Kamil Ahmad – The Beautiful Names of Allah #06
AI: Summary ©
AI: Transcript ©
We continue with
our series on
of Allah,
And
we move on to some other very important
names of Allah.
And
and so we're gonna start with the first
set of names.
And the only reason we grouped these names
together,
is because of how Allah does so in
the Quran,
these four names.
And so
they are Al Awwal,
Wal Akhir,
Vahir,
and Al Vatin.
These four names of Allah,
they
basically
allude to Allah's
ihaqqah,
His all encompassment.
So
Allah Encompasses
Everyone
and Everything
in both
time and place.
The encompassment of Allah,
His
is both
in time and place as we will see
from these four names
and these 4 names have only been mentioned
together.
They have only been mentioned together
and they've only been mentioned once
in the Quran
and that is in the very beginning of
Surah
Al Hadid.
Verse 3 of Surah
Al Hadid
and so Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says
He is Al Awwal
and Al Akhir
and Avwahir
and Al Baqin
and he has knowledge of everything.
And
it's also been mentioned in a hadith,
Rasulullah
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam was basically
calling upon Allah by these names,
these four names
and it's a hadith of Abu Huraira radiAllahu
an in Sahih Muslim
in which the Prophet
says before going to bed,
make this Dua.
And so the dua is
and then he mentions the names
So this is one of the adkar that
we should actually try to memorize
and get into the habit of saying before
going to bed.
And so there are multiple
Azkar that one can say before going to
bed. This is one of them and
here
the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam basically called
upon Allah by some of His names and
attributes.
Among them were these four names
And then the du'a he makes at the
end is, oh Allah,
relieve us of our debt,
help us to pay off our debts
and,
protect us from poverty.
So what do these names mean?
If you want to know the meaning of
these names, you just go back to this
hadith
because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala just mentions the
names
in Surat Al Hadid
But then in this hadith,
the prophet
actually explains,
elaborates further
on each of these names.
And
not only did the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam explain
what each name meant,
but he also negated
its opposite.
He negated its opposite.
So that's how he explained the meaning of
each name
by mentioning what it is not
or by basically negating
the opposite of these names. So what did
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam say?
He said,
Allahumma
antal Awwal
Oh, Awa.
You are Al Awaal, which means the first.
You are the first and so
there was nothing before you.
You are the first
and there is nothing before you.
And so Allah is the first in the
sense that
nothing existed before him
or with Him
which means that no matter how far you
go into the eternal past,
nothing
precedes
Allah.
There is no precedes it.
And so it proves
that everything
besides Allah is a creation of Allah that
has a beginning.
Everything besides Allah
is his hulk and
the meaning of a created being is that
it has a beginning.
While Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
is uncreated
and has no beginning.
And that's why the Prophet SAW says in
another hadith.
The Prophet SAW says in another hadith and
this is in Bukhari.
Allah existed when nothing else existed.
There was Allah
and there was nothing with Him.
And so this is the meaning of this
name, Al Awwal,
as the Prophet
explained it.
You are the first
and there was nothing
before you.
And this shows us,
this shows us also,
how the words of the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam
were something gifted to him, the way he
speaks,
and that is
Al Jawah Mi Al Kalim.
Short, concise words to the point
but comprehensive
in meaning.
Right? With just a few words, look at
how the prophet, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, explained
something that, you know, if it was someone
else, he would probably
spend an hour,
you know, trying to explain.
Look at how in one phrase the prophet
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam,
he explained the meaning of Allabiin Al Awwal.
And with all of these four names, he
explained it with short, you know,
to the point meanings.
The second is
Al Akhir
and that means lust,
which means that Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala
He will endure
eternally
after which nothing else will remain.
There will only be Allah,
which means that no matter how far into
the future things will exist,
nothing will outlast Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala.
There is no last, there is nothing that
is considered last
except that Allah comes after it.
And so it proves that
everything besides Allah
is a creation that has an end
while Allah is uncreated
with no end.
Right? So just like we said with
Al Awwal,
Allah being the first.
Created beings,
their nature is they have a beginning and
here as we can see they have an
end and that is not the case with
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
As Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says,
Everything upon it meaning in this world
will
perish eventually
except for
the face of your lord,
Dooljalalayual,
a crown full of majesty and honor, he
will remain forever.
After that we have Allahihr.
Now,
the next two names, Al Zahir and Albatein,
they have a meaning
that
confuses many people
because the first two names Al Awwal Wal
Akhir are clear
because
their, you know, apparent meanings and linguistic meanings
matches with,
the meaning pertaining to Allah.
He is the first and He is the
last, simple, straightforward.
