) and the employer (to pay on completion). Thus Allah has obligated upon Himself to give us our reward (after we have earned it by completing our work in this life) and so He called the reward a wage. Not only will He give us our wages in full but rather He will give us even more out of His grace.

If we know that Allah is Ash-Shakur (that He accepts even the smallest of good acts from the believers and rewards it immensely without any limits), then we should not belittle any good act we do. We should never say, “this is too little to be accepted”.

The Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him said:

فاتقوا النار ولو بشق تمرة

“Save yourself from the Hellfire by giving charity, even if it is as small as half a date.” (2)
Imam Ibn Al-Qayyim said:

As for the attribute of appreciation and thankfulness of Allah, it has a lofty position. He is more worthy of the attribute of thankfulness than any thankful person, as He truly is the All Thankful. He is the One Who gives His slave the ability to do a good deed and still He thanks him for it! For example, when you give money to charity think, ‘who gave me the money in the first place?’. It was Allah. Who made you resist the temptation to keep it? It was Allah. He gave you the money, guided you to the good act and He accepted it from you and rewarded you for it!

He is Thankful for the tiniest of acts of goodness and nothing is too little for Him to appreciate. He multiplies the reward of good actions.

He thanks those who remember Him (by doing dhikr) by praising them amongst His Angels in the highest heavens and by making the people mention them with praise and good words. He appreciates each and every act of His slave, so if His slave was to leave anything for His sake, then Allah will reward him with that which is much better than what he left.

When the Companions, may Allah be pleased with them, left their homes for the sake of Allah, He compensated them by enabling gain victory over the major emperors and powers. When the martyrs selflessly gave their own bodies for His sake and their flesh was torn apart by His enemies, He compensated them by making their souls nestle inside beautiful green birds going about freely in Paradise. These birds eat from its fruits and go to its rivers until the Day of Resurrection and then He will bring them back to their bodies in their best physical form.

We have this beautiful authentic hadith:

عن طلحة بن فراش قال: سمعت جابر بن عبدالله يقول: لما قتل عبدالله بن عمر بن حرام يوم أحد فقال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم: {يا جابر ألا أخبرك ما قال عز وجل لأبيك؟} فقلت : بلى، فقال صلى الله عليه وسلم: {ما كلم الله أحداً إلا من وراء حجاب، وكلم أباك كفاحاً، فقال: {يا عبدي تمنى علي أعطك} قال: يا رب تحييني فأقتل فيك ثانية، قال الله عز وجل

{إنه سبق مني أنهم لا يرجعون}، قال: يا رب فأبلغ من ورائي، فأنزل الله عز وجل: {ولا تحسبن الذين قتلوا في سبيل الله أمواتاً}

From Talha bin Farish who said, I heard Jabir bin ‘Abdullah say: When ‘Abdullah Ibn Haram, may Allah be pleased with him was killed in battle of Uhud, the Prophet, peace be upon him, told his son Jabir:

“Jabir, would you like me tell you what Allah told your father?”. Jabir replied,

“Yes”. So he, peace be upon him, said,

“Allah never talked to anyone except with a screen [between them], but He talked to your father directly. So He (Allah) said to him, “My slave, wish anything from Me and I will give it to you.” Your father replied: “My Lord, I wish that You make me alive again so that I can fight for Your sake and be killed for Your sake again.” Allah said, “No, I decreed that death to be only once”. So Abdullah said, “My Lord I ask you to convey this to my people”. So Allah revealed the verse,

“Do not think that those who are killed for the sake of Allah are dead…” (3)
This is how Allah thanks His slaves who were killed fighting for His sake.

Out of His thankfulness Allah rewards even the disbelievers for the good acts they do. He gives them a worldly reward so none of their good deeds are wasted. He will reward them although they are the most hateful thing to Him from His creation.

Out of His thankfulness, He forgave the prostitute who saw a dog eating sand out of thirst in the desert. She felt mercy for that dog, went to a well and brought water for it to drink. Allah thanked her for her mercy to that creature and by His mercy, He forgave her for her sins and guided her to repent. All this mercy, appreciation and thankfulness was due to her kindness towards a dog.

Allah, The All Thankful, will thank you for performing any act of goodness by rewarding you immensely and much more than what your act is worth. This is even though it is Allah who provided for you and enabled and guided you to perform this act of goodness in the first place.

So who is worthy of the name Ash-Shakur except Him?

Now, let’s ponder on Allah’s saying in Surah An-Nisa:

قال الله تعالى: {مَا يَفْعَلُ الله بِعَذَابِكُمْ إِنْ شَكَرْتُمْ وَآمَنْتُمْ ۚ وَكَانَ الله شَاكِرًا عَلِيمًا} النساء 147

Why should Allah punish you if you have thanked Him and have believed in Him, and Allah is ever All Appreciative of good (Ash-Shakir), All Knowing (Al-‘Alim).

Surah An-Nisa [4: 147]

Allah’s thankfulness forbids His slaves from being punished without having committed a crime and it forbids that their good deeds go unrewarded. Why should Allah punish you if you are thankful and if you believe in Him? There is no need for Allah to do this. He will never allow the reward of the good doers to be lost and they can have certainty it will be appreciated by Him.

Out of His thankfulness, Allah will bring out of the Hellfire anyone who has in his heart an atom’s weight of goodness (so long as this is done with Tawhid- worshipping Allah alone).

(Author- This tiny amount of goodness will not be in vain with Allah, Ash-Shakur. Now think about how Allah shows appreciation for this tiny amount of goodness in the heart of a slave. He will be saved from the Hellfire and not only this, but he will enjoy an eternal life in Paradise. Imagine that eternal life in Paradise as a reward for goodness amounting to the weight of tiny atom!  Even if he is punished for years, because of this amount of goodness in him, he will be brought out of the Hellfire to enjoy an eternal life in Paradise. This is our Lord. The All Thankful.)

If there was a situation where His slave stood firm for His sake aiming to please only Him, then out of His thankfulness, Allah will reward him.

(Author- an example of this could be a situation which requires to say a word of truth in any situation in which Allah has a right over you. For example, if you see a powerful man falsely  accusing an innocent person and you know that this person is innocent, then in this situation Allah has a right over you. You should stand up and say, “this is wrong, I testify that this man is innocent.” If you do that and uphold the truth, doing it only to please Allah and not fearing the response of the powerful man or other people, Allah will thank you for this act in a way that is beyond your expectation or imagination. It is true to say each and everyone of us has during our lives situations like this in which we will be able to show Allah our sincerity to Him.)

Since Allah is The All-Thankful, the most beloved to Him are those who are characterised by the attribute of thankfulness, whilst the most hated to Him are those who are not thankful. Allah loves His own names and He loves those who are characterized by what His names necessitate of excellent manners and actions. (4)

No doubt every believer wishes to be from those who are beloved to Allah and are truly thankful believers. So how can we be thankful and grateful slaves to Allah? The best act of thankfulness to Allah is Tawhid, to believe in Allah’s oneness (that He is worshipped alone without any partners). This is the best shukr (thankfulness). How is it possible that you know Allah created you and provides for you and yet you do not thank Him for this by worshipping Him alone? We need to establish the first step towards being thankful which is Tawhid (monotheistic worship of Allah).

To be a thankful slave you have to relate each and every grace or bounty or whatever good happens to you, to Allah. Allah is The One Who brought this to you. This is true even about your acts of worship, like prayer. When you pray, you should say to yourself with full belief and conviction, “alhamdulillah (all praise is to Allah), Allah enabled and guided me to pray”.

When you are truthful in speech, you should say to yourself, “alhamdulillah (all praise is to Allah), Allah guided me to be truthful.”

When you earn money you should say to yourself, “Allah provided me with this money”.

Never say “I was able to perform prayers due to my strong will”, or “I earned money due to my being skilful and intelligent”. Rather we attribute our success to Allah and we say, “Allah guided me to pray and Allah provided me with money”. This is true thankfulness to Allah.

A thankful slave will never use Allah’s bounties and provision to disobey Him. Do not fight Allah with His own bounty, with His own grace! Your vision is a great bounty, never use it in disobedience to Him; your wealth is a bounty, never spend it on forbidden things.

We need to know that the most hateful person to Allah is the unappreciative and ungrateful person, who deny the favors of others. Allah hates them. Beware of this and ask yourself,  “am I one of those whom Allah hates? Am I thankful and appreciative to Allah for all His bounties and graces? Am I thankful to my parents, wife or husband and to those who taught me?”. So, we need to try to practice being appreciative and thankful, with our hearts, tongues and limbs. The more you are thankful the more Allah will love you.

قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه و سلم: «لَا يَشْكُرُ الله مَنْ لَا يَشْكُرُ النَّاسَ

Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him said , “A person has not thanked Allah if he has not thanked the people”.(5)

:قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه و سلم

من صنع إليكم معروفاً فكافئوه، فإن لم تجدوا ما تكافئوه فادعوا له حتى تروا أنكم قد كافأتموه

“If someone does you a favour, try to reward him. If you are not able to reward him, then supplicate for him till you find that you have rewarded him.” (Meaning: ask Allah to reward this person by forgiving him and by bestowing His graces to him). (6)
This is why it is from the Sunnah to say to someone who does you any favor: جزاك الله خيرا  (Jazak Allahu khair- may Allah reward you with every goodness). This is a great supplication, but remember when you say it,  your heart has to mean it! Ask Allah to reward this person out of your true appreciation for them.

