Ammar Alshukry – Allahs Beautiful Names #16 What is the Greatest Name of Allah
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The speaker explains that Islam is the name of the person who is commonly pronounced in Arabic and is the one with all the attributes that make him deserving of being worshiped. The greatest name of Islam is the one who is worshiped and is the one who has all the attributes that make him deserving of being worshiped. The speaker discusses the importance of the name and how it is used to indicate the greatest name, as it is not just a token of his success or failure, but a fruit of his journey. The speaker also discusses various positions and positions in which Allah is used, including his praise for the great name and the importance of his presence in the heart.
AI: Summary ©
Allah is the most oft repeated name in
the Quran and Sunnah, appearing in the Quran
some 2,724
times. It is pronounced a double l, exhale
with love,
Allah.
It's the name that's made up of all
light letters. So that it can be pronounced
easily
by a child or a person who's foreign
to the Arabic tongue. Allah. Allah is the
Lord that is loved by our hearts and
whose solace is found in remembering
him and the one who people long for.
He's the grandiose in his essence, in his
attributes.
He's unimaginable. He's incomparable,
uncomprehendable.
He is the first and the last. Allah
is the lord that is worshiped, who the
believers give their hearts to and who they
worship. Allah is the name that is the
default. Every other name is a description of
Allah. So you say is one of the
names of Allah. You don't say that Allah
is one of the names of Al Rahman.
You say that Allah has 99 names. You
say
to Allah belong the most beautiful names. It's
a name also that's not shared with anyone.
He's the only one who ever had that
name. So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
says, do you know anyone else who has
that name? So what does the name Allah
mean? You know, the scholars discuss whether it's
derived or not derived, whether it's mushtaq or.
And what derived means is that, you know,
sometimes you'll meet somebody
and you'll say, what does your name mean?
And if it's non derived, they'll say, it
doesn't mean anything. It's just my name.
But sometimes a person will tell you, no.
My name means this or my name means
that. It's derived from another meaning. And so
the names of Allah are derived. Rahman comes
from Rahim, the womb as Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala says. But the name Allah, is it
derived from anything? So you have 2 camps.
One says that it is derived and some
say that it's not derived. So those who
say that it's not derived, they say that
Allah
it's his name. It's just like that. And
they have a number of evidences. Of the
evidences that they use is that in other
Semitic languages, a similar name is used. Elohim,
Ilaha, Aloha, indicating that this is a name
that's not derived from an Arabic word. It
is his name. And there are other evidences
that they use that the aliflam is not
something that's additional to the name. It is
part of the name. So for example, you
say you Rahman, you remove the aliflam. You
say, you kadr, you remove the aliflam. You
don't say al kadr. But when you say,
you Allah, it is like it is. It
doesn't move, it doesn't change. Right? It's indicating
that it's not derived. And there is of
course the other position that Allah is derived.
What is it derived from? Is it derived
from? Is it derived from
the idea of being worshiped? Is it derived
from which
means the one who is loved or the
one who is bewildering. People are bewildered by
Allah
No one can comprehend
Allah
perfectly, completely.
In any case,
every other name comes from Allah and so
if Allah is the one who is worshiped,
then he is the lord of perfect attributes.
This means that every other name is an
extension of the name Allah. Every other name
follows the name Allah. Because for him to
be the one who is worshiped, it must
mean that he is the one he is
the lord of perfect attributes. And so every
other name follows this name. Sheikh Saadi
says, Allah is the god that is worshiped.
He is the deity that has all of
the attributes that make him deserving of being
worshiped. He is the one whose hearts do
not acquire tranquility
except with him, and minds are not illuminated
except by knowing him. And he is the
one that people don't flee to in despair
and fear except to him. He's the one
who people don't find solace except in and
who people never tire of worshiping. And Imam
Al Portibi says, and this name is the
most grandiose of his names and the most
comprehensive of them. So much so that scholars
consider it to be the greatest name. And
that brings up another discussion, which is what
is the greatest name of Allah? Is there
a greatest name of Allah? Where do we
find this concept in the first place that
Allah
has a name that is the greatest name
that a is referring to comes in 4
hadith of the prophet
The first one is the hadith of Abu
Umama, the prophet
he said that
Allah greatest name is
It's in 3 chapters of the Quran. Al
Baqarah and Adi Imran and Taha. And this
hadith is reported by Ibn Maja and others.