But Allahher in the Arabic language
means, as you can see, the apparent,
the prominent,
or
the outward.
And Albatim is the opposite of that.
Albatim is the opposite of that. It is
the hidden
or that which is inward,
inner.
So, what do these names mean
with respect to Allah? Again, we go back
to the same hadith.
We go back to the same hadith. As
long as we have this hadith,
then we don't need to interpret these names
any other way.
Right? So what does the Prophet sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam say about these two names? Avwahir,
he says
You are Avawhir
and so there is no one above you.
There is no one above you.
So we gather from this
that the meaning of Allah
is the Most High
above whom there is no one. There is
no one above Allah
which means that no matter high up you
go,
nothing
No matter how high up you go, Allah
is higher.
No matter how high up you go, Allah
is higher.
And we know that
the highest of Allah's creation is what?
From the creation of Allah. What is the
highest creation?
From Allah's creation?
The Arsh, the throne of Allah.
The throne
of Allah.
And it's referred to as the ceiling of
the creation or the dome
over the creation.
And it's also the largest of Allah's creation.
It's larger than the heavens
and the earth
and Ibn Rasoolud he
describes,
he describes this,
he says
between the first heaven
and the one above it,
between the two there is a distance of
about 500 years journey,
meaning by horseback.
And then he said
He kept on going between each heaven,
between
the second and the third, between the third
and the fourth
is a similar distance and then He said
after that, between the 7th heaven
and the Kursi is
a distance of 500 years.
Here the Kursi does not refer to the
house,
The kursi
as ibn Abbas
interprets.
He says it is
the footstool of Allah.
And then he said between the kursil
and the water So
there's
a mass of water
after the Kursi.
And
Allah mentions it in the Quran as well.
His throne
is above water.
So he says between the Kursi and the
water is a similar distance
And then he says, and the Harush is
above the water. That's what Allah says in
the Quran. The Harush
is
above the water. And then he says,
and Allah is above the throne.
He says,
wallahu fawkal Arsh.
Allah is above
the throne.
But look at how Ibn Mas'ud ends off
the statement.
He didn't just end it off like that.
He said
and none of your deeds are hidden from
Him.
None of your deeds are concealed and hidden
from Him.
Because someone may wonder if Allah is so
far,
well, you know,
I could do whatever I want. He doesn't
know what's going on. No. He says
nothing of what you do is concealed from
Allah even if,
you know, there's this huge distance
between us.
But that's the meaning of Al Wahr,
the Most High.
As for al Baqin, as we said, it
means
the inward or the inner.
Again, what does it mean
with respect to Allah? We go back to
the hadith. The prophet says
and you are
and so there is nothing closer than you.
There is nothing or no one closer than
you.
And so what we understand from this is
that Al Balbin is the one who is
most near
and that is Allah, the one who is
most near to us
with nothing being nearer to His creation than
Him,
Which means that
you
know,
minuscule or down to the core of a
thing you go,
there is nothing closer to that thing in
terms of
knowledge
besides Allah
The small cells
of a being
that we cannot see
except through a microscope.
And Allah's knowledge of that is more than
our knowledge
with all of the scientific advancement that we
have.
And so there is nothing nearer to a
person
except that Allah is nearer than
that thing,
even one's own self.
Right?
Allah is nearer to you than your own
self
and that's the meaning of Albatim.
That is the meaning
of Al Barqim.
And that's why Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says,
in Surat Qaf,
We created man and we know fully
what his own soul whispers to him.
And we are closer to him than his
own jugular vein.
So this shows us how close Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala is to us.
And so once again,
all we need for an explanation of these
names is,
you know, the explanation of the Prophet sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam
as mentioned in this hadith.
All right. We move on to
the lessons
that we learn
from these four names.
First of all,
from Allah's name Al Awwal.
Allah being the first means
that
he is uncreated
and nothing
caused him to exist.
Nothing caused
Allah to come into existence.
Why?
Because of this name Al Awl.
Right?
He didn't come into existence.
He didn't have a beginning.
He is the first.
And
this is a common
objection of atheists
when they say
that
if you say that everything,
that exists has to have a cause,
right,
then what's their question?
What is it that they ask?
Yeah,
what is the question exactly that they ask?
Who created God?
Because the proof we give to them for
Allah's existence, we say that
everything that exists,
it has to have a cause behind its
existence. Nothing just
exists on its own, right?
But that's because we make a mistake in
how we,
you know,
give this argument.
We had to be very careful
in how we phrase this argument. We shouldn't
say
everything that exists,
you know has to have a cause behind
its existence
because that would include Allah. Allah exists,
right?
