Names of Allah As Salam 5 th Feb 2017 8 Jamad Al Awwal, 1438 A.H.
The Names of Allah As Salam Knowing Allah is the greatest delight. Remembering Allah makes you at rest. The most noble knowledge is knowledge about Allah. The Quran is made of three parts: Commandments and Prohibitions News about Allah His names, attributes, actions, aqeedah, etc Stories of the previous nations, promises, warnings and threats of Allah Surah Al Ikhlas is one third of the Quran because it talks only about Allah. Allah is One and He is Samad, He does not beget nor is He begotten, and there is no comparable equal to Allah The most important knowledge is knowledge about Allah. Allah created us for the purpose of knowing Him until the last moment, even in our graves we will be asked about Who is your Rabb? What is your deen? Who is your prophet?. How.(جل جلاله) much taqwa and belief you have is your rank with Allah Surah Al Hashr Ayah 21-24 PAGE 1
Here Allah tells us that had the quran been revealed on the mountain then it would have humbled itself and crushed out of fear of Allah. so shouldn t this Quran have this effect on humans? In the next Ayah Allah introduces his noble self to us. There is no one deserved to be worshipped but Him, Allah is knower of the Seen and Unseen. He is the most merciful. He s the Creator and He s the One Who brings everything into existence from nothing, He brings form to everything. To Him belongs all the Most Beautiful Names. He is the All-Mighty, the All-Wise. Why does the Quran have effect on the mountains? This is because Quran is full of knowledge about Allah. Surah Al Raad, Ayah 31 If the Quran is subjected to the mountain then the mountain would move, if it is recited to the earth then it would cloven asunder, and if it were recited to the dead, the dead would speak. This is the effect of the quran on the lifeless things. So for sure it should have an effect on the human being and make him humble. Hadith Narrated Jabir bin `Abdullah (ra): The Prophet used to stand by a tree or a datepalm on Friday. Then an Ansari woman or man said. "O Allah's Messenger! Shall we make a pulpit for you?" He replied, "If you wish." So they made a pulpit for him and when it was Friday, he proceeded towards the pulpit (for delivering the sermon). The datepalm cried like a child! The Prophet descended (the pulpit) and embraced it while it continued moaning like a child being quietened. The Prophet said, "It was crying PAGE 2
for (missing) what it used to hear of religious knowledge given near to it.") - Sahih al- Bukhari 3584 We have to think and ponder that why are we reading the Quran and there s no effect on our heart. The Quran has an effect on the mountains and dead, so what s wrong with us? We need to contemplate the Quran. Sheikh As Sa ady may Allah have mercy on him said contemplating the Quran will open goodness for the person, encourage good conduct and keep him away from evil conduct. Nothing is more beneficial for the slave than contemplating the Quran and thinking about its meanings. When you do Tadabur ul Quaran i.e. contemplate and reflect on the meaning then it will have effect on us. We will have khushuh in our prayer and it will encourage good conduct and discourage bad conduct. As Salam The name As Salam is mentioned once in the Quran in Surah Hashr. In order to understand the name As Salam we need to understand the name Al Malik and Al Qudoos. Al Malik PAGE 3
Al Malik means The one who judges but does not possess. Al Maalik means the The one who possesses but does not judge Everyone in Allah s dominion needs Allah. At the end of the world everything goes back to Allah. Allah is the true owner of everything. Allah is the King who judges. Allah is the judge whose command is executed. Noone can repell the command of Allah. There are three types of commands of Allah. All of Allah s commands are full of wisdom. 1. Allah commands with legal commands. 2. Allah commands with decreed commands 3. Allah commands with recompenses Al Quddos: Allah is pure and free of any defects, weakness (sleep, forgetfulness, etc), fatigue or incapacity. The Human being has good attributes and bad attributes however Allah is Perfect and there is no deficiency in Him. Allah is free of all resemblance to the creation. Allah is self sufficient and is not in need of anything. As Salam: First meaning As Salam is similar to Al Quddos as it means Allah is free from any defect or shortcoming that lessen or diminish His Perfect Attributes and actions. Allah s actions are free from oppression, injustice or void of wisdom. Allah s actions are full of wisdom. We have to believe that there is hikmah in all the decrees in our life. When we submit to the decree of Allah then He will show us the wisdom at a later stage. We have to believe that all Allah s actions are Salaam. Allah is salam from having a partner and a spouse. Allah s attributes are free of any defect and shortcomings. The good characteristics of the humans are defective e.g. no matter how much one is generous or kind, it will be defective as we cannot be generous to everyone. However all the attributes of Allah are free from defects. Second meaning The one who greets His servants in Jannah PAGE 4
Allah tells us in Surah Yaseen (36:58) Second meaning As Salam The one who grants security to his servants PAGE 5
Evidence - Surah Nahl: Ayah 78 Here Allah is telling us that we need to know our origin. Allah brought us out from the wombs of our mother and we did not know anything. No one was born with knowledge. People are ungrateful, as they do not know their reality. Then Allah tells us he favored us by giving us the hearing, seeing and the heart as a means for our learning. We survive in this life with knowledge. What we learn from our eyes and ears goes to the heart, which is the container for our knowledge. Then Allah says he bestowed these favors on us in order for us to be grateful. Allah wants us to be grateful PAGE 6
