.اَللهُ لَآ إِلٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ لَهُ الْأَسْمَآءُ الْحُسْنَىٰ
.اَللهُ لَآ إِلٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ لَهُ الْأَسْمَآءُ الْحُسْنَىٰ
Ilm ul Asmaa
The Ilm of Names which Allah bestowed is the reason that made Adam (A.S) superior to Malaika (angels)
Let’s Learn more about our Loving and Nurturing Creator’s Names, with all our respect and love.
References:
المقصد الأسنى في شرح معاني أسماء الله الحسنى
أبو حامد الغزالي
Explanation to the Beautiful and Perfect Names of ALLAH, Extracted from Taysir al Karim al Rahman
النور الأسنى في شرح أسماء الله الحُسْنَى
الشيخ أمين بن الحسن الأنصاري
فِقْهُ أسماء الحُسْنَى
عبدالرَّزاق بن عبدالمحسن البدر
Dhul Jalal wal Ikram - the Rab of Majesty and Generosity
Our Rab is the origin of majesty and honorable generosity. This is an honorable favor of our Rab of Glory and Ikram for He gave us honor as His servants and took care of us in this life.
وَلَقَدْ كَرَّمْنَا بَنِي آدَمَ وَحَمَلْنَاهُمْ فِي الْبَرِّ وَالْبَحْرِ
The Human share is about recognizing our majestic Rab and the realization of keeping Him supreme.
The supreme status of ALLAH means keeping Him first in taking guidance about making all the small and big decisions in life.
This extends from small daily decisions like speaking the truth, behaving well with others, and being honest in our personal & professional tasks. It goes up to the bigger decisions like choosing a career, people, and environment for ourselves.
Malik al-Mulk - Absolute King of the Kingdom
Malik Al Mulk is the Owner and the King of the whole of His kingdom. His kingdom has no borders and boundaries but it includes exclusively whatever is in existence. His kingdom includes as we read in the Quran وَسِعَكُرْسِيُّهُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ His Kursi extends over the heavens and the earth.
ALLAH is the King of Absolute Sovereignty, who is fully authorized to give and take power and superiority to whom He wills.
The kingdom primarily given to humans are their own bodies and the best part of which is the heart. Whose heart belongs to ALLAH and is conscious of His pleasure will ultimately be able to correct his own kingdom.
After heart, the important assistant in our kingdom is our brain. The humans who understand the perfect power of the Rab will seek His help in correcting themselves and then the others around them. For this purpose, we need to intelligently identify our Rab, ourselves, and our capacities as His servants. ALLAH has given each one of us unique talents to identify, use them well, and play our part in this world.
Ar Ra’uf - The Ever Compassionate
Ar Ra’uf is the One who is: Full of Kindness Always and ever Compassionate, who possesses pity, defined as “an intensification of mercy”.
The human share in this name is feeling the true essence of ALLAH’s kindness covering us from all sides. He is extremely merciful for believers. The biggest of all blessings is the blessing of faith.
We cannot give Him back in any way but just by trying to obey Him and aiming purely for His pleasure in all our tasks, choices, and decisions. In addition, This name insists us to be compassionate and kind to other fellow humans. The least we can do is to keep good emotions for all Muslims and always pray for Muslims wherever they are.
Al Afu - The Eraser of Sins
ALLAH Al Afu is our Rab who forgives us. He not only forgives but on our asking, He erases our sins. When we do good acts to balance the dark effects of our sins, Al Afu even replaces our bad deeds with good ones. SubhanALLAH, there is no limit to His mercy and generosity.
The human share in this name has two obvious sides.
One is about asking ALLAH for goodness and His kindness.
The other side is forgiveness towards people for the sake of ALLAH. It is very much appreciated. This will give us the sweetness of reward twice. One is the pleasure of ALLAH's love and the second is about strong and respectful relationships which are not possible without kindness
At Tawwab - The Acceptor of Repentance
At Tawwab is the One who forgives again and again on returning to Him. He guides us after our mistakes to return and repent. Then He accepts our tawba and helps us to bring ourselves out of the longer-lasting cycles of guilt.
He is extremely kind to cover us with His Rahmah and comfort our hearts with peace after the guilt, sorrow, and shame.
He likes to see us repenting and returning to Him with honest hearts and then continue going forward in our lives. He is the only King who is ready to accept us without any delay just for our sincerity.
The human share in this name is making efforts to follow our Rab in being kind and forgiving with an open heart. To overlook, ignore, forgive, and forget the mistakes and misbehaviors of others around us in the hope of ALLAH’s kindness to us and them.