So we say
every created being
has to have
a cause behind its existence.
So when we say that, we get ourselves
out of this problem.
And this is something that the scholars mentioned
as being,
Al Hadith.
Everything that is Hadith
or, you know, that
occurred, an occurrence.
Right?
Things that occur, they have a beginning,
but that excludes Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Now, this is the argument that they bring
today, but the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
actually
mentioned 1400 years ago
the same question.
And so in Hadith,
the prophet says
that people will keep on asking questions
until
someone will say
Allah created
a universe, but who created Allah?
And in another narration,
he says, Shaitan will come to one of
you and will say, who created such and
such? Who created such and such? And you're
saying Allah every time. And then he says,
and who created Allah?
So the prophet says
whenever anyone encounters that,
let him say
Let him say, I believe in Allah. Reaffirm
your iman.
And
seize these thoughts.
Don't don't get,
carried away with these thoughts.
And,
in another narration he said, Allah says,
let him seek refuge in Allah from Shaitan.
Let him say
So this
proves that the source
of this doubt is from shaitan
and
the prophet of the son gave us the
remedy for that, how to deal with such
a question.
Now obviously, when it comes to atheists,
it's a different story.
With respect to people who genuinely
have that,
you know, idea or that belief.
We have to differentiate between what is known
as a waswasa
and what is known as a shubha.
So
and it's important to know this so that
you deal with each person accordingly.
Someone who
like let's say it's a Muslim who
this thought passes his mind,
right? Then the prophet told us how to
deal with it,
right?
And he told us it is from shaitan.
It's a passing thought. How do you deal
with
it? Say,
Stop thinking about it. Reaffirm your iman. Say,
I believe in Allah and that's it. You
move on.
But if it's
an actual shubha, a doubt that is penetrating
the heart, someone is actually genuinely believing this,
then for him even if he says
a hundred times, it's not going to help.
So with that we give him proof,
We give him logical evidence,
right?
And so how do we answer this
for the atheists?
Yeah. Exactly.
This is known as
an infinite regress of causes.
An infinite regress of causes
where
it's just a chain
and it just keeps on going.
What does that mean?
What it means is if you believe this
to be the case that,
you know, there is a creator of the
creator,
then the next question would be, who created
that creator?
And then
the next question is, who created the creator
of the creator?
And then you just keep on going. Infinitely
like that.
And this is logically impossible.
This is
logically impossible. Why? Because
we exist.
The creation exists.
If this was logically possible,
then we would not exist today.
Because
there's a cycle
of an infinite regress of causes. 1 Creator
is creating another. When is the time going
to come for
the Creator to create the creation?
Right?
So this is
how we would answer someone like that.
Anyways,
the point is that Allah is uncreated and
nothing caused him to exist.
It's not only our iman, but it's something
that we could prove logically.
The second lesson that we learn
is
that
believing that Allah
is the first, that Awal
also means that
all the means that we take in this
world to achieve our goals
are only secondary means.
While Allah is the first,
the one who causes
everything to happen.
So this should make one to turn to
Allah, alone
and not rely on others.
Right?
If we believe that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
is the first,
then He is the one who is the
causer of everything.
He is the one who brought the creation
into existence existence when there was nothing before
him.
And so this should reaffirm our iman in
as the one in control of this creation.
Therefore, making us to rely on Him alone
and not to rely on
others because others
secondary to Allah.
In terms of how they could help us
in terms of them being the means.
Yes.
We can always rely on others, but not
an ultimate reliance.
Right? In this world, we have to. And
these are the means that Allah has given
to us.
Right?
Allah has
given to us means to achieve our goals
that are from this dunya, material means,
but we shouldn't put our reliance, our tawakkulinda.
That's the point here.
The third lesson,
Allah being Al Akhir, the last means that
he is the eternal
and no one else will live on after
him as we mentioned earlier.
But now
some people wonder when we say this,
they wonder about
the eternal nature of the akhira.
Isn't the Akhirah
gonna last eternally
both for the people of Jannah and the
people of the hellfire?
And so how do we how do we
understand this? How do we answer this?
A parent contradiction here.
It's not a contradiction because it can be
answered, but it seems to be contradictory.
Be recreated.
Mhmm.
Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah.
Anyone else?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Basically,
we can say,
firstly,
Allah being Al Akhir,
the last means that
after everything in this present world
ceases to exist,
only Allah
will remain.
And that is as the Ayah mentioned, and
and the other aya.
What is the other aya?
Everything will perish
except His face, except Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
So this is the first answer that we
can give
that
in terms of this material world,
everything has a last to it, everything has
an end and Allah will outlast it.