Now let’s ponder on this verse from Surah Fatir:

قال الله تعالى: {وَقَالُوا الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ الَّذِي أَذْهَبَ عَنَّا الْحَزَنَ إِنَّ رَبَّنَا لَغَفُورٌ شَكُورٌ} فاطر 34

The people of Paradise will say while entering it, “All praise and thanks be to Allah Who has removed from us all grief. Verily, our Lord is indeed All Forgiving, Most Ready to appreciate the good deeds and to recompense.” Surah Fatir [35: 34]

The people of Paradise will praise Allah with two names, The All Forgiving and the All Thankful. Due to these two names no one will perish or will be punished except if he really deserves it.

Because Allah has mentioned he rewards a good act ten times over and multiplies the rewards for whom He wills. As for the bad deed, it is written only as one. Allah accepts even the tiniest act of goodness and rewards it immensely. He forgives the most evil actions if we repent. Nothing is greater than Allah’s forgiveness, not even shirk (polytheism). When the mushrikeen (polytheists)  of Mecca (who fought Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, at the beginning of his call) repented to Allah, asked for His forgiveness and embraced Islam, Allah forgave them and they became noble Sahaba (Companions of the Prophet)! Our Lord is indeed The All Forgiving, The All Thankful.

 

As Allah says:

مَن جَاء بِالْحَسَنَةِ فَلَهُ عَشْرُ أَمْثَالِهَا وَمَن جَاء بِالسَّيِّئَةِ فَلاَ يُجْزَى إِلاَّ مِثْلَهَا وَهُمْ لاَ يُظْلَمُونَ} الأنعام 160}

Whoever brings a good deed (Islamic Monotheism and deeds of obedience to Allah and His Messenger ) shall have ten times the like thereof to his credit, and whoever brings an evil deed (polytheism, disbelief, hypocrisy, and deeds of disobedience to Allah and His Messenger ) shall have only the recompense of the like thereof, and they will not be wronged.

Surah Al-An-‘am [6:160]

How can anyone perish or be punished despite Allah’s great forgiveness and vast appreciation? How can they fail to benefit from these two great attributes of their Lord?

The only one who will fail is the one who never cared to know about Allah, who never cared to worship Allah sincerely and never cared to seek His forgiveness and repent to Him. No doubt this person deserves to be from amongst the losers on the Day of Judgement.

If you know that Allah is Ash-Shakur, then seek His closeness knowing that Allah will appreciate this from you and will draw you closer to Him.

Read this wonderful hadeeth the Prophet recited on behalf of his Lord:

“.قال صلى الله عليه وسلم فيما يرويه عن الله تعالى أنه قال : “من تقرب مني شبرا تقربت منه ذراعا ، ومن تقرب مني ذراعا تقربت منه باعا ، ومن أتاني يمشي أتيته هرولة

The Prophet, peace be upon him, said, “Allah says: ‘ When a slave of Mine draws near to Me a span, I draw near to him a cubit; and if he draws near to Me a cubit, I draw near to him a fathom. And if he comes to Me walking, I go to him running”. (7)
This beautiful hadith tells us about Allah and how He will thank you for any step you take to get close to Him, by drawing you closer and closer. Just show Allah that you want to please Him and that you care to be an obedient slave to Him and Allah will show His appreciation to you by granting you a magnificent bounty, His closeness.

We praise Allah for His beautiful names and attributes and we ask Him to grant us thankful hearts to appreciate His continuous grace and bounties.

1- Explanation of Allah’s Beautiful Names – Imam Nassir As-Saadi

2- Bukhari and Muslim

3- At-Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah

4- Ibn Al-Qayyim –Adhat As-Sabirin

5- Reported by Abu Dawud and corrected by Al-Albani

6- Reported by Abu Dawud and An-Nasai

7- Reported by Muslim

 

Al-Qareeb Al-Mujeeb,
The Close, The Responsive

Allah, Exalted is He, is close to each and every one of us (with His knowledge). This closeness is of of two types:

The first is general closeness, which includes His being close to everyone with respect to His knowledge, awareness, seeing, witnessing and encompassing.

The second is specific closeness, which is solely for His worshippers, those who ask of Him and those who love Him. The reality of this type of closeness cannot be comprehended; All we can see are its resultant effects – His kindness to His servants, His care of them and His making them firm upon the straight path.

From the consequences of this closeness is His answering those who supplicate to Him and His granting them the ability to be penitent. He is The One Who answers, in a general sense, those who supplicate to Him- whoever they may be and wherever they may be and whatever condition they may be in- as He has promised to answer them. He is The One Who answers, in a specific sense, those who love Him and those who imitate and follow His Shariah. He is also The One Who answers the one in dire need, as well as those who have given up all hope of being answered by the creation so their connection to Him has been strengthened in terms of love, hope and fear. (1)

Here we shall discuss this special closeness of Allah; His closeness to His true believers, those who show their true love to Allah and those who seek this special closeness to Him.

Sheikh As-Sa’di said,

You cannot truly comprehend the reality of this closeness, but you can understand the consequences of it.
The closeness of Allah to His slaves is not tangible in a physical sense; you cannot physically see it, but you can see its effects and feel its results. One of the effects and signs of Allah’s closeness could be felt when, for example, your heart might feel oppressed and sad and you pray, aiming to be close to Allah and make sujud (prostration), knowing that now you are in the closest position to Allah. You start to praise Allah and to supplicate to Him by His beautiful names, you say “Rabbi! I ask You to relieve this tightness in my heart!”. Instantly, you feel a joy in your heart as a consequence. You do not know whether to be happier about this relief in your heart or because you felt the closeness of Allah and experienced how He heard and responded to you!

Sometimes you have doubts in your mind and no one is able to alleviate these doubts. The very next day you listen to a religious class and rather randomly you find the speaker addressing your exact doubt. Allah is The One Who sent that class or article your way for you to find the answer. Now this is one of the results of Allah’s closeness. You did not need to voice your doubt; yet Allah knew what was bothering you even though you did not tell anyone. Allah is closer to you than your own self and He sent someone to clear away those doubts.

One of the Islamic Scholars said:

When you are in a state of deep grief and are troubled by something and then supplicate sincerely to Allah, you will experience an overwhelming feeling of Allah’s closeness that may even make you forget the pain of your troubles.
 قال الله تعالى{ وَإِذَا سَأَلَكَ عِبَادِى عَنِّى فَإِنِّى قَرِيبٌ‌ۖ أُجِيبُ دَعۡوَةَ ٱلدَّاعِ إِذَا دَعَانِ‌ۖ فَلۡيَسۡتَجِيبُواْ لِى وَلۡيُؤۡمِنُواْ بِى لَعَلَّهُمۡ يَرۡشُدُونَ } البقرة 186

And when My slaves ask you (O Muhammad) concerning Me, then (answer them), “I am indeed near (to them by My knowledge). I respond to the invocations of the supplicant when he calls on Me (without any mediator or intercessor). So let them obey Me and believe in Me, so that they may be led aright.”

Surah Al-Baqarah [2: 18]

The nearness of Allah in this verse refers to a special closeness for those beloved worshippers who supplicate, knowing that Allah will answer them. Allah tells us in this verse which of us deserve His special closeness and His response. Do you want to be of those who receive Allah’s special closeness? Then, you must respond to Him. Respond to the Quran, react to Allah’s command by saying, “Yes Allah, I hear and I will do what you have commanded. I submit with love and I respond to the command of the Prophet peace be upon him.” Whenever you learn a hadith try to apply it yourself as much as you are able to. If you do this, you will deserve Allah’s closeness as well as His response to your supplications.

Let us also ponder on this beautiful verse :

قال الله تعالى:{ وَإِلَىٰ ثَمُودَ أَخَاهُمۡ صَـٰلِحً۬ا‌ۚ قَالَ يَـٰقَوۡمِ ٱعۡبُدُواْ ٱللَّهَ مَا لَكُم مِّنۡ إِلَـٰهٍ غَيۡرُهُ ۥ‌ۖ هُوَ أَنشَأَكُم مِّنَ ٱلۡأَرۡضِ وَٱسۡتَعۡمَرَكُمۡ فِيہَا فَٱسۡتَغۡفِرُوهُ ثُمَّ تُوبُوٓاْ إِلَيۡهِ‌ۚ إِنَّ رَبِّى قَرِيبٌ۬ مُّجِيبٌ۬} هود 61

And to Thamud (people, We sent) their brother Salih. He said: ‘O my people! Worship Allah, you have no other ilah (god) but Him. He brought you forth from the earth and settled you therein; then ask forgiveness of Him and turn to Him in repentance. Certainly, my Lord is Near (to all by His Knowledge), Responsive.

Surah Hud [11:  61]

In this verse Prophet Saleh, peace be upon him, called his people to believe in Allah and to repent to Him, and he also mentioned these two beautiful names- The Close and The Responsive. This verse demonstrates that anyone who believes in Allah and turns to Allah with sincere repentance will earn Allah’s closeness and Allah will answer his supplications.

When a person first returns to Allah (he may be raised as a Muslim, yet does not truly know Allah or even the right path), or enters Islam (from disbelief), he will achieve the highest sense of this special closeness. Sujud [prostration] will now have a special flavor; he will feel the support, the tranquillity and the happiness. Allah gives him all of this simply because he returned to Him and thus is deserving of His closeness. Allah loves and is happy with those who return back to Him. Moreover, this feeling of special closeness, tranquillity and happiness he feels when he repents to Allah and starts taking the right path will encourage him to keep on going on this righteous path; hoping for more and more closeness, happiness and tranquility.

