Who Is Allah – Understanding Allah’s Names and Attributes #02

Okay, since our time is limited, we'll get started Insha Allah, this window will humble on slaughter songs ruler of Marlin NaVi million foreigner, one foreigner, Bhima islands and I was it an element out of that on me. So this is the second lesson of understanding allows names and attributes that will slot a smart listener.

And yesterday, we covered a lot of the introduction, we said that the whole class was going to be divided into three. The first was going to be kind of an intro. The second was going to be

principles, general principles for understanding allows names and attributes. And the third and largest section of this book is going to be going one by one through a lot of names, at least the ones that we're aware of,

and discussing not just what they mean, but also their application and relevance to our lives. So we just have one point left, as far as the introduction goes, and that has to do with the author because we are following a book

whose name is the understanding allows names and attributes. And this is this book is written by a contemporary author. His name is Abdullah Zach even on diversen Alberto and he is one of the most well known scholars in Medina. He teaches classes both at the Islamic University of Medina and at the prophets machine.

So Allahu alayhi wa sallam, and he is the son of the biggest Hadith scholar in Medina, whose name is on the notion of

Sheikh Abdullah, my son has probably the biggest lesson in the prophets machine out of all of the lessons, he attracts an enormous crowd. He's very old. I had him as a teacher, when it came to my lessons at the Islamic University as well.

He's in a wheelchair, but he's constantly flocked and surrounded by students asking him questions. So this book was written by his son of the rose and I'm gonna zap is more of a specialist in,

in Athena, in theology and things of that nature, and that's what he teaches at the Islamic University and mostly at the heart of in Medina as well.

Um, if anybody understands Arabic, you can benefit from all the lectures that are

that go on in the home, in the prophets messy, they're actually recorded. So there's a website that where they record all the lessons by subject by teacher by date, and you can take advantage of those if you speak Arabic, which comes to the importance of learning Arabic, which we'll talk about inshallah at some point today. So that concludes the introduction. Now we're going to get into the second part of this class which has to do with general principles for understanding allows names and attributes Swati comma Sidama de la Mohammed. So there are several that the author mentions and will mention most of them. The first is that all of Allah's names are good, they are perfect, they are

excellent. And this comes all is based from the idea of the poor N and sorted out off while Illa Hill Asma UL Husna Fedorov will be here. So Allah says himself, that to Allah belongs as Matt would Hausner. Alas Matt is the plural of Assam it means that names and Al Hausner is what we call is some tough leave in Arabic. It is a superlative. So just like you have

good, better best in English you have Kibi echo, echo in Arabic for something of quality, and then a comparative of better and then best being the superlative, the absolute pinnacle of that quality. So Allah uses this superlative to describe his own names. He says Lila Hill as Matt will husana al Hausner is the superlative in the feminine form. So what Allah means by this is that his names are complete good. They are

perfect. They are the pinnacle, the epitome of good they're not mixed with any sort.

I have deficiency nor access. And this will become clearer as we get into examples and learn other some of the other principles as well. But the implication here is that there's two, first, that there are no names that are out there that are better than Allah's names. Right? He said that he has the best names. So that means that any other names that we give to a lot, sort of through our own reasoning, or our own kind of observations,

they're not going to be as good as a laws names that he described himself with.

And this has a second issue which is related to it, which is that when we explain the last names, whether in Arabic, or especially in translation, we're not really using Allah's names, a lot, chose the Arabic language

to speak in to speak the Koran in and to reveal to us his best names, his perfect, excellent names. And so in English, when we translate, okay,

if we say that a rough man is the Most Merciful of Rahim is the Most Gracious, there's kind of these qualities that we have in English that we're trying to get close to the meaning, we have to realize that we can't get too attached to the way that we phrase things in English because at the end of the day, Allah's names are in Arabic, and they are what they mean in Arabic. So when we translate it, we're kind of making an approximation, we're getting as close as possible. And one of the benefits that we can take from this point is the motivation to both study and understand classical Arabic, the language that a lot chose to speak the Koran, the language that he chose to send down the final

revelation, and the sunnah of our Prophet salallahu Alaihe. Salam, his language, there's, it's not accidental. It's not random, that Allah chose the Arabic language as opposed to other languages, there's purpose behind it. And Arabic as one of my teachers used to say is like, he called it we are a Ye, it's like, how if you have a vessel, like a bottle, or a cup or a bowl, whatever you pour into it, it's going to shape what you pour into it. So the Arabic language has been compared to the vessel of the of the Revelation, it shapes it, due to the qualities of the language, the expressions of the language, these sorts of things. And so if you want to get as close as possible, to

understanding Allah's words, to understanding Allah's names and attributes, and to feeling in your heart, that kind of proximity and closeness to a lot, then it will get you there or it will get you closer to that the more you study classical Arabic and I can attest to this in my own life. The more that you understand of Arabic the closer generally, you will feel to the the words of Allah.