And that's why,
in the end days when,
everyone will perish
before Yilmul Qiyamah.
Allah How will people perish?
The very last people to be on the
face of the earth. It will be the
angel when he will blow into the trumpet.
And that means that the blowing of the
horn is 2 times.
The first is
to signal the end of this world.
So whoever is alive, they will fall dead.
Then
nothing will remain.
Even the angels
will cease to exist
and
Allah Azawajal
will cause Israfil, the one who blows into
the horn, even him to die.
And then Allah will resurrect him,
bring him to life, the first one, and
he will blow
into the horn
causing everyone to to rise again. And that
will be for the day of judgment.
So nothing will exist at that time. Only
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
Secondly.
Secondly.
The eternity
of the akhirah
was preceded by what?
By non existence.
The eternal nature of the akhira,
it was preceded by non existence.
We had a beginning,
Right? And that is
the day of judgment,
when we are resurrected.
Whereas,
Allah's eternity
is not preceded by non existence.
The eternity of Allah is not preceded by
non existence.
And thirdly, we can say
the eternity of the akhira is not something
that happened on its own,
but rather as a result of Allah allowing
it to happen.
In other words,
the nature of the akhira,
the nature of it being eternal
is
muqtasabah.
It is something acquired.
It is an acquired
attribute
of ours,
something we acquire.
It's not
like Allah
whose eternity
is an attribute
of His very that, His very essence.
It was not something acquired,
right?
The eternal nature of Allah is not something
He acquired.
It's a part of Him, a part of
His very being.
Whereas,
you know, when we are in the akhira
and we ask Allah to make us from
the people of Jannah in the akhira,
This attribute of us being eternal in the
akhirah,
it is something we acquired.
It wasn't
something that, you know, it wasn't a property
of ours that was from our very essence,
like it is with Allah
So these are some of the ways that
we can answer this supposed contradiction.
The 4th lesson that we learn is
that believing Allah is Al Aqir, the last
means
that we should make Allah
our end goal
and not anything else
nor
anyone else
because
everyone and everything
else
has an end.
So this also means
it includes
the means to achieve our goals as we
mentioned earlier,
The asbaab
to achieve our goals.
And so the lesson here is to attach
our hearts to Allah
and not to the creation.
Because
the creation
will one day cease to exist.
And that was understood very, very well by
Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu.
Even though we love Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
so much,
right?
And the Sahaba, they were attached to him
But when he passed away, it came as
a shock for some of them.
The likes of the Umar ibn Khattab radiAllahuhan.
Han. He started going around saying whoever
is saying that he has died, I'm gonna
take care of him,
right? Until Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu he got
on the member and he said his famous
statement,
Right?
His famous statement that,
whoever
was worshiping Muhammad
then let him know that Mohammed has indeed
died. But whoever was worshiping Allah, then let
him know that Allah is high. He is
the ever living
who will never die.
And so,
you know, even someone like Rasulullah,
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam,
even though we love him and our hearts
are attached to him but
we don't give him divinity
And our hearts in that sense should be
attached to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
The 5th lesson that we learn
is concerning Allah's name Allahuahir,
the most high.
It means that Allah is the highest,
not only in His status,
he has the highest status,
but also
his very self, his very being
is the highest above everyone else.
And we have numerous proofs from the Quran,
from the Sunnah and the statements of the
Salaf
proving that Allah
is above His creation,
above His throne.
He is there in a manner
that we don't know, in a manner that
befits himself.
And so he is not
everywhere in his creation,
and
nor is he
not anywhere.
Right? You had 2 extremes when it comes
to,
you know, where is Allah?
So one extreme was the extreme of the
Sufis who
say that Allah is everywhere
including,
you know, within us.
And then you had
the Mutakal Limun, Ahlul Kalam,
the Ma'tazila,
the Jahmiya,
the Asha'ira
who say that
Allah is not above nor below nor to
the right nor to the left nor inside
nor outside.
So basically what that implies is Allah is
nowhere,
right?
That's what it implies.
Whereas Ahlul Sunnahul Jama'ah, our position is very
balanced and that is,
we say Allah is above we're gonna we're
gonna be looking more into this with the
next
set of,
names that we're gonna be talking about tonight.
The next lesson that we learn
is that
believing
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is albaqin, the nearest,
it does not mean that Allah is the
nearest,
it does not mean
that Allah is physically near to us,
But it means that although he is high
above,
he is nearer to ourselves.
He is nearer to us than our own
selves
in terms of His knowledge,
in terms
of His sight,
in terms
of His hearing, etc.
So He subhanahu
wa ta'ala is high
while being near
And he is near while being
high above.