قال الله تعالى: {وَقَالَ رَبُّڪُمُ ٱدۡعُونِىٓ أَسۡتَجِبۡ لَكُمۡۚ إِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ يَسۡتَكۡبِرُونَ عَنۡ عِبَادَتِى سَيَدۡخُلُونَ جَهَنَّمَ دَاخِرِينَ} غافر60

And your Lord said: ‘Invoke Me, (and ask Me for anything) I will respond to your (invocation). Verily! Those who scorn My worship [i.e. do not invoke Me, and do not believe in My Oneness, (Islamic Monotheism)] they will surely enter Hell in humiliation!

Surah Ghafir [40: 60]

Allah’s Name “Al-Mujeeb” shows that Allah hears the supplications of those who call unto Him, He answers the requests of those who ask Him and does not disappoint the believer who supplicates. Allah loves to be asked and loves to give. The problem lies in our certainty while supplicating; the strength of our faith can be a problem. Sometimes we may lack faith and certainty in Allah’s response. For example, one may supplicate to Allah to guide his son who is astray, or to cure one who is ill, but inside he is wondering if this is even possible. If the president of your country sends you a sealed letter promising to give you an apartment, would you even have 1% doubt about whether he will fulfil his promise? No. Rather, you would go there already thinking how you would furnish that apartment! Then what about Allah, The Owner of the Dominion? Why do we lack certainty in Him? You ask Allah something and yet you doubt the response?!           

Allah says: “Invoke Me, (and ask Me for anything) I will respond to you.”

Ask Allah for His forgiveness, His guidance and for Paradise. Ask Him for your worldly needs and demands like food, drink, clothing and housing. Allah promises to respond no matter how big the issue is, the amount being asked, and the diversity of desires.

This invitation from Allah to ask Him and His promise to answer shows the completeness of Allah’s capability and Kingship. When He gives, His treasures never run out nor decrease in any way; even if He gives to the first and last of jinn and mankind and He answers all of what they ask.

One of the salaf supplicated to Allah saying,

Allah, I am asking as you commanded me, so respond as you promised me.
The Prophet, peace be upon him, related to us that Allah said,

“يَا عِبَادِي لَوْ أَنَّ أَوَّلَكُمْ وَآخِرَكُمْ وَإِنْسَكُمْ وَجِنَّكُمْ قَامُوا فِي صَعِيدٍ وَاحِدٍ فَسَأَلُونِي فَأَعْطَيْتُ كُلَّ إِنْسَانٍ مَسْأَلَتَهُ مَا نَقَصَ ذَلِكَ مِمَّا عِنْدِي إِلاَّ كَمَا يَنْقُصُ الْمِخْيَطُ إِذَا أُدْخِلَ الْبَحْرَ”

“O My servants, even if the first among you, the last among you, the entire human race and all of the jinn stand upon one level plain and you ask of Me and I confer upon each one what he requests, it will not in any way cause any loss to Me (even less) than that which is caused to the ocean by dipping a needle in it.”  (2)
Allah will never let you down. He is The Only One Who will never let you down, no matter how large what you yearn for is. Do not limit your requests and never feel embarrassed to ask Allah more than once. Know that Allah loves to be asked and loves to give and provide. From the effects of having faith in this Name of Allah, “Al-Mujeeb” is that it strengthens the certainty the slave has in Allah. It increases the slave’s hope that his supplications will be answered. How can the slave not be confident and certain in his Lord, The All-Rich and the All-Generous? He owns the Dominion, and all affairs are in His hands.

Imam Ibn al-Qayyim said:

The very second that Allah sees your heart clinging only to Him, not looking at or hoping in any other person or reason, reaching out only to Him in a serious state of need; that is the very second He will answer you. He will never let you down because He is Al-Qareeb Al-Mujeeb.
قال الله تعالى: {وَذَا النُّونِ إِذ ذَّهَبَ مُغَاضِبًا فَظَنَّ أَن لَّن نَّقْدِرَ عَلَيْهِ فَنَادَىٰ فِي الظُّلُمَاتِ أَن لَّا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا أَنتَ سُبْحَانَكَ إِنِّي كُنتُ مِنَ الظَّالِمِينَ، فَاسْتَجَبْنَا لَهُ وَنَجَّيْنَاهُ مِنَ الْغَمِّ ۚ وَكَذَٰلِكَ نُنجِي الْمُؤْمِنِينَ} الأنبياء 87-88

And (remember) Dhan-Nun (Yunus), when he went off in anger, and imagined that We shall not punish him (i.e. the calamities which had befallen him)! But he cried through the darkness (saying): La ilaha illa Anta [none has the right to be worshipped but You (O Allah)], Glorified (and Exalted) are You [above all that (evil) they associate with You]. Truly, I have been of the wrong-doers.” So We answered his call and delivered him from his distress. And thus We do deliver the believers (who believe in the Oneness of Allah, abstain from evil and work righteousness).

Reflect how near Allah responded to Prophet Yunus when he was swallowed by the whale. He was in the deep ocean, surrounded by darkness, and Allah heard his sincere prayers. Immediately Allah responded to him and relieved this hardship from him. Furthermore, this demonstrates Prophet Yunus’s sincerity in calling to Allah and also how he felt Allah’s special closeness.

Moreover, the Quran comes to bring a great glad tiding to every believer. This closeness and response is not specific to Yunus but is, instead, for every single believer.

This is why the Prophet, peace be upon him, directed us to say this supplication of Yunus which contains both elements of Tawhid and confession of our faults whenever we are facing a hardship or feeling a sorrow in our hearts: “La ilaha illa Anta [none has the right to be worshipped but You (O Allah)], Glorified (and Exalted) are You [above all that (evil) they associate with You]. Truly, I have been of the wrongdoers.”

The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said:

إِذَا دَعَا أَحَدُكُمْ فَلاَ يَقُلِ اللَّهُمَّ اغْفِرْ لِي إِنْ شِئْتَ وَلَكِنْ لِيَعْزِمِ الْمَسْأَلَةَ وَلْيُعَظِّمِ الرَّغْبَةَ فَإِنَّ اللهَ لاَ يَتَعَاظَمُهُ شَىْءٌ أَعْطَاهُ

When one of you supplicates (to his Lord) he should not say, ‘O Allah, forgive me if You wish.’ Instead, one should beg Him with a will and full devotion, for there is nothing so great to Allah that He cannot grant it. (3)
We cannot possibly survive without Allah’s forgiveness; therefore we need to show Allah our dire need for His forgiveness. Our hearts should be filled with hope and desire for His forgiveness.

The Prophet, peace be upon him, said:

 إِنَّ رَبَّكُمْ حَيِيٌّ كَرِيمٌ, يَسْتَحِي مِنْ عَبْدِهِ إِذَا رَفَعَ إِلَيْهِ يَدَيْهِ أَنْ يَرُدَّهُمَا صِفَرًا

Indeed Allah is shy (in a way that suits His majesty and perfection) and Generous. When one raises his hands (in supplication, with the palms of the hand facing up like those of a needy person) Allah is shy to return them empty (by not responding). (4)
If a needy man asks for something from someone who is known to be noble, generous and of high rank, he will not be disappointed. The noble man will be shy to turn him down due to his own generosity and nobility. If you understand that a noble person would be shy to turn down those who ask him, then what about Allah? To Him belongs the Highest example; when Allah tells us, “Ask Me and I will give to you”, do we have any doubt that Allah will give us what we requested? We need to strengthen our faith in Allah’s response.

The Prophet, peace be upon him, said:

” ما من مسلم يدعو بدعوة ليس فيها إثم ولا قطيعة رحم إلا أعطاه الله بها إحدى ثلاث : إما أن تعجل له دعوته ، وإما أن يدخرها له في الآخرة ، وإما أن يصرف عنه من السوء مثلها . قالوا إذن تكثر . قال الله أكثر.”

“There is no Muslim who supplicates to Allah with a supplication that does not contain any sin or cutting off of family ties, except that Allah will give him one of three things: Either He will speedily answer his supplication, or He will save it for him until the Hereafter where Allah will reward him for it, or He will repel something bad from him equal to the value of his supplication.”

The Companions said, “So, we will supplicate frequently.” Thereupon, the Prophet said, “Allah will accept even more. ” (5)

The Prophet, peace be upon him, said: “Allah will give to you, but don’t be hasty. He was asked, “What does it mean to be hasty?” He said, “The person who says, ‘I supplicated and I wasn’t given’ and so he stops supplicating.”

There are other barriers which prevent Allah from responding to us. They are:

Supplicating while your heart is distracted and negligent, not truly knowing what you are asking Allah for
Earning your money from a prohibited source.
Therefore, in order to receive Allah’s response we must purify ourselves from the haraam (forbidden earnings and actions), have certainty and our hearts must affirm what our tongues are saying.

A Companion of Prophet Muhammad performed a beautiful act to attain Allah’s closeness. He had no money to spend in the way of Allah when the Muslims were going with the Prophet to battle. He had to stay in Madinah, so he said, “For you, oh Allah, I am going to forgive each and every Muslim who has ever harmed me, as a charity for the sake of Allah.” He said this at night before going to sleep. The very next day Jibril descended to the Prophet with a message from Allah to this companion. The Prophet said, “Who performed a special charity last night?” The Companion looked up and the Prophet said, “Allah accepted your charity”. (6)

This is a great example showing how Allah is near and how He answers those who supplicate with sincerity.