Al Barr - The (Doer of) Good
Al Barr is a beautiful name of ALLAH among all His beautiful names. Al Barr is the One from whose essence the goodness originated. Barr simply means righteousness. But when we say " Al Barr" He is the origin and the center of all the goodness.
Al Barr is the One who does everything to the highest perfection of ihsaan in favor of His creatures, where the ihsaan is the doing good at its best.
Al Barr is our most kind and loving Rab, who waits and welcomes everyone, even the return of sinners and wrongdoers to Him, although His being free from all need. He again and again forgives and blesses all of us.
The human share of Al Barr is achieving faith and making sincere efforts to achieve goodness in our actions. This is a continuous process and efforts are needed lifelong. There are failures, drop down, and pushing back times but we need to continue our journey to achieve maximum good until we are alive.
Al Muta'ali - The Beyond High
Al Muta'ali is the One supreme in His Highness. He is way beyond everyone in His exalted nature, above every description and all the words of praise.
He is the One, higher than everything in His kingdom by His power of control and way above everyone for “His perfections”: the only One free from shortcomings and mistakes but perfect in all His qualities and actions.
The human share in this name is to surrender and submit with full heart to our most High Rab for His commands and His decisions. Whether they seem to be good or not so good at that time, we need to believe that He knows the best and He does the best for us.
The goal and focus of each of our intentions is to please ALLAH and to be nearer to Him. It is important to be conscious and consistent about this goal so that whenever we lose the way and make mistakes, we get the benefit of returning to Him without delay.
Al Waali - The Governing Guardian
Al Waali is our Creator who manages all our matters and is responsible for implementing His plans and decisions to create an organized system in life. He is in total control. His commands have to be fulfilled. His decisions are final.
Al Wali الولي and Al Waali الوالي are from the same root of و ل ي yet they show us two different aspects of ALLAH subhanahu wa ta’ala. It is interesting to know both as both are equally important in our practical life.
Al Waali is our Creator who manages all our matters and is responsible for implementing His plans and decisions to create an organized system in life. He is in total control. His commands have to be fulfilled. His decisions are final.
Al Wali الولي and Al Waali الوالي are from the same root of و ل ي yet they show us two different aspects of ALLAH subhanahu wa ta’ala. It is interesting to know both as both are equally important in our practical life.
Human share in this name is twofold.
1- Understanding that ALLAH is our life's sole planner and governing power. We need to submit in front of Him
2- Not only does He have authority and ownership over us but also He is the owner of our capabilities and talents. Every one of us has a unique capacity and accordingly, Al Waali distributed the responsibilities. It is time to understand & value our individually chosen roles and, be true to them.
Al Batin - The Hidden
Al Batin is the One who is Hidden. He is hidden in each one of His creations for His beauty and perfection of creativity. Al Batin also has a meaning of being innermost. It is considered as the opposite of Ad Dahir.
As we know the ظاهر is derived from ظ ه ر which is the back. It is on the outer side of the body. On the other hand, باطن is derived from ب ط ن which is a word in Arabic for the belly.
The belly is part of the body that carries the internal organs and it is the hidden foundation for nourishment, strength, and growth for the whole body.
Likewise, the innermost hidden source of strength, motivation, and support that never leaves us alone is the presence of our Rab, which is hidden yet the most powerful & reliable for all who rely upon Him.
Human share in this name is the focus of our lives and that is the day we will finally see our Rab. Many ayaat and ahadith prove that believers will see their Rab on the Day of Qiyamah and onwards in Jannah. So that final success will qualify us to see our Rab. Each day in this life we may make our best efforts to prove ourselves successful to see our Rab in His pleasure.
Ad Dahir - The Dominant
Ad Dahir is the One who is absolutely dominant over everything. He has this unique characteristic to be apparent without having any physical appearance, in His creatures and His actions.
Ad Dahir is the sound and strong support system for all believers, as our backbone supports us to stay straight and strong. ظاهر is derived from the root of ظ ه ر which is the word used for back. May He be glorified and praised, He gives support to whomever He wills to be successful.
The human share in this powerful name is doing our continuous efforts, to receive the strength from Ad Dahir. For that, we need to correct and improve ourselves every day. We need to learn what is good and liked by ALLAH to include in our lives. Also to leave what is non-rewarding and not liked by our Rab, to get successful.
Al Awwal - The First One
Al Awwal is the One who is " The First". He is the origin of the universe and everything in it. He is the starting point of each and everything and He Himself does not have any starting point. There is no such time when He was not there.