Allah is high above while being near,
and He is near while remaining high above.
One wonders, how is this possible?
Well,
you're trying to make sense of it because
you are trying to imagine Allah according to
material standards. And that's the mistake.
That's the mistake that led people astray in
the past.
They tried to make sense of these attributes
of Allah
and when they couldn't make sense of it,
they either
denied the attributes,
what is known as
Taabeel
or they said we won't deny it.
You know, how can we deny something in
the Quran and the Sunnah?
So they interpreted these attributes metaphorically.
They said we can't affirm the actual meaning
because the meaning doesn't make sense
So let us give
metaphorical meanings
to these attributes.
Whereas,
we have an answer for that. So we
say,
we don't try to make sense of Allah's
attributes.
Whatever Allah has told us about himself, we
affirm, we accept
and we believe in the apparent meaning. Yes.
Allah says he is high above. He he
has also told us he is very near
to us.
How is that possible? Don't even ask the
question of how.
Because
you'll never be able to understand how
because your understanding
is based on material standards.
And Allah is beyond being material or created.
Right? Allah is infinite.
There's no way for us to comprehend Allah
and His attributes,
how they are.
As Allah
says,
There is nothing like Him.
In every sense, in every way, there is
nothing like Allah.
The next lesson that we learn,
believing that Allah is near,
it should
make us to become conscious of Him
and fearful of Him.
For He
knows about us
what is hidden from others,
even our own inner thoughts.
And so this should make us to purify
our souls
from every evil and our hearts from every
filth.
Right?
Things that are in our hearts
that,
you know,
we may
be attached to
That no
one else, even the closest of people to
us has any clue about it unless we
tell them,
right?
We should not make Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
the lowest of those who look at us.
Because some people
they'll do everything
to make sure they don't do certain things
in front of people,
right?
They'll put on a certain appearance because they
don't want people to know
certain things in their life.
But when it comes to Allah, they don't
care.
Even though Allah knows
what is within them.
That's why we say
don't make Allah
the most
you know,
the lowest of those who look at you,
where you have more,
you know, concern about how others look at
you than how Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala,
looks at you
when he looks, you know, at your heart,
what other people cannot see.
Finally,
these four names
these four names Al Awwal and Al Akhir
and Al Bahir and Al Baltin,
They are a cure for doubts and whisperings
of Shaitan.
They are a cure
for
the doubts and whisperings of Shaytan and this
is based on
the following
the following narration,
and this is found in Sunan Abi Dawud.
1 of the Tabireen
Samak ibn al Walid.
He was a student of Abdullah ibn Abbas.
He says,
I
mentioned to Ibn Abbas that I felt something
in my heart.
So
Ibn Abbas asked me, what is it?
I said, by Allah, I cannot say it.
You know, I'm too embarrassed to say it.
Or it's too,
you know, it's too
enormous
for me to say it.
It was a doubt he had maybe concerning
Allah.
So,
ibn Abbas asked him,
Are you talking about doubts?
And then he laughed.
And then he said,
No one can escape this.
Allah said
about the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam. Ibn
Abbas is saying this. Allah said about the
Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam,
This is Surat Yunus.
Allah says about the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam,
if you are in doubt
concerning that which we have revealed to you
then ask those who are reading the book
before you.
So Allah
attributes
doubt
to
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam.
So, Ibar Abbas was saying that
these are thoughts that come to our minds
that no one can escape.
And then he said,
when you experience any of that in your
heart, then recite the following.
Ibn Abbas is telling his student then recite
the following
Recite this ayah from Surat Al Hadid
and so this shows us that
saying these names of Allah
is a cure for doubts and the whisperings
of Shaytan.
And
we
mentioned
how Allah is the first and
perhaps that was what he was alluding to,
right?
Maybe
this Tabii'i he was thinking you know,
who created Allah?
So when you understand Allah is Al Awal,
that's it,
that doubt
it perishes
and it goes away.
Alright.
After that, we move on
to
the next three names that we have tonight,
and they are
and
Al Mutahal.
Al Aliu,
Al A'la,
and Al Mutahal.
And so we just mentioned one of Allah's
names that indicate His Highness
above
His creation, what is it?
Out of the 4 names that we mentioned
refers to Allah being
high above. We now move on to another
three names
that also indicate
the highness of Allah.
And so all of these three names, all
three of them,
they share the same root word
and attribute of Alruhlu.
Alruhlu,
the Alruhlu of Allah.
As for
Alaa Ali,
it has been
mentioned in the Quran 8 times
and usually it's mentioned
combined with another name.
And so for example, in Ayatul Kursi, what
does Allah say?
