Section Fatiha, part 3

Section Fatiha, part 3

Recap: We keep reciting “bismillah” on every occasion, which is the first verse of the first Section Fatiha of the Quran.  Since it is recited frequently throughout the day, we need to tap into its meanings at a deeper level.  To live in the presence of God, we must qualify Allah (God), with its qualities, and make it applicable to our lives.  For example, God, the Nourisher; God, the Health Giver; God, the Form Giver…  

ٱللَّهُ لَآ إِلَـٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ ۖ لَهُ ٱلْأَسْمَآءُ ٱلْحُسْنَىٰ

20:8 “God: There is no god but Him: only to Him belong the most excellent names (qualities).

In the above verse, the way it starts makes us question “What” or “Who” is this God that I am being introduced to in the Quran?  Then, we are being told that there is no god to be found in this universe, which is an encouragement for us to confirm that this statement is true.  We cannot attribute anything of this universe to be a god who has the power to create because the things themselves are in need to be created.  We are being told in the verse that all the qualities that we experience here such as beauty, health, shape, mercy… must belong to “Him” who is the Creator of the whole universe.  

What this verse is really saying is that the most excellent of qualities can only belong to this One, and His Proper Name is “God” (Allah).  The qualifications of God are being specified with the specific characteristics, just as I am being introduced to someone and told  that her name is “Jane”.  In and of itself, the name Jane would not mean much.  Only after I hear her singing, from the quality of her voice and singing, do I specify Jane with the specific qualifications that I have experienced and seen manifested, so then, I can call her “Jane, the singer.”  Similarly, we are being told that no one deserves to be qualified with the most excellent qualities that we observe in creation, except its Creator whose name is “God”.  Therefore, we must be vigilant, when we speak and reason.  For example,  seeing that the baby is growing, we need to question who can create the growth of the baby?  We need to realize that the material elements of the body of the baby do not have any quality to think of the future, do not have free will to choose the best option for the baby and do not have the power to give the body a new changed existence. Only then can  we  say that the One who performs these acts of creation in a miraculous way is God, who is the One who is Giving the shape, size and form to the baby. Claiming by saying “God is the One who is growing the baby” cannot go beyond baseless claim. Similar to, without hearing Jane singing if I just claim that Jane is a singer would be just a claim.

• Without the specific qualification to the proper name of God i.e. “Allah”, our acknowledgment of God would not attain higher meanings and depths.

We must have heard some Islamic scholars pinpoint that asma-ul-husna (beautiful Names of God) encapsulates all the qualities of God.  The question then becomes, am I aware when I experience these qualities practically that they belong to God, and are a way for me to acknowledge and communicate with God?  Some Hadith narrations (Prophetic sayings) also mention the “99 Names of God”, which consists of a list of the most frequent and observable qualities widespread in other Hadith narrations and compiled by scholars.  However, limiting God’s qualities to only 99 Names CANNOT do justice to the Lord of the universe.  When we conclude God to be an Absolute Being, something not of the nature of this universe, it also means that we cannot put a number to its qualities, because He must be the One only to whom we attribute all the qualities (Names) to be the Creator of the entire universe to.  Furthermore, some Islamic Literature mentions “1001 Names of God”, which is a way of expressing the limitless names of God, letting the reader know that God’s names are more than 1000, and infinite. We can get to know them only after discovering the qualities in the existence of beings. We know that scientific researchers are discovering new qualities in the existence of beings and opening new departments to specialize on these qualities every year.  Regardless of whether the researchers acknowledge that these qualities cannot be the actions of dumb matter or not, we are aware that we cannot be simple minded to claim that unconscious matter can be the source of these miraculous existence.