In addition, we have the following beautiful hadith which shows the mercy and generosity of Allah and how He responds to His slaves:

The Prophet, peace be upon him, said:

يَنْزِلُ رَبُّنَا تَبَارَكَ وَتَعَالَى كُلَّ لَيْلَةٍ إِلَى السَّمَاءِ الدُّنْيَا حِينَ يَبْقَى ثُلُثُ اللَّيْلِ الآخِرُ فَيَقُولُ مَنْ يَدْعُونِي فَأَسْتَجِيبَ لَهُ وَمَنْ يَسْأَلُنِي فَأُعْطِيَهُ وَمَنْ يَسْتَغْفِرُنِي فَأَغْفِرَ لَهُ.

Our Lord, the Blessed and the Exalted, descends every night to the lowest heaven when one-third of the latter part of the night is left and says, “Who supplicates to Me so that I may answer him? Who asks Me so that I may give to him? Who asks My forgiveness so that I may forgive him?” (7)
He, peace be upon him, also said,

قال صلى الله عليه و سلم أقرب ما يكون الرب من عبده في جوف الليل الآخر فإن إستطعت أن تكون ممن يذكر الله في تلك الساعة فكن

Allah is the closest to His slave in the latter part of the night; so if you are able to be of those who remember Allah in this hour, be one of them! (
Anyone who is close to his Lord, enjoying every act of obedience and aiming to please Him, will surely live a good life, free of worry or anxiety, relying on His Lord, trusting in His provision and protection. Even if he is deprived of worldly enjoyments and adornments, his heart will be in a state of happiness, comfort, and tranquility which cannot be compared to any worldly pleasure.

1- Explanation of Allah’s names – Imam Nasir As-Sa’di

2- Sahih Muslim

3- Bukhari and Muslim

4- Reported by Abu Dawood, corrected by Al-Albany

5- Musnad Imam Ahmad, Al-Hakem

6- Al-Isabah Ibn Hajar

7- Bukhari and Muslim

8- At-Tirmidhi

الحسيب الكافي

Al Haseeb (The Reckoner)

The One Who is All Knowing of His servants and Sufficient for those who put their trust in Him. The One Who recompenses His servants with either good or bad in accordance with His wisdom and His knowledge, for the minutest and greatest of their actions.

قال الله تعالى: {وَمَنْ يَتَوَكَّلْ عَلَى االله فَهُوَ حَسْبُهُ إِنَّ االلهَ بَالِغُ أَمْرِهِ قَدْ جَعَلَ االله لِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدْرًا} الطلاق 3

And whosoever puts his trust in Allah, then He will suffice him. Verily, Allah will accomplish his purpose. Indeed Allah has set a measure for all things.

Surah At-Talaq [65: 3]

Al Haseeb has two meanings. The first is the meaning of sufficing His slaves.

Allah suffices and provides for all His slaves with regards to everything that concerns them; for both their religious matters and their worldly matters. He facilitates for them all the means they need, and drives back away things they hate.

قال الله تعالى: {يَا أَيُّهَا النَّبِيُّ حَسْبُكَ اللهُ وَمَنِ اتَّبَعَكَ مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ} الأنفال 64

O Prophet (Muhammad )! Allah is sufficient for you and for the believers who follow you.

Surah Al- Anfal [8: 64]

Secondly, the meaning of preserving, meaning, He keeps records of all actions and He will recompense them. Allah will bring his slaves to account for their deeds and will recompense them according to His wisdom and knowledge, for the smallest and greatest of their actions. Allah keeps detailed records of all the deeds of His slaves, while the slaves themselves forget what they have done. He distinguishes between the good and sincere acts and the evil acts and He will bring them to account according to what they deserve from reward or punishment, down to the minutest detail. (2)

قال الله تعالى: {وَإِذَا حُيِّيتُمْ بِتَحِيَّةٍ فَحَيُّوا بِأَحْسَنَ مِنْهَا أَوْ رُدُّوهَا إِنَّ الله كَانَ عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ حَسِيبًا } النساء 86

When you are greeted with a greeting, greet in return with what is better than it, or (at least) return it equally. Certainly, Allah is Ever a Careful Account Taker of all things.

Surah An-Nisa [4: 86].

So, take note dear reader,  Allah will hold you to account for even returning a greeting!

Now, after you understand the meaning of Allah Al-Haseeb (The Reckoner) and you know that Allah will hold you to account for everything (every thought, every word, every movement or action), this understanding should then have an effect on you.

We need to bring ourselves to account now, before we are brought to account by Allah on the Day of Judgement. We should start with the obligations; are we fulfilling that which Allah has made obligatory upon us? Do we desire and strive to learn about Allah and the religion and apply what we have learnt regarding the correction of our creed (faith), our prayers, being honest, guarding our tongues from backbiting and all that Allah has made obligatory upon us? Ask yourself; do you properly glorify Allah’s orders or do you take His orders lightly?

قال الله تعالى: {يأَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللهَ وَلْتَنظُرْ نَفْسٌ مَّا قَدَّمَتْ لِغَدٍ وَاتَّقُوا اللهَ إِنَّ اللهَ خَبِيرٌ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ} الحشر 18

O you who believe! Fear Allah and keep your duty to Him. And let every person look to what he has sent forth for the morrow, and fear Allah. Verily, Allah is All-Aware of what you do.

Surah Al-Hashr [59: 18]

You need to work on this now before you are taken from this world unexpectedly. You may arrive on the Day of Reckoning with major sins (such as backbiting and dishonesty) which you were totally unaware of. Start by recognizing any faults that you have and begin to correct them; start changing yourself. You need to act upon the righteous path Allah has showed you and guided you to.

قال الله تعالى: {يَوْمَ يَبْعَثُهُمُ اللهُ جَمِيعًا فَيُنَبِّئُهُم بِمَا عَمِلُوا أَحْصَاهُ اللهُ وَنَسُوهُ وَاللهُ عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ شَهِيدٌ} المجادلة6  

On the Day when Allah will resurrect them all together (i.e. the Day of Resurrection) and inform them of what they did. Allah has kept account of it, while they have forgotten it. And Allah is Witness over all things.

Surah Al-Mujadilah [58: 6]

On the Day of Reckoning, we will hold a book in our hands. This book will contain every single thing that we have done and Allah will ask us to read our books. Allah will make us bear witness upon ourselves and if a person deserves to be punished in the Hellfire due to his sins, he will admit it.

قال الله تعالى: { وَكُلَّ إِنْسَانٍ أَلْزَمْنَاهُ طَائِرَهُ فِي عُنُقِهِ وَنُخْرِجُ لَهُ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ كِتَابًا يَلْقَاهُ مَنْشُورًا، اقْرَأْ كِتَابَكَ كَفَى بِنَفْسِكَ الْيَوْمَ عَلَيْكَ

حَسِيبًا } الإسراء 13-14

 And We have fastened every man’s deeds to his neck, and on the Day of Resurrection, We shall bring out for him a book which he will find wide open ; (It will be said to him): “Read your book. You yourself are sufficient as a reckoner against you this Day.

Surah Al-Isra [17: 13,14]

If you do not want to be from the losers on that Day then you must strive hard to rectify yourself now. The soul cares only about itself; it cares about its own selfish desires. It wants to be lazy, it loves flattery, and so on. If you allow your soul to do whatever it desires, you will go astray; you will be a loser. So start taking yourself to account now, before Allah takes you to account, while there is still a chance to repent and to follow the path to Paradise .

People tend to focus on the faults and shortcomings of others. Remember, however, that you will be taken to account for your deeds only, so always focus on yourself first. Ask Allah to make you aware of your faults and sins and start reforming yourself; then, try to guide others.

On the other hand, knowing that Allah is Al-Haseeb should give you contentment when you do any good deed, especially if you are doing a favor to others, as sometimes you perform great favors to others and they, in turn, do not even notice. You will no longer care about their unappreciative response as it will be enough for you to know that Allah is Al-Haseeb Who will reward you immensely for any good deed that you do. Say to yourself, “I do not want my reward from the people, I want it from Allah only.”

قال الله تعالى: {وَيُطْعِمُونَ الطَّعَامَ عَلَى حُبِّهِ مِسْكِينًا وَيَتِيمًا وَأَسِيرًا ، إِنَّمَا نُطْعِمُكُمْ لِوَجْهِ الله لَا نُرِيدُ مِنْكُمْ جَزَاءً وَلَا شُكُورًا ، إِنَّا نَخَافُ مِنْ رَبِّنَا يَوْمًا عَبُوسًا قَمْطَرِيرًا ، فَوَقَاهُمُ الله شَرَّ ذَلِكَ الْيَوْمِ وَلَقَّاهُمْ نَضْرَةً وَسُرُورًا ، وَجَزَاهُمْ بِمَا صَبَرُوا جَنَّةً وَحَرِيرًا}

الإنسان 8 – 12

And they give food, inspite of their love for it (or for the love of Him), to Miskin (the needy), the orphan, and the captive; (saying): “We feed you seeking Allah’s countenance only. We wish for no reward, nor thanks from you.  “Verily, We fear from our Lord a Day, hard and distressful, that will make the faces look horrible (from extreme dislikeness to it).”  So Allah saved them from the evil of that Day, and gave them Nadratan (a light of beauty) and joy; And their recompense shall be Paradise, and silken garments, because they were patient.

Surah Al-Insan [76: 8-12]

Al-Kafee (The Sufficient):

The One Who suffices His servants in everything that they are in need of. The One Who suffices, in a specific sense, those who believe in Him, put their trust in Him, and seek their worldly and religious needs from Him.(2)

قال الله تعالى: {أَلَيْسَ اللهُ بِكَافٍ عَبْدَهُ وَيُخَوِّفُونَكَ بِالَّذِينَ مِنْ دُونِهِ وَمَنْ يُضْلِلِ الله فَمَا لَهُ مِنْ هَادٍ} الزمر 36

Is not Allah Sufficient for His slave? Yet they try to frighten you with those (whom they worship) besides Him! And whom Allah sends astray, for him there will be no guide.