So here you have a combination of
Al Ali with Alawi.
And in Surat Alukman Allah says
Al kabir.
So here you have a combination of Al
Ali with Al Kabir and it's mentioned 8
times in the Quran.
As for Al A'ala,
it has been mentioned
only twice in the Quran.
Who can tell me where?
Sabi. Sabi Hizmarabikalala
in the beginning of Surat Alala.
And then the the Surah is named Alala.
And the other time also in Juzama.
It comes after
Surat Al A'la. I mean,
not in the beginning of No, not in
the beginning of Juzamah.
In the, in the later half of Juzamah.
The imam recited it tonight.
Surah Al Layl.
These are only 2 times Al Allah is
mentioned in the Quran.
Okay. As for
Al Mutaal,
only once it's been mentioned.
Where is that?
In Surat
Arag.
Arag,
Allah
is the knower of the seen and the
unseen,
and He is Al Kabir,
and He is Al Muta'al.
Yeah, we're gonna mention it later on, but
basically, tara'ala
tara'ala is the verb
of of these names
and of Al Mu'taaal.
It's a verb form.
So Allah is
taal. He is high
above.
And we'll mention why,
it's usually mentioned.
Now what is the difference between these three
names?
Okay.
It gives the attribute of highness,
Allah being high
in every sense,
right? In all its different meanings.
As for
Al
A'la
as for Al A'la,
then
it carries the meaning of
Al A'la means the highest.
It means the highest.
So Allah is the highest
and everything and everyone else is below. So
it is is Mutaflil.
Allah is the highest.
As for Al Mutahaal,
Al Muta'al
is related to a specific
kind of highness.
And so
it is indicative
of subjugation.
Meaning that
Al Muta'al
is the one who is elevated above everyone
else with his power
and His authority
subjugating everyone.
Okay?
And that brings us to
the different kinds of
Ulu.
So what does it mean that Allah
is attributed with the Ulu?
Being high and elevated,
exalted.
We say
it includes 3 things.
The ulu of Allah includes 3 things.
The first is what is known as ulu
with that
Allah's very being,
He Himself
is high above His creation,
above His throne,
not inside of His creation,
but rather
above His creation,
separate from His creation.
And we're gonna talk more about this shortly.
The second is
or meaning Allah is high in His status,
in
His attributes.
So,
the attributes of Allah are the highest,
the loftiest.
And
the third is
Arluwal Kahr,
and that is
subjugation as we spoke about just now.
So this is referring to Allah
as being high and supreme
in authority,
subjugating everyone below him.
Now,
there is no disagreement
in this Umma
concerning
the second 2,
right?
Everyone agrees
that Allah
is attributed with
and but where the controversy was was concerning
the first
as we mentioned earlier.
So
you had different
sects that deviated
as we mentioned earlier.
When it comes to where is Allah,
they say,
you know, one
extreme was to say Allah is everywhere.
The other extreme
was to say Allah is nowhere, basically.
And
the position of Ahlulsunu Ajamah, as I mentioned,
is that Allah is
above
His creation.
And to prove this,
the scholars mentioned that there are over a
1,000 proofs from the Quran itself.
Some are very explicit
while others you can
extrapolate
and deduce from the ayaat.
Okay?
Here what I'm gonna do is I'm just
gonna mention some of the ways of proving
it from the Quran
without going into,
you know, all the proofs that the scholars
have mentioned.
I'm gonna just mention 5 from the Quran
itself.
The first is,
Allah explicitly
stating
that He is above.
By using for example, the term falaq,
which
clearly
no one denies in the Arabic language, means
above.
He reigns, He is above
His servants.
The second way of proving it from the
Quran
is that things go up to Allah.
So what does Allah say that goes up
to him?
Our good deeds.
To Him, to Allah,
ascend
all good words.
And you know, the righteous deeds elevated.
So what does that mean that things go
up in that direction? It means Allah is
in that direction of up.
Also the
The angels and the rooosh which refers to
Jibreel.
Ascend, go up
to Him, to
Allah. Number 3,
the fact that things come down from Allah,
descend
from Allah,
right?
The Quran
is
referred to as
coming down
We are the ones who sent down
the zikr which is the Qur'an.
Number 4,
that He Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
is in the heavens
As he says in Suratul Mulk,
Do you feel secure
concerning the One Who is
in the heavens. Now, what does it mean
that Allah is in the heavens? It doesn't
mean physically inside of the heavens, but it
means above
Because
in the Arabic language
does not only mean inside of something
but it can also mean
above something.
Right?
And we have an example from the Quran
itself regarding that.
What did Firaun
say that he would do to the magicians?