So this is the first principle, first principle that Allah's names are good, they are excellent, they are perfect. The second principle when it comes to understanding allows names is that each of Allah's names represents a different quality of perfection. Right? They're not substitutable. So a raw man is not the same as a Rahim. Allah zap is not the same as alcohol, or Albus EP, or El COVID. Each name has a specific meaning that belongs to that name.

And this might seem like a, an obvious point, but there's a historically important dimension to all of this. Anybody who attended the Sunday class last week, knows that we spoke a little bit about the sect called the Tesla. And one of the things that that Tesla did, we mentioned that they were kind of hyper rationalists they had these kinds of these kinds of philosophical principles.

And they believe in them so much unquestioningly that they contorted and distorted the revelation to jive with their principles. So one of their conclusions was that Allah's names and attributes were complete, lead divorced from meanings that we can know, basically, that they were just pure mystery and pure symbol. And we had no idea what they meant. Their logic was their logic was that if we're going to call a law, Rahim and we find that this quality also exists in the creation, this mercy, then there's a similitude. There, there's a similarity between a law and his creation. And we can't have that because we know Allah is completely different entirely and categorically from his

creation. So the reason that the name must not mean, what it seems to mean,

we bring this up because going through the aspects of Allah's names and attributes that contradict this principle, will also help us understand a laws names and attributes more generally. So if we're asking the question,

Why can't Allah's names just be empty signifiers? How do we know that they have specific meanings? And that the meanings aren't substitutable? Each and every meeting is distinct? Well, there's several ways. First of all, that in the Koran, when Allah uses his names, he often will go on to disavow the opposite of that names, meaning, so for example, and I so the corsi we have

in the whole Hioki home letter, or the whole scene at all what now? So Allah says that he is at a height, I'll call you will translate it as the EverLiving. And the self sufficient.

If those names were just empty symbols, divorced of any sort of meaning that we could kind of figure out, then why would Allah then say right after it, let's call the WHO Sina tone what I know.

Neither tiredness nor slumber nor fatigue overtake Allah.

So right here, Allah has used two names and height, I will call you. And then he's negated the opposite of those names, or sort of things that would take away from those names, deficiencies in those names. Right. And so we know from this kind of pairing, that there has to be an actual distinct meaning that Allah intended when he used his name's similarly, we have an assault on telephone upon whatsoever, Arlen height, Isla de la jolla notes, Allah says, and rely upon and hate that Ever Living, who never dies. Right. So often you'll find in the Quran, Allah pairing a mention of his name with a disavowal or refutation of its opposite. And by that we come to know precisely

the meaning even better.

Second, because if it were true, if it were true, that the names didn't have meanings, specific to each one, then there would be no purpose or relevance in pairing certain names at the end of certain verses in the Koran. And we find this all over the Koran. And it's actually something that's very inspiring if you start to pay attention to it, because it kind of colors, what Allah is trying to tell you. So for example, when a law is going through the inheritance versus he ends the first section with after he says that battle can have an outcome later on, au au Han apabila kanessa. He says, Listen, you don't really know who would be best to give your inheritance to

and then he ends the ayat. Subhan Allah to Allah by saying, in the law, how can I even Hekima that certainly Allah is ever knowing and wise, with what he does. It's as if he's trying to give you further confidence. If you were in doubt, if you were in doubt at all, that there could be any

sort of error or miscalculation, if you are anticipating some sort of other result. Allah is reassuring you by saying he's Amin and he's hacking. And he is he knows everything and he is the most wise. Similarly when it comes to laws that have to do a scene with criminal law or the punishments a lot often like when it says a Saturday on Saturday for to photo idea Homer desert and the castle, that Nikhil Amin Allah, and then he finishes the AI by saying that a lot is eyes ease and hacking. So now Allah has described himself at the end of this idea as irresistible, the Compeller these sorts of these sorts of qualities, and Hakeem wise in what he does, to put you at

ease if there was any sort of doubt about these sorts of punishments, which now we have many people doubting them, they seem barbaric, they seem like they're too harsh, or Allah's, finishing the area, almost anticipating that you would have that doubt and answering it by listing a specific name of his.