Surah Az-Zumar [39: 36]

In this verse Allah is talking about His uniqueact of sufficing His true believers,those who are His sincere worshippers.This sufficiency varies; the more you are sincere in worshipping Allah, and the more you place your trust and reliance in Him; the more Allah will suffice you.

عن عبد الله بن عباس رضي الله عنهما قال :

حَسْبُنَا اللهُ وَنِعْمَ الوَكِيلُ : قَالَهَا إِبْرَاهِيمُ عَلَيْهِ السَّلاَمُ حِينَ أُلْقِي فِي النَّارِ ، وَقَالَهَا مُحَمَّدٌ صلى الله عليه وسلم حِينَ قَالُوا : ( إِنَّ النَّاسَ قَدْ جَمَعُوا لَكُمْ فَاخْشَوْهُمْ فَزَادَهُمْ إِيمَاناً وَقَالُوا حَسْبُنَا الله وَنِعْمَ الْوَكِيلُ )

Narrated by Ibn Abbas:

Allah is Sufficient for us and He Is The Best Disposer of affairs,” was said by Ibrahim (peace be upon him)  when he was thrown into the fire; and it was said by  Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) when the people (the hypocrites) said, “Verily, the people (the pagans) have gathered against you (a great army), therefore, fear them.” But it (only) increased them in faith, and they said: “Allah (Alone) is Sufficient for us, and He is The Best Disposer of affairs. (3)
Allah answered His Prophet Ibrahim (peace be upon him) and He said: “O fire! Be you coolness and safety for Ibrahim” (Surah Al-Anbiya, verse 69) Indeed Allah sufficed him, and Allah answered Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and the believers, He sufficed them from their enemy and Allah sufficed their hearts from feeling any fear, actually the threat of the enemy increased their faith and trust in Allah, and Allah sufficed them from any harm, as He made the army of their enemy retreat deciding not to fight. (Surah Al-Imran, verse 174 – 175)

Whenever we are faced by any danger or harm or threat we need to remember this great supplication, and we say as the Prophets said: “Allah alone is sufficient for me, and He is the best disposer of affairs”. (“Hasbiya Allahu wa ni’ma Al-Wakeel”).

Your heart needs to know this great supplication in order to feel the comfort of security and tranquility based on the certainty that Allah will suffice you. He will suffice you from any danger or harm and He will suffice your heart from worrying or fearing. Even if you face a hardship or any calamity, you will go through it assured, and strengthened by your reliance on Allah and your trust in His sufficiency, saying to yourself: “I have Allah, so why worry?”

On the other hand, the person who is deprived of Allah’s sufficiency will be living in hardship even before any harm faces him. A hardship of constantly worrying and being afraid of any evil or disaster which might come his way.

How can someone live in this world without feeling this sufficiency with Allah? How can he feel secure and content if he is deprived of this? It is very difficult to live without this. That is why the disbelievers live a painful, hectic life full of worries and anxiety. They worry about everything; about their security, provision, health, and some people might even end by committing suicide as they are not able to go of all this alone.
As for the believers, the Muslims, they live a good life, free from worry and fear; knowing that Allah will suffice them in all their worldly affairs. Glorified is Allah.

The believer, even during his hardship, is content and relaxed, knowing that all this Universe is under Allah’s control. This feeling of confidence and strength comes from understanding about Allah. You take your strength from Allah, The All Mighty, The All Powerful, The Conqueror- so, why worry if you have Allah to suffice you?

We need to take steps to be eligible for this sufficiency; Allah told us who deserves His sufficiency. First, we have this verse:

قال الله تعالى: {أليس الله بكاف عبده} الزمر 36

Is not Allah Sufficient for His slave?

Surah Az-Zumar [39: 36]

 

If you are a true slave of Allah, Allah will be enough/sufficient for you.

A true slave believes that none is worthy of worship except Allah, and a true slave obeys Allah’s commands with love and submission, humbling himself to his Lord. So if you are a true slave of Allah, you deserve Allah’s sufficing. The more you strive to be a better slave to Allah, and  the more you rely on Allah, Allah will surely suffice you in each and every detail of your life.

Secondly,we have this verse:

قال الله تعالى: {وَمَنْ يَتَوَكَّلْ عَلَى االله فَهُوَ حَسْبُهُ إِنَّ االلهَ بَالِغُ أَمْرِهِ قَدْ جَعَلَ االله لِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدْرًا} الطلاق 3

And whosoever puts his trust in Allah, then He will suffice him. Verily, Allah will accomplish his purpose. Indeed Allah has set a measure for all things.

Surah At-Talaq [65: 3]

If you want Allah to be sufficient for you, put your reliance and hopes only in Him. The more your heart hopes in Allah alone, not looking for any human or worldly means, the more you will find Allah will suffice you. Whatever you may need in life, whether that be health, provision, protection, security, happiness, friends and company, Allah will suffice you in each and every single thing you need.

You might be a Muslim person living among non believers, you might have been a person who lost your family and your friends and maybe even your job because you converted to Islam; even  if this is the case, never ever say: “I have no one.” This is not true. You have Allah, and be assured that Allah will suffice you.

Ibn Al-Qayyim said:

When Allah mentioned His sufficiency for those who rely in Him, this might result in anticipating an immediate response, so Allah followed the verse by saying that He has set a measure for all things. Meaning: Allah has set a time for everything which will not be exceeded, Allah will make it happen according to that pre-set timing. Accordingly, the person who relied on Allah should not be hasty and say: “I relied on Allah and nothing happened, and I was not sufficed” because what Allah wills will happen at the time Allah set. (4)

Unfortunately, in this situation it happens that some people abandon this great meaning of reliance only in Allah and they turn to people, begging and humiliating themselves to them, not caring if this is weighs on their account in the religion, and losing the contentment of their Lord. Here they will lose Allah’s suffice which was promised to His true believers. (5)

قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه و سلم: “إذا خرج الرجل من بيته فقال : بسم الله توكلت على الله ولا حول و لا قوة إلا بالله ، قال: يقال حينئذ: هديت و كفيت و وقيت ، فيتنحى عنه الشيطان ، فيقول شيطان آخر: كيف لك برجل قد هدي و كفي و وقي.”)

The Prophet, peace be upon him, taught us a beautiful supplication to say whenever we go out of our home. If you say: “In the name of Allah, I put my reliance and trust in Allah, and there is no power and no strength except by Allah.”  Allah will protect you and guide you and the devils will have no hope of seducing nor misleading you. Instead they will move away from your path, a devil saying to another: “How can you mislead a man who is guided, sufficed and protected by Allah!” (6)

Ibn Al-Qayyim said:

True reliance in Allah is the strongest means to repel what you cannot tolerate from the harms of the people and the harm of their injustice and enmity. If you rely on Allah, He will suffice you, and if Allah suffices you then no enemy can get to you, except from a harm which everyone has to face (similar to the harm of hunger for instance, or thirst, or hot weather, i.e. a harm which does not affect your heart or faith). It will never happen that your enemy can harm you as he aims, and your enemy only aims to harm your faith. Thus, there is a difference between a superficial harm (which does not affect the heart) and the harm which makes your enemy feel victorious over you. Although it appears that your enemy is trying to harm your faith, in reality your enemy is in fact doing you a favor by giving you the chance to be rewarded and loved by Allah, and is therefore as a consequence only harming himself.

If you have a strong reliance in Allah and the entire creation is plotting against you, Allah will give you a way out and will protect you, suffice you and will give you victory. (7)

قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه و سلم: ” من جعل الهموم هما واحدا هم المعاد كفاه الله هم دنياه، و من تشعبت به الهموم في أحوال الدنيا لم يبال الله في أي أوديته هلك “

Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, said: “Whoever focuses all his concerns on one thing, the Hereafter, Allah will relieve him of all worldly concerns; but whoever has diverse concerns scattered among a number of worldly issues, Allah will not care in which of its valleys he will perish.” (eight)

Meaning, if you keep yourself busy trying to please Allah, Allah will suffice you in every way and every means. Your aim in this world is not to gain money nor reach high ranks or whatever; your aim should be how to please Allah and to be a winner on the Day of Resurrection. If this is your aim, then Allah will suffice you in a way by which you will never need  to worry about any worldly concerns; the money will come, the provision will come and Allah will suffice you.


On the other hand, If your concerns are focused on worldly matters, thinking only about your wealth, your ambition, and other worldly affairs, then Allah will not care in which valley of these affairs you will be taken, andwhich will finally destroy you.

No one can ever live a good life without Allah’s suffice, enjoying this feeling of security and tranquillity knowing that Allah will suffice you.

1- Explanation of Allah’s names – Imam Nasir As-Sa’di

2- Explanation of Allah’s names – Imam Nasir As-Sa’di

3- Narrated by Al-Bukhari

4– A’lam Al-Muwaqa’een – Imam Ibn Al-Qayyim

5 – A’lam Al-Muwaqa’een – Imam Ibn Al-Qayyim  

6– Narrated by Abu Dawood, An-Nasai and corrected by Al-Albani

7- Badaa’ Al-Fawaid – Imam Ibn Al-Qayyim

8- Narrated by Ibn Majah




.

ٱلۡحَىُّ ٱلۡقَيُّومُ

The Ever Living (Al-Hayy) – The Self Sustaining (Al-Qayyum)

These are two of Allah’s names which comprise the perfection of His attributes and actions.