He would
Yeah, He would crucify them and?
Uh-huh.
I'm gonna crucify you.
Right?
Literally means in,
the the the day palm trees.
Does it mean inside of the day palm
trees? No. It means on
the trees
and Allah Azzawajal says
travel Does it mean inside of the earth?
No. Above
the earth. Likewise,
Allah saying He is in the heavens, it
doesn't mean He is inside of the heavens,
it means He is above the heavens.
And number 5. The testimony of Firaun. What
was his testimony?
His own acknowledgement.
Is it the enemy of Allah?
Exactly.
This is Firaun. He understood
that this God who Musa is calling people
to that He is a God above the
heavens.
He said, O Haman, his minister,
you know, build for me a high tower
so I could reach,
the pathways of the skies
so that I could look for the God
of Musa.
So even he understood
that Allah is above.
Like I
said, the scholars have mentioned hundreds of different
ways of proving from the Quran itself,
that Allah
is above and that is the position of
Again, you could even look at the statements
of the Salaf from the suhada and the
tabi'run and the atba'at tabi'run, you'll find all
of them affirming this.
So now we move on to the lessons
that we learned from these three names of
Allah.
The first lesson that we learned,
believing in Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
as being
the highest,
should make one to humble himself
and subjugate himself to Allah which is why
we say what we do in sudood. What
do we say in sudood?
Subhanarabbi'al
a'ala.
Why specifically
this name of Allah Al A'la?
As Ibn Qayim
says,
describing Allah with highness
at this moment, meaning in sujood,
is very appropriate,
is suitable for the one who is making
sujood,
having lowered himself to the ground,
putting his face on the ground.
And so mentioning the highness of Allah while
he is down below.
Right? You're lowering yourself
to the lowest possible
state.
The most precious part of your body is
your face and you're putting it at the
lowest possible
position.
And then while you're in that state,
you're recognizing that Allah is
high
and the highest.
He says just as you mentioned Allah's greatness
while in the position of humility in ruku.
Right?
Why is it that in ruku I would
say subhanahu rabi Allahuweem,
right? Allahuweem. We're gonna come to that name
later on. It means that what is the
greatest? You're venerating Allah. And ruku, that position
of ruku is is a position
of humility.
And so it was appropriate to,
to refer to Allah as Alawiim.
The second lesson,
believing
that
Allah is the highest
and you
know
He reigns
in terms of His authority,
it should prevent us
from,
you
know,
easing
out whatever authority we may have
unjustly and wrongly,
subjugating others unjustly.
And that's exactly how Allah describes
right?
The same
the same verb.
Firaun
elevated himself.
He elevated himself in the land,
you know, using his authority
to subjugate
others.
Bani Israel.
From that except one
who remembers that Allah's authority is above mine.
If you have a position of authority,
then you need to always remind yourself
that
Allah is
above me.
His authority
is above mine.
And that no matter how high your authority
is, Allah's authority is higher.
So even if you become the king of
the land,
right? You're going to humble yourself.
As we have examples of this,
right? From the Khulafa of Rashiduun
and some of the righteous Khalifa like Umar
ibn Abdul Aziz,
etcetera,
even though they were who they were
and you know their dominion expanded, you know,
expanded
east to west
and yet they lived very humbly.
Why? Because they understood this very well.
And this is why
after mentioning the different ways of dealing with
disobedient
wives, what does Allah
ended off with
in Surat Al Nisa?
If you sense some,
you know, ill conduct
from your wives,
then first the first step is to advise
them, admonish them. If they persist, then
you separate your your beds.
And if they still persist, then you discipline
them,
hit them
lightly
and then what does Allah say?
If they change their ways,
do not deal with them unjustly.
And then what does Allah say?
For indeed Allah is Al Aali,
this name of Allah, in al kabir.
He is the Most High,
the Most Great.
And this is one of
the beauties of the Quran.
Whenever Allah mentions certain names in the Quran,
there's a reason why He does.
It's not just like that haphazard or random.
Whenever Allah mentions certain names of His and
whenever He combines certain names,
it has a meaning behind it
and the same thing goes here.
Allah is reminding
the men that, okay, you have authority over
these women.
They've changed their ways,
don't
act unjustly towards them.
Why? You have authority but Allah has authority
over you. So fear Allah.
The third lesson that we learn
is that knowing that Allah is the highest
should make one to fear
Allah alone and not to fear any created
beings.
And so no matter how much
power
or authority
people may have,
we should not fear them,
right?
And this is the test of your iman.
Right?
Some of us,
we're afraid to command the good and forbid
the evil
or fight oppressors
or to fight the enemies
whether it be with actual weapons
or with our tongues
or with our pens.