Now, when it comes to sin, there are some sins like stealing, and

killing, murder and things like that, that most people will never, you know, a lot of people will never ever commit them in their lives. Then there's other major sins that people fall into all the time. And so a lot changes the names that he pairs with those sorts of verses. So for example, when it comes to backbiting

This is a major sin. However, look at how Allah ends the verse and how different it is from the other verses we talked about when Allah says, Yeah, yo, hello Lena, I'm an attorney. urges attorney Walker theater I'm in Oman in the Battle of on Islam, all that adjusts. And so what I haven't talked about to combat Allah, are you headbutt, I had to come a color last Murthy. He made sense her character more what type of law that he finished, he says in the law had to wobble Rahim.

So, this is a major sin, backbiting, suspicion.

Spying on each other, right. But it's something that's easy to fall into. It's something that probably most people fall into. Hopefully not daily, but at least weekly, maybe monthly, if we're really amazing. And so, Allah finishes the verse, not by saying he's Aziz Jabbar, Kohima tiene these sort of thing, these sort of names that inspire fear and, you know, trembling, he ends up by saying and Allah Tala Rahim that Allah is always turning to his servants and forgiveness when they repent. And that he is Rahim he's the Most Merciful of, of any more merciful than anything that that we find in this creation. So

if a last names were just empty signifiers, we would be deprived of so much meaning in the Koran. And it would just be these kinds of random sort of signifiers at the end of these verses. When in reality, if we pay close attention to the names that Allah mentions, after these verses, we'll understand exactly the shade of what a lot is trying to tell us.

Actually, this is a story narrated by Immanuel claim, and his book agenda of ham. He narrates a story where there were a couple of people traveling centuries and centuries and centuries ago through the desert, and they were leading the prayer. And the people behind them in prayer following along were Bedouins, they were illiterate, they didn't know the Koran. They just had their you know, traditional kind of poetry and things like that. And someone recited one of the areas of criminal punishment. I believe it was the one that I had mentioned before about theft was Saudi, who was referred to photo ad Houma. And then they ended the person reciting, and did the idea or his

recitation with wala who have a photo Rahim.

So he made a mistake.

And even though claim says that one of the veterans came up to the Imam after the prayer and said, this isn't the words of Allah, it can't be because it doesn't make sense. And sure enough, when they went to refer to a third party, who knew the poor and better or was able to remind him, then sure enough, the words were iseven hygiene, because that fit the meaning of the verse.

The next

First thing that we have that proves this point that also helps us understand Allah's names is that

when we make dua

Allah mentioned in this ayah that we first started with what Allah He'll smell will help snuff the earth will be whether or levena you will head on her feet SMA E, so a lot of sense to Him belong, the perfect the best names and then he's has a command Federico who will be here. So call upon him by them.

Make dua make supplication to Allah by these names that he he has and he's telling you, and if we look at the dua of the prophets of Allah, Allah He was summoned, we find this careful pairing, just as a law paired His names with certain verses in the Quran, according to the meaning. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa salam paired his dua with a certain name of a law that corresponded to the type of thing that he was asking about. And we see this for anyone who's praised the salata. istikhara, right, if you're making a decision, you see, there's this kind of long list of attributes and names that the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa salam referred to, if you're looking for risk, then

you want to call upon a rose up, if you're looking for mercy, then you want to, then you want to call upon a rough man and Rahim, these sorts of things. So when we realize this,

that allows names are all distinct, and they each have a distinct corresponding meaning to them, then it helps us organize and get closer to Allah through our supplication and through our dua.

So that was all tied to the second principle, the second principle of Allah's names, which is that every name refers to a specific meaning unto itself.

The next principle, the third one, to relevant to Allah's names and attributes is that

all of Allah's names, although there are many,

all refer, or point back to the same entity, which is Allah.

Now, this seems to be a very simple point. However, if you spend time thinking about it,

the roots of all idolatry and polytheism ship is due to a misunderstanding of this principle.