This verse is alluding to the fact that “Only the One who has the most excellent, infinite and limitless of qualities, is called “God (Allah)”.  That is God must have an endless number of qualities, and each of these qualities has infinite degrees.  For example, a child may experience God’s Mercy when the mother makes his/her favorite food.  Also, the child may experience God’s Mercy which allows him to enjoy the delicious food.  Additionally, the child may experience God’s Mercy for enabling him to properly digest the food.  The list goes on, showing that Mercy has endless degrees.  As adults, we must extend these acts of Mercy to God’s Ever Mercifulness i.e. the need for eternal enjoyment with God.  

In the verse above, the word “husna” is the plural for “endless beauty”, which means perfection of the qualities.  When we talk about God, we should be aware of its infinite qualities, which are listed in the Sciences of Biology, Physics, Psychology, Mathematics and Chemistry, just to name a few disciplines.  In these disciplines, we may be used to hearing certain buzzwords such as “natural laws” or “randomly happenings”, just to name a few, as to be a set of principles that are given existence in the universe.  Unfortunately, these buzzwords are wrongfully attributed to the universe itself or something obscure, rather than the Creator of the universe.  The Creator of the universe creates His order, which are referred to as “sunnat-ullah” in Islamic Scholarship, and they point to the qualities of God.  For example, the Energy Giver, the Evaporator, the Designer of snowflakes…  

Finally, whatever phenomenon or concepts that Science describes in the universe using buzzwords, in fact, they should refer to the infinite qualities of its Creator.  We must renew our understanding of the vocabulary that we employ in our reasonings, so that we do not get trapped within these baseless jargon.  For example, rather than saying the egg is developed in the body of the hen naturally, say that that is how God’s order of creation functions and He creates the hen and the egg gradually by renewing their existence within the content of the whole universe every moment.

هُوَ ٱللَّهُ ٱلْخَـٰلِقُ ٱلْبَارِئُ ٱلْمُصَوِّرُ ۖ لَهُ ٱلْأَسْمَآءُ ٱلْحُسْنَىٰ ۚ يُسَبِّحُ لَهُۥ مَا فِى ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ ۖ وَهُوَ ٱلْعَزِيزُ ٱلْحَكِيمُ

Hashr, 59:24 “He is God: the Creator, the Originator, the Form Giver.  The best names belong to Him.  Everything in the heavens and earth glorifies Him: He is the Almighty, the Wise.”

A materialist mindset would say that matter is eternal, or matter happens to exist by itself, because the latter would beg the question of what created the matter (and so they rather avoid questioning the source of existence of the matter based on evidence in the body of matter, since they do not accept the Creator of the universe)?  Now, if something is eternal, then it should not have a beginning and continuously changing, but we observe that matter has a beginning and is changing.  Look at your own existence, you are constantly changing and renewing.  Can you stop yourself from getting old?  No.  If something is changing and cannot stop itself from undergoing this change, then how can it be eternal to the point of existing by itself?  We must be cautious of such irrational thinking!

The verse above (59:24) can be broken down into 4 stages of reasoning:

Stage 1

هُوَ ٱللَّهُ ٱلْخَـٰلِقُ ٱلْبَارِئُ ٱلْمُصَوِّرُ

“He is God: the Creator, the Originator, the Form Giver.”

Who is the Maker of matter and beings in the universe?  The Quran says, “He”, and His name is “Allah”.  He is the Creator (Al-Khaliq), everything at every moment is created newly by Him i.e. brought into existence; He is the Originator (Al-Bari’), everything at every moment originates uniquely by Him. Let us focus on the meaning of “originating”, which means that it did not exist before.  (The way the universe comes into existence is not like mass-produced goods that we see in stores.). We must refresh our minds with the fact that every time a new existence is given to us, it is unique from the rest of creation and is not like the prior moment.  He is the Form Giver (Al-Musawwir).  We all have unique fingerprints, unique face, unique voice, unique way of walking…  No two bodies of a baby are the same in each moment.  For example, Jane’s 5 years of existence is unique to her characteristics;  John’s 5 years of existence is unique to his characteristics in each year, even each day, of their ages. At every moment we are brought into existence, so can we count the number of shades of “uniqueness” we find ourselves with?  No.  We are also constantly changing, so how can we keep up with all the qualities that are manifested around us?!  We can only understand that the One who gives existence to our uniqueness must have Absolute unique qualities.