The name “Al-Hayy” comprises the perfection of His attributes and “Al-Qayyum” comprises the perfection of His actions.

Al-Hayy:

The meaning of “Al-Hayy” is The One Who possesses the attribute of perfect living.

If we consider a human being’s life, we find it to be imperfect because it originates in non-existence and ends in death. It is also imperfect as far as a man’s attributes and actions are concerned. His hearing, sight, sayings, and actions are all imperfect. As such, a man’s life is imperfect. However, as for Allah The Most Mighty and Majestic, His life is perfect, preceded by neither nonexistence nor by coming to naught. Allah, The Most High, says:

قال الله تعالى: {كلُّ َمنْ عَلَيْهَا َفانٍ  وَيَبْقَى َوجهُ رَبِّكَ ذُو الجَلالِ والإ كرَام} الرحمن 26, 27

Whatsoever is on it (the earth) will perish, and the Face of your Rabb, full of Majesty and Honour, will remain forever.  

Surah ar-Rahman [55: 26-27].

The true extent of Allah’s perfection lies not only in the fact that creation will perish, but also in the endless existence of Allah, The Most Mighty and Most Majestic. In addition, Allah’s life is one which is accompanied by neither annihilation nor nonexistence. (1)

قال الله تعالى:{ كلُّ شيءٍ هالكُ إلاَّ وَ ْجهَه } القصص88

Everything will perish except His Face. Surah Al-Qasas [28:88].

و قال الله تعالى: { و توكل على الحي الذي لا يموت} الفرقان 58

And put your hopes and reliance in The Ever Living, Who will never die.  

Surah Al-Furqan [25:58].

Only Allah, The Ever Living, deserves to be worshipped. As for anyone alive now then they will perish and die. So how can one even think to worship something that is dead and cannot benefit itself or others anymore?

How can you put your hopes and your reliance in someone who will eventually die? Even during his life, he is weak in every way. In his strength, his knowledge, his wisdom, his seeing, his hearing, his will and his mercy. So put your reliance and your hopes in Allah, The Ever Living, Who will never die.

قال الله تعالى: {هو الحي لا إله إلا هو فادعوه مخلصين له الدين، الحمد لله رب العالمين} غافر 65

He is The Ever Living, laa ilaaha illaa Huwa (none has the right to be worshipped but He); so invoke Him, making your worship pure for Him Alone (by worshipping Him Alone and none else, by doing righteous deeds sincerely for Allah’s sake only, by not showing off, and by not setting up rivals with Him in worship). All praise and thanks be to Allah, The Lord of the ‘aalameen (mankind, jinn, and all that exists).

Surah Ghafir [40: 65]

Al-Qayyum:

The name Al-Qayyum means The One Who is established on His Own, The Self-Sustaining and

by Whom all things subsist.  He sustains, protects, prepares and runs the affairs of all things as He wills, in accordance with His knowledge, wisdom, and justice.

قال الله تعالى: { أفَمَن هُوَ قائمُ على كلِّ نفسٍ بما كسَبَت } الرعد،٣٣

Is then He (Allah) Who takes charge (guards, maintains, provides, etc.) of every person and knows all that he has earned (like any other deities who know nothing)? ِ

Surah Ar-Raʿd [13: 33]

قال الله تعالى: { وااللهُ غَنِي حَمِيدُ } التغابن،٦

And Allah is The Rich (free of all needs), Worthy of all praise.

Surah At-Taghabun [64: 6].

Allah is free of any need from all creation. He is Self-Sustaining. He needs neither food nor drink, for He is The One Who feeds but is not fed. He needs not a supporter, a helper, a deputy, or an advisor. He is established in perfection by Himself.  (2)

Allah is in no need of anyone or anything including even His Throne. Does Allah need his Throne? No, but the Throne needs Allah. Does Allah need the Angels who hold the Throne? No, but the Angels need Allah. Allah is The Self-Sufficient, The All-Rich.

قال الله تعالى: {و من ءايته أن تقوم السماء و الأرض بأمره} الروم 25

And among His signs is that the heaven and the earth stand by His command.  

Surah Ar-Rum [30: 25]

قال الله تعالى: { إن الله يمسك السماوات والأرض أن تزولا و لئن زالتا إن أمسكهما من أحد من بعده إنه كان حليما غفورا} فاطر 41

Indeed Allah holds the heavens and the earth from moving away from their places, and if they were to move away from their places, there is not one who can grasp them after Him. Truly He is The Most Forbearing, The Most Forgiving.  

Surah Fatir [35: 41]

The heaven and the earth exist and remain by His order and His will; Allah controls the entire creation.

قال الله تعالى:{أَفَمَنْ هُوَ قَائِمٌ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ نَفْسٍ بِمَا كَسَبَتْ ۗ وَجَعَلُوا لِلَّهِ شُرَكَاءَ قُلْ سَمُّوهُمْ } الرعد 33

Is then He (Allah) Who takes charge of every person and knows all that he has earned (like any other deities who know nothing)? Yet they ascribe partners to Allah. Say: “Name them! …”

Surah Ar-Raʿd [13:33]

Allah is the Sustainer of the heavens and the earth, yet they (polytheists) ascribed partners (in worship) to Him. So Allah challenged them, “Name your partners.”. This is an impossible challenge to meet. Can anyone name a partner to Allah who provides for you? Can this partner give life? Can he cure? Can he hold the heavens from falling? Is there (in reality) any partner with Allah that shares Allah’s attributes? Glorified is Allah, yet they invent rivals to Him and they prostrate to them and supplicate to them instead of Allah.

So, when we see this shirk (polytheistic worship) in others, we need remind ourselves that Allah has granted us the greatest bounty, which is that He guided us to Tawhid (to single out Allah with all forms of worship, so that you make all of your worship for Allah alone) and he guided us to the bounty of knowing our Lord, our Creator, Al-Hayy Al-Qayyum, The Only One worthy of being worshipped.

How we can worship Allah according to our understanding of His names:

It is very important to understand the meanings of Allah’s names in order to be able to praise Him with these names and to supplicate to Him with the names that are relevant to your needs or to what you are asking Allah for.

For example, when you ask for His forgiveness, you ask Him with His name “The All-Forgiving” (Al-Ghafoor) and when you need money, you ask Him by His name “The All-Provider” (Ar-Razzaq).

By understanding the meaning of Allah’s names Al-Hayy and Al-Qayyum, we will be able to supplicate to Him with our hearts, knowing why we are asking Allah by these specific names.

Whenever the Prophet, peace be upon him, faced any hardship, he used to supplicate Allah with these two names, as reported by Anas bin Maalik who said:

“كان النبي صلى الله عليه و سلم إذا كربه أمر قال: يا حي يا قيوم برحمتك أستغيث”

“Yaa Hayy,Yaa Qayyum, I take refuge in Your mercy.” (3)

Imam Ibn Al-Qayyim said:

His name Al-Hayy describes the attribute of life and includes all the perfect attributes of Allah’s Essence, example: hearing, seeing, and wisdom. His name “Al-Qayyum” includes all the perfect attributes of His actions, like creating, providing, curing, and aiding. So you should ask Allah with His names Al-Hayy Al-Qayyum to restore any weakness in your life back to their complete state, meaning any weakness in your health, sight or hearing. You should ask by these names to (for example) heal any pain which disrupts the completeness of your life and affects your abilities and actions, as well as to strengthen you.

(The fact that the people of Paradise will enjoy a perfect life free of illness, pain and weakness is a result of Allah’s names Al-Hayy Al-Qayyum).

As for the life of your heart, ponder on the supplication the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, used to make:

قال صلى الله عليه و سلم:

اللهم رب جبريل وميكائيل وإسرافيل فاطر السموات والأرض عالم الغيب والشهادة أنت تحكم بين عبادك فيما كانوا فيه يختلفون اهدني لما اختلف فيه من الحق بإذنك إنك تهدي من تشاء إلى صراط مستقيم

“O Allah, Lord of Jibril,Mikail and Israfil, orginator of the heavens and the earth, All-Knower of the seen and the unseen, You judge between Your slaves where they differed, guide me to the truth they differed in by Your will; You guide whomever You will to the correct path.” (4)

By which one of Allah’s attributes did the Prophet, peace be upon him, ask Him in this supplication? By the attribute of Life. He asked Him by His Lordship of the three honorable Angels whom Allah made responsible for the three types of lives:

The Angel Jibril was sent with the Revelation (the Quran) and this is the life of the hearts.

Mikail is responsible for the rain, which is the life of the land and the crops.

Israfil is responsible for blowing the Horn, this is the life of the Hereafter, when the souls are resurrected.

So, he asked Allah to guide him to the truth by His Lordship – Ar-Rububiyyah- of the three noble Angels made responsible for the three types of life,.

Accordingly, asking Allah by His names Al-Hayy Al-Qayyum has a great effect on His answering your supplications and obtaining relief from difficulty and hardship. (5)

Now we need to know how this name is related to the lives of our hearts. Does your heart need to be alive? Yes, it does. Our hearts need to be alive and the life of our heart is to know the truth about Allah and about the religion of Allah.

Each one of us needs a soul in his body and a soul in his heart in order to be alive. The soul of the body is needed physically so that we can move, eat, drink, walk, sleep and so forth. What about the soul of the heart? The heart will never be alive except when it knows about Allah.