We're afraid. We're afraid of the backlash,
right? We're afraid of criticism.
So
will we command the good and forbid the
evil or will we fear their power, the
power that people have or the influence that
people have or the authority that people have.
Someone who understands that Allah's power and authority
is higher,
they won't be afraid of anyone.
Right?
And you have so many examples of this
from the lives of the salaf
and the scholars.
They didn't care about who anyone was.
Right? Imam Ahmed,
he stood
for the truth that he believed to be
the truth
at a time when
you know,
there was this,
push
to have everyone believe in a certain
position concerning the Quran and that is the
position of the Muuritezilah, that the Quran is
something created.
And whoever did not fall in line with
that
view, he would be persecuted, he would be
thrown in prison.
And there were some noble scholars of this
Ummah who gave in to that pressure.
But not Imam Ahmad, he stood up. He
knew the consequences. Why?
Why did he stand up? Because he didn't
fear these people.
He knew that Allah's authority is above these
people's authority.
They can have all the power in the
world, they can do whatever they want to
me, but in the end of the day,
you know, I'm gonna fear Allah, I'm not
gonna fear them.
And so there's a huge lesson in this
that one only learns when he understands who
Allah is. He is Al A'la,
he is Al Ali and he is Al
Mutahaal.
Finally, the last lesson that we'll mention.
We mentioned that
one of
the
kinds of of Allah is
that Allah's
attributes
are the highest, the most supreme.
What that also means
is that we free Allah of any negative
or
deficient or imperfect attributes,
attributes of imperfection.
Which is why Allah says in the Quran
throughout the Quran
And that was the question the brother asked
about Ta'ala.
And so
subhanahu wa ta'ala
it basically means this,
it means
is which
means
to declare
innocent,
to declare Allah innocent and free
of what they attribute to Him.
What do they attribute to Allah?
Imperfection,
right?
Whether it be the
attributing idols partners
to Allah
or as Allah says about the
of the Arabs who attribute to Allah daughters
or the Christians who attribute to Allah a
son,
and so on and so forth.
Whatever they attribute to Allah is imperfection.
And that's why Allah says,
SubhanAllah means
Allah is free of such and such.
Ta'ala means Allah is high
above, meaning
high above what they attribute to Him,
high above and beyond what they attribute to
Him
and that's why usually whenever Allah mentions,
you know, whatever they attribute to Allah, Allah
mentions after that subhanahu wa ta'ala
and it's almost every time that Allah mentions
them attributing to Him a son,
He mentions
this.
So and you know for example Allah says
in Surah Alaihisra'at
glorified
and high
exalted be Allah
above what they claim about Him.
And so
is the verb
of Allah's name, Al Mutaraal.
Al Mutaraal.
And so these are some of the lessons
that we learned from
these
three names of Allah, and
we'll conclude with that for tonight If
there are any actions, then,
you could ask him.
So the question is, we mentioned earlier
that,
among the proofs of Allah being high above
himself,
along with that,
is
the testimony
of Firaun, but Firaun was a kafir, he
was a disbeliever.
So why should we use that as proof?
The answer is
that,
Firaun was mocking
Musa alaihis salam. Yes, he was,
you know, basically mocking him
but
he actually
understood
from Musa alaihis salam that this is the
God who
this is where the God is, who Musa
alaihis salam is calling to, who's calling
people to.
And he did not say
anything else.
Right? He didn't say, Okay, let's look for
this God somewhere else.
Which he could have,
right? But he didn't because
he actually believed that this is what Musa
alaihis salam believes,
right?
And
it falls in line with all the other
proofs in the end of the day.
It falls in line with all the other
proofs that prove that
Allah is
above.
So that's why the scholars mention it
not as the primary proof,
right, but as
a substantial or, you know, secondary
way of proving
that Allah is above.
So the question is,
in the Arabic language, we have 2 different
terms. We have many terms to mention,
above.
One is folk and the other is,
Allah.
So which one would we
use for Allah? We would use both
because both have been attributed to Allah.
We mentioned
the the hadith of ibn Mas'ud.
At the end of it he said,
Allah is above Da'arsh
and also Allah in the Qur'an says
and then Allah says
using
So both have been have been used, for
Allah.
Yeah. We spoke about this at the very
end. So,
Taha'ala means Allah is
high above,
in terms of
ruluosifat.
He is high above, elevated,
exalted
above what they attribute to Him.
Yeah, subhanahu wa ta'ala
is of
Allah, free and Allah disassociating
him
of any imperfection.
Yeah.
Etc.
Okay. Inshallah, we'll conclude,
with that.