Stage 2

لَهُ ٱلْأَسْمَآءُ ٱلْحُسْنَىٰ”

“The best names belong to Him.”

After mentioning the qualities of creating, originating, and form giving, the Quran encourages us to keep continuing with all the qualities that we experience, because only to Him must belong the most excellent of (Names) qualities.  This verse illustrates that we cannot count the qualities (Names) of our Lord.  This verse serves as a reminder that if we notice any qualities manifested in objects and events that we experience, those qualities belong to its Creator.

Stage 3

يُسَبِّحُ لَهُۥ مَا فِى ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ

“Everything in the heavens and earth glorifies Him.”

Where should I learn all the qualities (Names) of God?  Should I enroll in some special studies and memorize 1001 words as qualities of God?  Not at all!  The Quran is asking us to look into our own practical life experiences, everything that we encounter manifests the qualities of its Creator.  That is, when we study the universe, we will see that everything in the heavens and earth glorifies Him.  We can learn those qualities from any discipline we study.  For example, in Biology class we are told that the cell splits by its own material elements’ actions according to their random choices.  We must connect this phenomenon to the Creator’s qualities of “Fatir” the One who creates new forms of the cell at every moment by splitting the cell.  The way the verse is presented is asking us to generalize the experience of the manifested qualities based on our practical encounters.  Again, we are being asked to investigate the universe to look for these qualities manifested in creation, so that our hearts can be fully satisfied about God’s presence in our lives.  Otherwise, whatever we read in the Quran and the Hadith about the beautiful names of God, will just remain as learning in order to have information about what they said.  The Prophetic teachings probe us to be cognizant of our living experiences because the qualities of God are physically being demonstrated right in front of us, so how can we deny the Creator is introducing Himself to us and communicating with us?

• This is what “bismillah” entails when we utter it with anything that we are doing, either when we are drinking water, speaking to an audience, picking up the phone, doing an assignment, before sleeping, listening to others…  All these actions are realized through the way God creates and demonstrates His qualities in the things that I am experiencing.  It is imperatively important that we be mindful of this!

Stage 4

وَهُوَ ٱلْعَزِيزُ ٱلْحَكِيمُ

“He is the Almighty, the Wise.”

The conclusion phrase in the above verse is “He is the Almighty (Al-Azeez), the Wise (Al-Hakeem).  The word “Azeez” has two shades of meaning, one is Almighty and the other is  Honorable (izzah) at the same time. This cannot be exemplified by beings. For example, Government authority has power but no honor, because most people hate them for imposing taxes.  Another example, a serious scholar has honor but has no power to impose her scholarship on her disciples.  The Creator of the universe has both honor and power, where everything in the universe witnesses this reality.

يَوْمَئِذٍۢ لَّا تَنفَعُ ٱلشَّفَـٰعَةُ إِلَّا مَنْ أَذِنَ لَهُ ٱلرَّحْمَـٰنُ وَرَضِىَ لَهُۥ قَوْلًۭا

قُلِ ٱدْعُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ أَوِ ٱدْعُوا۟ ٱلرَّحْمَـٰنَ أَيًّا مَّا تَدْعُوا۟ فَلَهُ ٱلْأَسْمَآءُ ٱلْحُسْنَىٰ وَلَا تَجْهَرْ بِصَلَاتِكَ وَلَا تُخَافِتْ بِهَا وَٱبْتَغِ بَيْنَ ذَٰلِكَ سَبِيلًا

17:110 “Say, Call on God, or call on the All-Merciful.  By whichever name you call on, the most beautiful names are His!  And pray, not loudly nor whispering, but in a moderate voice.”

Our wondering should be, if God’s qualities are infinite, then how can I communicate with Him?  That is where the above verse comes to our help.