قال الله تعالى: {أومن كان ميتا فاحييناه وجعلنا له نورا يمشي به في الناس كمن مثله في الظلمات ليس بخارج منها كذلك زين للكافرين ما كانوا يعملون} الأنعام 122

Is he who was dead (by ignorance and disbelief) and We gave him life (by knowledge and faith) and set for him a light (of belief) whereby he can walk amongst men,like him who is in the darkness (of disbelief, polytheism, and hypocrisy) from which he can never come out? Thus it is made fair-seeming to the disbelievers that which they used to do.

Surah Al-An’am [6: 122]

The first thing the heart needs in order to be alive is to know about Allah, our Creator. Just think about this example; a person who worships and prostrates to a cow, is his heart alive? Imagine worshipping a cow! There is no doubt such a heart is dead. Why is it dead? Because it does not see any truth nor does it comprehend, it does not know Who is worthy of being worshipped, loved, and submitted to.

Let us take these six easy to follow steps  below to bring life to our hearts:

The first step to make your heart alive is knowledge of Allah, His names and attributes and His orders and commands and the Quran. We need to ask Allah by His name Al-Hayy to grant us knowledge about Him and how to worship Him in the way which will please Him. We need to know what is right and what is wrong, the good deeds to perform and the bad deeds to abstain from. This is the first step.

The second step is will. You now have the knowledge, so what do you intend to do with this knowledge? Do you have the will to practice what you know? If yes, this will make your heart alive.

The third step is to perform good acts of worship, to obey Allah. Each act of worship you perform will bring life to your heart.

The fourth step is to be constantly in Allah’s remembrance. This remembrance is can occur by praising Allah, reciting the Quran or by refraining from the “haram” (the prohibited), because refraining from it means that your heart remembered Allah. This remembrance will bring life to your heart.

The fifth step to give life to your heart is to abandon sins. Try to keep away from any sin and any disobedience, because disobedience and sin affect the life of your heart, turning it black or putting a black stain on it.

The sixth step If you want your heart to be alive, clean and want to remove the blackness of sins, is to repent and ask Allah for forgiveness. Go back to Allah and repent, so this black stain on your heart is removed, and it will return to its pure and clean state again. (6)

One may ask, Are there any signs of a heart that is alive? Yes. If you commit a sin and you feel a pain or a pinch in your heart, congratulations! Your heart is alive. If the heart is dead or black, it will not feel the pain of regret.

So this feeling of pain after sinning is a bounty from Allah. If due to this feeling, you take the opportunity to repent immediately, your heart will be healthy, clean and tranquil again. However, if you ignore this feeling and insist on doing that bad action, you will be deprived of this light, deprived of the pinch of regret, and your heart will lose its life gradually.

If you take these six steps, you will have a healthy heart full of life. This heart will enable you to enjoy this life, because this heart now knows its way. You know the aim of your existence, the good from the bad, how to be patient and how to face hardship, knowing that Allah will reward you for each minute of pain you endure. This is a heart free of worries and full of hopes, fearing none except Allah.

Since ignorance and sin contradict the completeness of the life of the heart, you need to ask Allah, Al-Hayy Al-Qayyum, Who has the complete and perfect attribute of life, to complete the life of your heart by granting you knowledge about Him and by forgiving you in order to restore the life of your heart.

When you say “Yaa Hayy, Yaa Qayyum”, always try to ponder on the completeness, greatness, and perfection of Allah’s Life. Reflect also on the name “Al-Qayyum” and see how Allah provides and sustains us. Can you imagine that Allah is providing at this very moment for each and every element of all the creation, from adults to babies in the wombs of their mothers, insects, birds, creatures under the sea, angels in the heavens? There is not a moment except that He is providing for us all.

So we can now understand the greatness of these two names and what they entail of submission and humbleness towards Allah, Al-Hayy – Al-Qayyum?

قال الله تعالى: {و عنت الوجوه للحي القيوم و قد خاب من حمل ظلما} طه 111

And (all) faces shall be humbled before Allah, Al-Hayy Al-Qayyum (The Ever Living, The One Who sustains and protects all that exists). And he who carried a burden of wrongdoing (i.e. who disbelieved in Allah or ascribed partners to Him and did deeds of disobedience) will be indeed a complete failure on that Day.

Surah Ta-Ha [20: 111]

Anyone coming to Allah on the Day of Resurrection with injustice, his face will be submissive and humiliated to Allah, Al-Hayy Al-Qayyum, and surely he will be a loser.

And we ask Allah by His names Al-Hayy Al-Qayyum to make our hearts alive by knowing Him and to strengthen our weakness.

————————————————————————————————————————

1- Tafseer Aayatul-Kursi by Sheikh Ibn ’Uthaymeen, translated by Dr. Saalih As-Saalih)

2- Tafseer Aayatul-Kursi by Sheikh Ibn ’Uthaymeen, translated by Dr. Saalih As-Saalih)

3- Corrected by Imam Al-Albani, As-Silsilah As-Saheehah

4- Reported by Muslim

5- Zad al-Ma’ad by Imam Ibn Al-Qayyim

6- Main points from Madarij As-Saalikeen by Imam Ibn Al-Qayyim, with my explanation.

الودود

Al Wadood

The All-Loving

Al Wadood is a very special name which our hearts need to know and understand. It comes from the Arabic ‘Al-Wud’, which means the highest level of love; exclusive love.

Allah, “Al-Wadood” is The One Who endears Himself to His slaves by bestowing His innumerable divine favours upon them. Allah is Al-Wadood Who loves and Who is loved. Allah loves His true believers and when He loves them He fills their hearts with love for Him and when they love Him, He loves them even more as a reward for their love.(1)

قال الله تعالى: ( وَاسْتَغْفِرُوا رَبَّكُمْ ثُمَّ تُوبُوا إِلَيْهِ ۚ إِنَّ رَبِّي رَحِيمٌ وَدُودٌ) هود 90

And ask forgiveness of your Lord and turn unto Him in repentance. Verily, my Lord is Most Merciful (Ar-Raheem), Most Loving (Al-Wadood).

Surah Hud [11: 90]

This verse tells us about Prophet Shuaib, peace be upon him, at the time when he was calling his people to Tawhid. They were fighting against Allah’s religion and so he said to them that if they returned to Allah with repentance and seek His forgiveness they will find Allah merciful and loving.

Try to ponder on these two names of Allah which are mentioned in this verse, Ar-Raheem and Al-Wadood. As for humans, they can forgive another human who harms them in some way, but he might not love him again if the harm was painful to him. On the other hand, Allah is offering His mercy and love to the kuffar (disbelievers) whilst they not only denied His presence but also fought His Prophet. These divine attributes of perfect love and mercy belong only to Allah, because He is our creator, the All Merciful, the All Loving.

قال الله تعالى: {إِنَّهُ هُوَ يُبْدِئ وَيُعِيد وَهُوَ الْغَفُور الْوَدُود} البروج 13-14

Verily, He it is Who begins (punishment) and repeats (punishment in the Hereafter) (or originates the creation of everything, and then repeats it on the Day of Resurrection). And He is The Oft Forgiving, The Full of Love (towards the pious who are real true believers of Islamic Monotheism).

Surah Al-Buruj [85:13-14]

SubhanaAllah (Glory to Allah), look at how great this love is! Even if you were to sin or go astray from the path of Allah but then repent, Allah will accept you once again and not only will He forgive you, but He will love you again.

Allah, glorified and exalted is He, wants us to worship Him lovingly. And how do we know this? If we read the Quran we find that Allah is endearing Himself to us by telling us about His beautiful and perfect names and attributes. Allah tells us about His love, forgiveness, mercy, generosity, bestowing of favors, responding to our supplications and His appreciation for every good deed we make for His sake. Allah also tells us about the Paradise which He has prepared as a reward for His true believers.

Any pure and good heart will love Allah for His names, attributes and actions because the good and pure heart loves perfect and beautiful attributes and acts.

For example if someone is miserly, will your heart love him because of his attribute of miserliness? How about a coward; will your heart love him for his cowardice? No. Will your heart love a liar? What about an unappreciative person? Then what about someone who is not helpful or who has never cared about you; will you love him? The answer is no.

So the more you know about Allah’s names, attributes and actions, the more your heart will find itself loving Allah as Allah has the most beautiful of names and attributes.

Imam Nassir Ibn Saadi says:

The hearts are created to love what is beautiful and perfect and to Allah belongs complete perfection. So every attribute from His attributes has its own special effect upon our servitude and in inclining the hearts to its Lord. Allah endeared Himself to His slaves by His bounties and favors, by which He created them, provided for them, facilitated the means for their living and guided them to true belief and to be Muslims. (2)
Your heart is created to love the one who bestows favors on you and who treats you with goodness. So if someone showers you with favours, what will your heart feel towards him? Your heart will surely love him. But sadly most hearts do not recognize Who The True Bestower is. You can realize what your mother did for you but Who gave you this mother? Who put the love and mercy for you in her heart? Allah did! Only the heart that is alive and sound realises The True Bestower of favors and realises that Allah is The One Who deserves the utmost love.

Out of Allah’s love for His slaves, He is forbearing if His slave turns away from Him by disobeying Him and by violating His commands. Allah is forbearing towards him and will continue to provide for the disobedient slave with graces and provisions. If this slave is truly good hearted, Allah will put in his way reasons and reminders which will bring him back to Him. Allah will guide this sinful slave to repent and He will accept his repentance and will forgive him for the crimes he did and Allah will return His love to him again. (3)

Each and every one of us has had a moment in our lives when we had turned away from Allah, not doing what Allah had commanded us with. So reflect dear reader on how Allah brought us back to Him! He was forbearing with us; while we were disobeying Him He still provided for us, protected us and answered our supplications. He did not cut us off nor did He deprive us of our sight or limbs which we used to disobey Him with. No, Allah was forbearing; giving us chances to repent and return to Him. I believe all of us have had this experience and your heart needs to know and appreciate this. So reflect on how Allah treated you while you were away from Him in disobedience and heedlessness.