He was not created by anyone but everyone else without any exception is invented, designed, created, and recreated by Him. His all qualities and His glory are the most superior, Highest, and at the First place.
The human share in this name is to keep ALLAH in the first place in our life in every matter, every task, and every thought. It is by doing every work and every role assigned by Him as He advised us in the best way and only focusing on His pleasure.
Al Muakhir - The Delaying Authority
Al Muakhir is the One who can delay or postpone the matters that He wills and make them happen later, in His own perfect timings. It is considered as an opposite to the Name of Al Muqaddim. So Al Muqaddim is the Rab who has the authority to promote and Al Muakhir on the other side is our Magnificent Rab who has the authority to delay.
This name has two distinct sides. Al Muakhir is the One who can delay certain matters until the time He decides. The other meaning is about pushing people behind from getting ahead. He does it for those who don't accept the words of ALLAH on repeated invitations and choose to live in darkness by their own choice.
The human share in this majestic name is about developing patience and understanding for ALLAH's written delays. Also to understand how we can prevent ourselves from being the pushed back people and make efforts to keep us in the forwarded ones.
Al Muqaddim - The Promoter
Al Muqaddim is the One who brings forward and promotes His slaves to real success.
ALLAH Al Muqaddim is our Majestic Rab who knows accurately who deserves which place in life and also the place with Him on the final day.
The human share in this Majestic Name of ALLAH is putting sincere efforts in the correct direction to get a place closer to ALLAH subhanahu wa ta’ala.
Al Muqtadir - The All-Determiner
Al Muqtadir" is the One who determines everyone’s fate and decides about every single step of the pathway of life, for us. No reason can change His decisions other than if He agrees to change or if He kindly blesses us to accept our prayers. The Qadr of ALLAH once decided can never with delayed or denied.
The human share in this name is submitting to His Majestic glory, controlling power, and total authority. When we submit ourselves in front of Him and try to do everything as He wants us to do, He will bless us one great day with endless success and beautiful return. His justice is without any fault. His promise is the most true one. May ALLAH help us to be in those who ALLAH will decide as successful. Aameen.
Al Qadir - The All Able
Al Qadir is the One who has all the ability to control and authority to decide what will happen and what will not happen. He is the One who possesses power.
Qadir is the doer noun اسم الفاعل form of root Qdr ق د ر.
Qadr is our accurately measured and written share in life that cannot be changed or moved. It is a fixed decision from ALLAH.
Al Qadir is our Rab, the only One who can control, decide, and implement Qadr.
The Human share in Al Qadir is acceptance of His qadr and the supremacy of His decisions as the biggest fact of our lives. Life is all about staying happy and satisfied with what Al Qadir wrote in our lives and what He did not write.
As Samad - The EverLasting Support
As Samad is the One who supports and strengthens without any demand of return. His system of support is consistently working and there is no discontinuity, no low times, no break times, and no end.
As Samad is the One we can rely upon and depend on without giving this idea a second thought. He is always there, always the most strong, and is always sufficient for us. SubhanALLAH.
Another great aspect of As Samad is He is the center of focus for all who are seeking. He is being called by countless hearts and tongues every moment and despite not having any need for anything or anyone, He listens, He fulfills and He shows all His kindness.
The human share in this majestic name is about getting dependent on As Samad after doing our end’s efforts, as He is the One who is self-sufficient and independent.
Al Wahid - The (Unique) One
Al Wahid is "the One" and "the Unique". He is the One who has absolute Unity. His Oneness is the same from always to forever.
Al Wahid is the core and origin of this world and whatever is in it. He is the One Creator, One Owner, and One Rab without any space of sharing or division.
For His all perfection and uniqueness, He deserves to be worshipped and to be obeyed. He deserves the topmost place in our lives. It is essential to continue reminding ourselves to keep Al Wahid above every other one and every other thing in life. To keep Him above our egos and pride. The honor and pride of an abd (servant of ALLAH) only lie in humbling in front of ALLAH and remaining obedient.
Al Wajid - The (Absolutely) Resourceful
Al Wajid is the One who has all the resources. He finds without searching what He wills. There is nothing said as a missing item for Him. He is the only fully resourceful Authority.
ALLAH - Al Wajid tests the humans He has created and decides who is better in the action.
Al Wajid blesses us with whatever He finds missing in our lives when He likes to fill that gap.
The human share in this name is to be reminded that we cannot find a helping sincere friend and protector other than Him. ALLAH is our Wali in this world and the next one. Let us try our best to be in a way that He may find and write us among His loving and obedient servants.
Learning point from Ayat
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