“Call on God” means to pray to God, present your invocation to God, present your supplication to Him alone.  For example, John prays to God, “O God!  I need a means of transportation, no one can help me.”  These words “no one can help me” implies that John is aware that he needs someone to help him.  In other words, as believers in God, we are aware that we need Someone to help us.  If a person realizes the Creator, then s/he means “God”.  If a person does not realize the Creator, s/he would just shout, “if only I can get a means of transportation.”  Unfortunately, this invocation is futile, because there is no acknowledgment of a Conscious Creator.  Such futile invocation is a wishful thinking, where the person is declaring their reality i.e., I am needy, but they have no point of support to direct their needs to.  Regardless of believing in God or not, we are all needy whether we acknowledge the Creator or we acknowledge Mother Nature , because accordingly we present our needs.  When human beings feel their neediness, it means that we need the help from Something else, hence we must find out the right address for a point of support to send our supplication to i.e. the One who created us with this need to seek His help.  That is the mission of the Quran, to introduce us with how to supplicate to the Creator of the universe.  

The second part of the verse says, “Call on the All-Merciful”.  Let us say that you are ill, you say “O God! The Merciful One, please cure me O Healer (Ya Shafee), O Protector keep my health (Ya Kafee)!”  At different times throughout the day, you may be calling to the qualities of your Lord while doing actions and you may not be aware of those.  For example, when you are hungry, you are calling upon “The Nourisher” (Al-Razzaq); when you are thirsty, you are calling upon “The Quencher” (Al-Saaqee).  Hence, whatever we are doing, we should be aware of certain qualities of God that we are invoking.  It is not a big deal if we do not know the specific name of the physical action, in this regard, the Quran is flexible and asks us to call on “God”or the “Most-Merciful One” (Ar-Rahman) or the “Ever-Merciful One” (Ar-Raheem).  Again, whichever name of God that you call on, has the acknowledgment of its Creator’s qualities in its existence.  Let’s say that your ears are aching, and you hope that they should not ache.  At this moment, whatever relief, healing, and salvation that you want, although you may not name it, the need to hear without pain is there.  In this situation, you need “Al-Samee” (the Hearing One), but you do not have to know the exact word for acknowledging His qualities of “the Hearing Provider”.  Rather, the recognition of referring this need of “hearing with ease and the Provider of Hearing” to the Creator of the universe is the point.  This verse lets us know that there is flexibility about whichever Name I use to call on God.  That relaxes our heart, because we do not stress on not knowing the exact names to what we need at the moment.  If you have time, it is beneficial to know the Names, but not to the point of stressing over it. 

• Regardless of whatever names you choose to call on God, remember that the most perfect qualities are His because you are addressing Him!  The point is to be aware that only the Creator of the universe can respond to my needs when I interact with the universe.

Some of the names that are mentioned in the Quran are what we mostly encounter on a daily basis, but again the list of the qualities (names of God) manifested in the universe is endless and infinite.  

The latter part of the verse is pinpointing to the fact that our relationship with God is simple to maintain.  While you are praying, do so in a tone that fits your character best, whatever occurs to you as sweet and loveable, neither loud nor whisper, a moderate voice.  The point is not to lose yourself in the actual forms of your actions, but the consciousness of God (through His Names) is what matters.  Living with the awareness presented in these verses help us make our life easier but prompts us to be extremely conscious.  We cannot be careless with our dealings and interactions in the universe to the point of not acknowledging the Creator with His qualities as He deserves to be glorified.  

وَلِلَّهِ ٱلْأَسْمَآءُ ٱلْحُسْنَىٰ فَٱدْعُوهُ بِهَا ۖ وَذَرُوا۟ ٱلَّذِينَ يُلْحِدُونَ فِىٓ أَسْمَـٰٓئِهِۦ ۚ سَيُجْزَوْنَ مَا كَانُوا۟ يَعْمَلُونَ

7:180 “And the most beautiful names belong to God, so invoke Him by them.  And leave those who deviate concerning His names.  They will be recompensed for what they used to do.”