We have to account for shift, we have to account for the reason why it exists, especially to our children.

There's something to a worldview that has more power. And it has, it's able to convince more, if it's able to account for all the phenomena that you see in your life. This is why for example, it's very, very difficult for a Christian to do Dalits and Muslims, because their race, religion doesn't account for ours at all. According to them, Jesus was supposed to be the final, you know, one sense, right? vicarious atonement, all these sorts of things that they weren't expecting, at least, according to them. Now, their official doctrine is that they weren't expecting anything after Jesus.

Muslims, however, we know Jesus, he's our Prophet as well. And we believe in Him. And we also knew that there was going to be a prophet after him. So the Islamic worldview, and theory of history takes into account Christian history and explains it. And so it's more compelling.

So we are in need of accounting for

the existence of idolatry in the world, because I'll tell you what your children probably hear at public school or certainly college if they get there. They hear this kind of accounts of religions. That's based off of an evolutionary model. So they'll hear that, okay, people, human beings as they evolved, they began by practicing idolatry and polytheism with many gods and then they evolved their religion evolved into monotheism.

Right. And so, all of this kind of accounts, this anthropological

A secular account of religious history makes religion seem like something that people made up.

Because it's something that changed according to human evolution and development.

So we're in need of our own kind of taking into account

of the fact that idolatry exists. The fact that other religions and faith traditions exist.

And it's a big question. So instead of putting you on the spot, I'll give you my perspective on it is that it all comes back to this principle of understanding laws names.

Understanding that each and every one of Allah's names, even though they're different, even though they represent different qualities, or aspects of Allah, they all point back to the same single entity.

If we look at idolatry, we find that idolatry, it takes on two main forms, and they each are based off of a violation of this principle.

The first is

recognizing that there are these individual different names and different qualities, but separating them into separate entities. So if we believe that Allah is a rock man, and he is eligible, and he is alcohol, we

the polytheistic, or the idolatrous interpretation of it, like so, or the devolution, the opposite of evolution of that is to imagine that a rough man is a God. And Al Rahim is another God. And elgible is a third God, and I'll call we is a fourth God.

Right? So this allows us to take into account

the existence of idolatry according to Islamic and Islamic theory of history, which is the opposite of the secular one that your children are probably being taught. Where we believe that everything began with monotheism, everything began with Tawheed.

And then, these deviations came later on, people separated all of those qualities and characteristics of Allah into different different entities, and made them into separate gods.

That's the first way and probably the most common way to account for idolatry. The second way or the second type of idolatry is when someone takes

a creature that's walking on Earth, a person and exaggerates the qualities that they have in common with Allah until they make that person share in Allah's divinity.

We have a famous example here and how the Christians treat Jesus, a man who was a prophet, who ate and drank and had to sleep. Right. But he had qualities of mercy. And he had qualities of truthfulness, and all of these sort of what we would say in English parlance, godly characteristics.

So, when people exaggerated

the degree of these qualities, they raised him to the level of a deity until they imagine them as the same entity, that God and Jesus are actually the same exact entity, or in Southeast Asia grave worship.

I believe you, but I'll have to take your name for it, because I don't. I'm not that familiar with it. But yeah, I mean, if you look at it, right, you see that once you see the patterns, you see how even all of the specific examples are merely follow on the same, maybe two or three patterns. They all involve these two moves, either distributing the entity of a law over multiple entities according to his characteristics, or taking an individual who shares a quality with a law in some degree and exaggerating the degree of that quality until you

He and Allah are one.

So understanding this principle, that it's a dual principle, the first part we said was that Allah's names, each of them represents a different quality.

That's specific, they're not interchangeable. They're not synonyms. Yet at the same time, they all point back to the same single entity, all of Tawheed is based off of these two principles.

The next principle that the sheikh mentions is that Allah's names are not eligible for HT hat.

They are not open to our kind of logical deduction. They're not accessible to our reason, when it comes to deriving them or obtaining them, they are what we call an Arabic tau p fi, we stop where Allah stops.

When it comes to everything that Allah says in the Quran, we can divide everything into two categories. One of them is called a cover, which is information about reality. And the other is called in shot which is directives, commands, prohibitions things of this nature.