Evidence - Surah Insaan: Ayah 3 Allah is saying in this life people are divided into two sections. 1. Grateful 2. Ungrateful Allah guides us and gives us all the means to be grateful and the human being is either grateful or ungrateful. We need to be like the bee that sees the good and produce good (honey) and not like the fly that sees only the dirt and trash. If we are grateful then what has Allah promised us? This is mentioned in the following Ayah in Surah Ibrahim PAGE 7
Evidence - Surah Ibrahim: Ayah 7 Here we are told about the virtues of Gratitude. Allah is saying Remember (O Mohammed (SAW)) when your lord proclaimed that if you are grateful then surely Allah will increase you. Allah will give us increment and blessings in our time, in our health and everything in our life. The scholars say that with gratitude we can trap the blessings e.g. if we don t want our health to be taken away we should be grateful. We will not only trap it but also increase it. Gratitude is a way of increment. Then Allah tells us that for the ungrateful person, His punishment is severe. How can we be grateful in the month of Ramadan? 1. We need to be grateful because Allah gave us the month of Ramadan with so many opportunities. 2. We need to be grateful that the opportunities in Ramadan are for everyone. The opportunity of Ramadan is not restricted to only certain people but it is open invitation for all. PAGE 8
3. We need to thank Allah that He removed so many obstacles that we find in the 11 months. The obstacles are the chaining of the Devils (Shaitaan) and closing the gates of Hell. 4. The Prophet SAW said, Fasting is like a Shield. It is a fortress from the Hellfire. We need to be grateful to Allah because of this shield. 5. Allah gave us an acceptable supplication before we break our fast everyday The supplication that we make just before we break the fast will not be rejected. We need to thank Allah that He gave us an acceptable invocation. 6. We need to thank Allah that He made the angels to make Istighfar for the fasting people till they break the fast (throughout the fast from fajr to sunset), 7. Allah will free some servants from Hell fire everyday in the month of Ramadan. We need to be grateful that everyday in Ramadan we have opportunity to be freed from hellfire. Ramadan The Garden of Fasting PAGE 9
One of the essential and most important worship (Ibadah) in Ramadan is fasting. The Prophet SAW said the religion is built on five pillars. Fasting is one of the pillars of Islam. Levels of Fasting: There are three different levels of fasting. Level 1 General Fasting The majority of the people abstain from food from dawn to sunset. This is General Fasting. Level 2 Upgraded Fasting This type of fasting does not only include abstaining from food and drink but also includes fasting from sins. This means stopping backbiting, slandering, lying and committing any kinds of sin. The Prophet SAW said if a fasting person is not stopping his mouth from backbiting, slandering and insulting people then Allah does not need his fast. It is better for such a person to eat and drink. Level 3 Top-level Fasting The third level of fast is fasting of the heart. This means during our fast we are busy thinking of no one but Allah. We need to fast from thinking about anyone else but Allah. From dawn to sunset we need to gather our thoughts and heart to not think about anything but Allah. Our life and our actions should revolve around Allah. We need to stop being busy with anything but Allah. Our heart is occupied with so many concerns; what our life revolves around is what we think about the most. We need to stop indulging in the distractions of the Duniya during Ramadan. Fasting is not only about abstaining from food and drink. We need to fast such that our heart is thinking about no one but Allah. We need to struggle and strive to reach this stage. Allah loves us and He is stretching his hand for us. Allah loves us when we speak and make supplication (Dua) to him. Allah gave us the opportunity in Ramadan to do good deeds so we enter Paradise and we become better than angels. Hadith of the Prophet SAW PAGE 10
The people asked Prophet SAW Who among the fasting people would have the greatest reward? The Prophet SAW replied The one who remembers Allah more during his fast will have the best reward What are the virtues of Fasting in the month of Ramadan? Hadith of the Prophet SAW The Prophet SAW said the one who fast the month of Ramadan with the following two condition, Allah will expiate all his sins. 1. Belief in Allah 2. Hoping the reward We need to have these two things in our heart. This is to help us focus to do all our deeds for Allah alone. PAGE 11
Hadith of the Prophet SAW The Prophet SAW said every deed of the son of Adam would be multiplied except the fast. Any good deeds that a believer does will be multiplied by 10 to 700 except for fast there is no multiplication. The fast is for Allah and He will reward for the fast. This is because the one who is fasting is leaving his desire, his food and drink for the sake of Allah. The fast is the only worship (Ibadah) that no one will take from us on the day of the judgment. On the Day of Judgment we will have to settle the scores with anyone we have wronged in the Duniya by giving away our good deeds but no one can take our fast and nullify it. PAGE 12
Hadith of the Prophet SAW Paradise has eight gates and one of the gates has the name Ar-Rayyan. This is the gate for the fasting people. Anyone who fasts will have the privilege to enter from the gate Ar-Rayyan. Allah made this special gate for the fasting people. On the Day of Judgment only the fasting people will enter through his door. When they have entered then this gate will be closed To be contd The person will realize at the moment of death that he didn t make use of his life PAGE 13