Some people say that the Quran is full of repetition, however, this repetition is drawing our attention to the various aspects of our dealings and interaction with the universe.  Just as a school building has many rooms and they may look the same, all the rooms have a different function.  Similarly, all the bricks that make up a building have a different positioning in the whole body of the building.  In exactly the same way, every verse in the Quran uses certain common vocabulary, but it is meant to be for a different context, and hence the meaning slightly changes to match the specific conditions.  

In the above verse, “asma-ul-husna” is used within the context of acknowledging God with whatever of His Names that occurs to us by keeping a few points in mind.  First, those who choose to wrongfully attribute the qualities of God to anything of this universe i.e. buzzwords such as “nature” will face the consequences of their ignorance.  Second, everyone is free to choose the direction of their attentiveness towards creation and acknowledging God.  Just as in a school, the students are free to attend the class where some students choose not to do the assignments or not to pay attention to what the teacher is teaching.  Regardless, everyone is treated equally from the school administration as far as having access to school resources (classes, teachers, library, cafeteria, gym, playground…).  Some students may rebel against the administration who still treats them justly, because the administration knows that the students have 4 years to fix their acts, after which they will face the consequence of no degree.  The administration at school keeps warning the students from time to time to get their act together so they can be ready for graduation.  Similarly, in the world, we see that God’s Mercy encompasses everything, and everyone is the recipient of God’s Mercy (Ar-Rahman) as much as they try to follow the order of the creation.  Hence, we cannot force people to believe and to pray, for they will face the consequences of their actions in the next creation.  That is what the Quran says.  In the school example above, the graduation day is where degrees are awarded. It is not the responsibility of the other students to decide whether a particular student deserves to receive the degree or not; it is the administration who will decide. If a student loves and therefore wants to help their fellow students, they can only remind and encourage them kindly to take the education seriously without forcing them. They may even help them with  their assignments by being a good example. This is the mission of the prophets and their followers in their mission. In our practical day interactions, the graduation day is the “day of Resurrection,” and we shall get what we deserve.  Thus, it is of no use to get angry or upset with people who do not choose to acknowledge God and live their lives according to that principle.

وَعَلَّمَ ءَادَمَ ٱلْأَسْمَآءَ كُلَّهَا

2:31 “And He taught Adam the Names, all of them…”

Finally, let us come to ourselves.  Every human being is taught the perfect qualities of His Creator.  It means that I have been given the qualities to know the Names of my Creator potentially.  It is as if we are endowed with a key chain of every Name of God, and we must use it to unlock that potential to acknowledge the Names of God as manifested in His creation including ourselves.  The Creator’s recognition of His perfect qualities is given to us, so we should not waste ourselves.

If we do not cultivate our seed, then the potentiality dies.  Knowing the Names of God is not like knowing objects such as a pencil, paper, pen…  Rather, these Names refer to what we experience in creation which needs to be used to connect to its Creator.  Our reality is being told in this verse, and we are guided to recognize the Names of God manifested in the way He creates everything by taking care of our seeds, allowing it to grow into a tree before we die, otherwise it rots. 

Again, we must pay attention to the manifested Names of God to grow our potential, rather than ignoring our reality and getting trapped in “jargons” like “random happening” which have no logical reality in the universe.  How can something of this universe be the source of existence of this universe?  It’s absurd, as if saying that the engineer of the laptop is a part of the laptop acting within the laptop! 

Finally, believing in God is an experiential journey, you cannot imagine the existence of something if it is not of the nature of this universe.  Furthermore, you cannot confirm the existence of the Creator of the universe without experiencing its qualities manifested here.  Just as you do not know a person’s qualities unless s/he presents it to you, similarly, we can only know God as He performs His act in the universe.  That is why the Quran keeps emphasizing to keep paying attention to the creation in the universe, for everything points to its Creator.