When it comes to

abrogation, let's say for example, maybe you're familiar with abrogation, abrogation, the A bit like the possibility that a law could replace one piece of guidance with another

is only possible in the second category in sharp when it comes to commands and prohibitions because those things are tied to human interest. And human interests, even if it is largely consistent over centuries, it might change from place to place. A classic example is how, when Adam was on earth, and he had children, they had to procreate and marry as well. And so for that time, their shut er, was different in that they were allowed to marry to intermarry because that was the only way to procreate. Once the situation changed, that law was changed and abrogated. It was tied to human interest. So Allah does this sort of thing with law in shot but he never does it with Hubbard, he

never changes his description of reality because it is just that it's reality. It's not something that's amendable to change. So when it comes to Allah's names, and attributes, what Allah is telling you, it falls into the first category, it falls into hover Allah's informing you about the the reality of himself, he's informing you about his nature. And so it's not something that's eligible for

for a placement or for inventiveness or for us deriving it on our own. We rely upon a lot to describe himself because allows names and attributes are part of the unseen

even if his activity or aspects or results of his character manifest in the creation this is something well known to the early scholars mmm ashmit said a lot is not to be described except by that which he described himself or that which the prophets of Allah hottie he was send them described himself described him by it does not go beyond the Koran, and the Hadith, even on the bar said something pretty much the exact same thing. And Jen, Diane Elmore, fogli.

Running out of time will just quickly mention the last principles as much as we can.

Or maybe we'll just do one one, so that we are sure that we don't run out of time that will take questions. So the last principle we'll talk about today, in sha Allah, allows names

are specific to him,

meaning no one else shares in them either in kind or in degree. What do we mean by that? It will become apparent when we answer a question and I'll ask this question to you please let me know what you think. Can someone be named

one of the laws names?

Is it allowed or no?

You can either unmute yourself or you can answer in the chat box

Oh good. I'm glad.

Okay, good say families, right? They say as long as you say I'm okay OB do we all know that that's okay. But we're not talking about that we're saying you're naming someone Allah's name

without IVD

is it allows or not?

If it's allowed, is it allowed for all those names? Some of his name's

Sheikh family says not allowed without odd.

Samira says no as well. We have consensus, I think.

The reality is a laws names can be separated into two categories, which is kind of what I was mentioning in the title of this principle I said in degree or inkind, we find that there is actually someone in the Koran

that has a name, who is named after Allah.

Anybody know who it is?

Good idea sender. Not correct, though. So there was not any of Allah.

The answer for the sake of time is Al Aziz remember as his wife and Egypt al Aziz in Ronda to the Aziz.

Or I'm sorry, not, we're talking about a story of use of not asking his wife, the husband of the woman who got into trouble with use of Alehissalaam al Aziz. And Allah calls him by that name Al Aziz al Aziz. So the scholars say that there's two types of names. There are some types of names that correspond to characteristics that are exclusive to Allah entirely. For example, a rough man,

alcoholic, I will pay you, I'll hide these things, it's not permissible to name anyone by because these things are by their meaning totally and completely exclusive to Allah subhanaw taala. However, there are a couple of names a few of them that

they correspond to character characteristics that people might have to a lesser degree in the creative world, and it is permissible to have a name by them such as an Malik the king Aziz, right. Like we just saw the story of use of an even algebra

every all the other names, as the family said, you have to have an OB, OB, the rough man, Abdullah, Khalid, Abdullah, KU, all of these sorts of things. Okay, that's probably all we can reasonably cover for today.

We Yeah, Mashallah. We got through a good amount. Does anybody have any questions in the remaining two minutes that we have?

Could be about this lesson or other lessons or anything at all?

But still not recommended to name allies ease? I would say I would say so. That's what's apparent to me.

I would have to return to the books to give you 100% clarity on that. But anytime that you get close to something that could be misinterpreted like that, then

it's probably best to steer clear, and we definitely know that the other names are better. The two best names to allow are of the lawn of the rough man. Then the names of the prophets, the Prophet Muhammad sights set on told us this. Is there consensus among the scholars that those few names are permissible? I'll be honest with you, it doesn't mention in the book whether they are or not, but I can look into that for you and have an answer, Inshallah, by the next class,

Any final questions

okay, thank you everyone. May Allah bless you. And may Allah bless this class and make it beneficial knowledge for us that we see in our scales on the Day of Judgment. I'm in what yeah come to panic

mode to be late. I'll see you later charts so don't worry come what happens a lot he