And so this hadith
is the first. And the second one is
the hadith of Anas. He says that the
prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam saw a man who
was making dua after his salah and he
said,
So this man is making du'a with all
of these names. And the prophet
said that you have made du'a by Allah's
greatest name, the one by which if he
is asked, he grants, and the one by
he if he is requested,
he responds. What this statement of the prophet
does is it tells us the function of
the greatest name of Allah, and that is
that if
you invoke Allah by this great name, if
you ask him by, he will grant you,
and if he is requested by, he will
respond. So you want Allah to respond, and
you want Allah
to grant. And so invoking the greatest name
of Allah. And the 3rd hadith, Rasulullah Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam saw a man praying and he
said,
the
prophet
said, this man
has asked the by his great name that
if he asked by, he responds and if
he's requested by, he grants. And Ibn Hajjar
mentions that that's the that's the best hadith
on this topic as far as it is
not. And then then the 4th one is
the hadith of Asma who said that
Rasulullah said,
and the fact to have Surat Alaihi Imran.
The beginning of Surat Alaihi Imran. And that's
also reported by Trmidin Abu Dawood and others.
Now when you actually look
at the 4 hadith that I just mentioned,
you're gonna be able to come up with
11 names. And I'm not gonna be able
to list them now, but I'm sure that
some legend is going to write them in
the comments for everybody to be able to
benefit. So then the question becomes, what is
the greatest name of Allah? You know, obviously,
you've noticed that is
hearing a lot of different names. He's referring
to a lot of different names in these
hadith. And so one position is
actually that there is no greatest name, that
all of them are the greatest. And so
when the Rasulullah salallahu alaihi wasallam is saying,
ismullahal A'avam, ismullahal the great, he's actually indicating
that it is
the great name of Allah. Prophet
is simply praising. That's number 1. The second
position is to simply say we don't know.
Allah
left it unknown for us. And I think
by now we've realized that whenever
the deen tells us about the incredible value
of something, but it doesn't tell us when,
where, how exactly.
The goal becomes about the journey. So we
know that there are 99 names of Allah
that if you encompass them, you'll enter into
paradise, but we're not told what those 99
names are. We gotta seek it out. We're
told that there's a night in Ramadan
that in the last 10 nights, that if
you enliven it, all of your previous sins
will be forgiven, and you'll be given the
worship of a 1000 months. But we're not
told what night that is, so we have
to seek them out in all of the
10 nights. We are told that there's an
hour on Friday that if you make dua,
your dua will be accepted, but we're not
told what that hour is. Similarly, we're told
that there is a great name of Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala that if you invoke Allah
by this name, you're gonna get your request,
but we're not told what that name is,
so we gotta seek it out. So the
second says we don't know. The third position
is to actually choose a name. And you
can refer back to Ibn Hajj's commentary on
this in Fatih al Bari, he mentions 14
views on what the greatest name of Allah.
But some of the most popular positions as
you can imagine is Allah
of course because that is the name that's
shared throughout all of the hadith that are
described. But ibn Hajar, he concludes by saying,
it was said that what is meant by
the greatest name is any of the names
of Allah may he be exalted by which
a person calls upon him with complete submission
and focus of mind. In the sense that
at that moment, he has nothing on his
mind except Allah
Whoever is like that will receive a response.
And he says that something similar to this
was narrated from Jafar as Sadiq and Junaid
and others. So Ibn Hajid is saying that,
you know what, the most important aspect is
the presence of your heart. And so what
I would say is the opposite understanding of
that is that it doesn't matter if you
list all 99 names. If your heart is
not present, then you're not experiencing the greatest
name of Allah. So what we can learn
from this is that the greatest name of
Allah can be situational for a person. That
if you're asking Allah for shifa, you're asking
for healing, the greatest name of Allah that
you can access is a shafi. What will
bring presence to your mind and heart. That
if a person is is seeking risk, that
the greatest name of Allah becomes a razak
for them. If a person is seeking children,
that the greatest name could be
That you call Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala by
the names that make you most present because
the most important ingredient
is the presence of your heart. The fruit
of this name of Allah is to worship
him that you love Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
that you call upon him and that you
don't worship anyone other than him. May Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala accept from us our actions
and may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make us
of those who are his true servants.