Allah does not need our obedience or worship, but Allah is pleased when a slave repents. We know this fact from an authentic hadith of the Prophet, peace be upon him, where he said:

“Verily, Allah is more pleased with the repentance of His slave than a person who has his camel in a waterless desert carrying his provision of food and drink and it is lost. He, having lost all hopes (to get that back), lies down in shade and is disappointed about his camel; when all of a sudden he finds that camel standing before him. He takes hold of its reins and then out of boundless joy blurts out: ‘O Allah, You are my slave and I am Your Rubb’. He commits this mistake out of extreme joy.” (4)

Now let’s think about why Allah is happy with our repentance? Allah is Al-Wadood, He loves His slaves and He loves to treat us with mercy and bestow His bounties and favors upon us. If we were to stray from His commands, this necessitates that Allah will treat us in a manner that is other than the way Allah loves to treat us with. That’s why when we repent to Him, Allah is pleased with this as it necessitates we are treated with the way He loves to treat His slaves.

Maybe you can understand this if you are a parent and you love to have mercy on your child and to give them rewards and gifts to make them happy. If your child is disobedient to you and keeps violating all your rules, this necessitates that you start punishing your child and depriving him of any gifts or rewards. Now while you are punishing your child, are you happy? No, because your love to your child makes you wish to have mercy on him and to please him, so when your child apologizes and asks for your forgiveness, you then return to treating him with the way your heart loves. Yet, Allah’s love and mercy to His slaves is more than our love for our children. Our Lord is Al-Wadood.

How can we worship Allah according to our understanding of His name Al-Wadood?

Love is the core of our worship to Allah. Yes, we fear Allah for His punishment and we have hope in Allah for His mercy, but first comes our love for Allah. This is because if your heart is filled with love for Allah, you then naturally exert your utmost effort, willingly and happily, to please Him because this is the way you act towards whom you love. This heart will not allow you to displease Allah by disobeying Him because any thought of disobeying Allah bring you pain and sorrow which your heart will not be able to tolerate. Your love for Allah will not allow anyone or anything to stand in your way of obedience to Him and of your path to achieve Allah’s love and pleasure. The heart is truly a king, ruling over our limbs.

If we love Allah, then no doubt we will enjoy each and every act of worship and goodness we do for Allah’s sake. In turn Allah loves this and He loves to be worshipped and obeyed lovingly.

If our hearts are filled with love for Allah, each and every love in our life has to be following and according to this love, meaning we love those whom Allah loves and we hate whom Allah hates. This is because Allah is more beloved to us than even our own selves.

If you truly love Allah your concern will be to try to find out how to please Him in each and every way. You will try to act according to what pleases Allah in your manners, the way you treat people, the way you dress, the way you talk, the way you spend your money and the way you deal with any hardship. You will consider every situation a chance to show Allah that you love Him and you will have only one question you will be asking yourself, ‘is Allah pleased with my actions’?

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِيْنَ آمَنُوْا مَنْ يَرْتَدَّ مِنْكُمْ عَنْ دِيْنِهِ فَسَوْفَ يَأْتِي اللهُ بِقَوْمٍ يُحِبُّهُمْ وَيُحِبُّوْنَهُ أَذِلَّةٍ عَلَى الْمُؤْمِنِيْنَ أَعِزَّةٍ عَلَى الْكَافِرِيْنَ يُجَاهِدُوْنَ فِيْ سَبِيْلِ اللهِ وَلاَ يَخَافُوْنَ}

لَوْمَةَ لاَئِمٍ ذَلِكَ فَضْلُ اللهِ يُؤْتِيْهِ مَنْ يَشَاءُ وَاللهُ وَاسِعٌ عَلِيْمٌ} المائدة 54

O you who believe! Whoever from among you turns back from his religion (Islam), Allah will bring a people whom He will love and they will love Him; humble towards the believers, stern towards the disbelievers, fighting in the way of Allah, and never afraid of the blame of the blamers. That is the grace of Allah which He bestows on whom He wills. And Allah is All Sufficient for His creatures’ needs, All Knower.

Surah Al-Maidah [5: 54]

When we read this verse we should feel an urge to be from those whom Allah loves and we should be inspired to seek His love. This verse tells us about some of the great attributes which Allah loves We also have a beautiful qudsi hadith (Note: A qudsi hadith is Allah’s words narrated by the Prophet, peace be on him, and is not recited like the Quran) :

((قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهم عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ: إِنَّ اللَّهَ قَالَ مَنْ عَادَى لِي وَلِيًّا فَقَدْ آذَنْتُهُ بِالْحَرْبِ وَمَا تَقَرَّبَ إِلَيَّ عَبْدِي بِشَيْءٍ أَحَبَّ إِلَيَّ مِمَّا افْتَرَضْتُ عَلَيْهِ وَمَا يَزَالُ عَبْدِي يَتَقَرَّبُ إِلَيَّ بِالنَّوَافِلِ حَتَّى أُحِبَّهُ فَإِذَا أَحْبَبْتُهُ كُنْتُ سَمْعَهُ الَّذِي يَسْمَعُ بِهِ وَبَصَرَهُ الَّذِي يُبْصِرُ بِهِ وَيَدَهُ الَّتِي يَبْطِشُ بِهَا وَرِجْلَهُ الَّتِي يَمْشِي بِهَا وَإِنْ سَأَلَنِي لَأُعْطِيَنَّهُ وَلَئِنِ اسْتَعَاذَنِي لَأُعِيذَنَّهُ وَمَا تَرَدَّدْتُ عَنْ شَيْءٍ أَنَا فَاعِلُهُ تَرَدُّدِي عَنْ نَفْسِ الْمُؤْمِنِ يَكْرَهُ الْمَوْتَ وَأَنَا أَكْرَهُ مَسَاءَتَهُ ))

Allah The Almighty has said: “Whoever shows enmity to my true pious believer, I shall be at war with him. My servant does not draw near to Me with anything more loved by Me than the religious duties I have imposed upon him. And My servant continues to draw near to Me with nawafil (optional prayers, fasting, charity and good actions) so that I shall love him. When I love him I am his hearing with which he hears, his seeing with which he sees, his hand with which he strikes and his foot with which he walks. Were he to ask [something] of Me, I would surely give it to him and were he to ask Me for refuge, I would surely grant him it. (5)

If you fulfil what Allah obligates on you and try to please Allah by doing all what pleases Him (even if it is not obligated), you will attain His love. And what happens when Allah loves you? You will have His protection and His guidance in all your actions. If you ask of Him, He will answer you and if you seek His protection He will give you refuge. Allah Who owns and controls the entire creation and will protect you and guide you.

A Scholar said: It is not enough that you love Allah, the true important matter is that Allah loves you. Many people make a claim that they love Allah, but Allah has told us whom from these claimants are truthful in their love to Allah and thus Allah loves them in turn. We have this verse in Surah Al-Imran, Scholars call it the verse of the trial:

قُلْ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ تُحِبُّونَ اللَّهَ فَاتَّبِعُونِي يُحْبِبْكُمُ اللَّهُ وَيَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ ذُنُوبَكُمْ ۗ وَاللَّهُ غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ} ال عمران 31}

Say (O Muhammad to mankind): “If you (really) love Allah then follow me (i.e. accept Islamic Monotheism, follow the Quran and the Sunnah), Allah will love you and forgive you of your sins. And Allah is Oft Forgiving, Most Merciful.”

Surah Al-Imran [3: 31]

Now do you really want to know if Allah loves you or not? Stop and think about the following. Are you following the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, in his belief and creed and do you respect and follow his commandments. Do you perform acts of worship according to his Sunnah (following the way of the Prophet peace be upon him)? Have you taken the time to read his biography to learn about his ways and manners in order to take him as your example, knowing that his way is the mostly beloved to Allah? If the answer is yes, then you do love Allah and this is a glad tiding that Allah loves you.

Imam Ibn Al-Qayyim says:

Of the most unbelievable realities is that you know Allah, yet still do not truly love Him; and that you hear His caller (i.e.The Prophet, peace be upon him), but still do not respond to him; and that you are aware of how profitable it is to deal with Him, yet you choose to deal with other than Him; and that you are cognisant of the power of His anger, yet are still blind to it; and that you taste the pain of being cut off from Him as you sin, but still do not find comfort in worshipping Him… But even more unbelievable than all of that is that you know you need Him and cannot do without His help, yet still you turn away, and busy yourself in that which distances you from Him.(6)
قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم: ” اللَّهُمَّ إِنِّي أَسْأَلُكَ حُبَّكَ وَحُبَّ مَنْ يُحِبُّكَ وَحُبَّ عَمَلٍ يُقَرِّبُنِي إِلَى حُبِّكَ ”

The Prophet, peace be upon him, used to say:

“O Allah, I ask You for Your love, and the love of whoever loves You, and the love of deeds that will bring me closer to Your love”. (7)

1- Imam As-Sa’di – Explanation of Allah names

2- Imam As-Sa’di – Fath Ar-Raheem Al-Malik Al-‘Alam

3- Imam As-Sa’di– Fath Ar-Raheem Al-Malik Al-‘Alam

4- Reported by Al-Bukhari

5- Reported by Al-Bukhari

6- Imam Ibn Al-Qayyim – Al-Fawaid Book

7- Reported by Imam Ahmad and At-Tirmidhi