Du'ah: Invocation to Allah- I

'Who is it that answers the distressed when they call upon Him? Who removes their suffering? Who makes you successors in the earth? Is it another god beside God? Little notice you take!' .---(Surah An-Naml; 27: 63).

After having expounded on the ATTRIBUTES OF ALLAH – and I hope that you understood the subject well - I begin today a series of sermons [Friday sermons] on invocations [to Allah] - DUAHS.

In the light of the verses that I have just recited before you, I will teach you some invocations (duahs) that Allah (swt) Himself taught me by His grace and His favours. And personally, I think that Allah (swt) had taught in the same way [these invocations] to His chosen servants in the past and I ask you all to listen carefully to these invocations and to say “Ameen” [May it be so] in your hearts.

Allah Himself opened my mind, enlightened my mind, and my heart, and He placed these extraordinary words on my lips [lit. in my mouth], so that I can address Him. As for me, I am just a beggar in front of [my doorstep] my Master’s door. It was by His grace and favours that He taught me how to address Him. Even if these invocations already exist, and I do not know of their existence, then it is a great favour of my Master to have taught them to me; certainly these are extraordinary invocations. So I have to be very grateful to my Allah [God] and I am very fortunate that Allah (swt) Himself taught me all these duahs [invocations]. Alhamdulillah.

O Allah, I am very weak, full of sins; every day by the weaknesses that overwhelm me [that I have], I commit sins. O Allah, I ask You to wash me of all my sins, to cleanse myself of all the faults that I have, to test my heart by the piety of hearts, O You Who effaces the stumbling of sinners.

The Attributes of Allah-XI

By the grace of Allah and the Tawfiq bestowed by Him, I have yet again the opportunity to continue to expound on the attributes of Allah (twa).

Hazrat Abu Huraira (ra) reported Allah’s Messenger (pbuh) as saying: “There are ninety-nine names of Allah; he who commits them to memory would get into paradise. Verily, Allah is odd [He is one, and it is an odd number] and He loves odd numbers.” (Muslim).

In the Hadith compilation, Sahih Al-Bukhari, it has been recorded concerning the beautiful names of Allah that they are ninety-nine, i.e. one hundred minus one, and whoever believes in their meanings and acts accordingly, will enter paradise; and Allah is Witr (One, which is an odd number) and loves ‘the witr’ (i.e. odd numbers).

Allah is the Creator (Al-Khaliq); the Formidable Creator. This attribute points to the complex and astonishingly beautiful organization of constituent parts of the universe with their complete dependence on an underlying order [that is fundamental and very precise] that is found both in the cosmic universe and each atom or microscopic element.

Man’s part in this lies in acquiring in his soul not only knowledge of the whole and the minutiae of the parts of the physical universe but in knowing generically, and in detail, the arrangements of the spiritual universe – things such as the role and rank of the different angels, as well as the advent of the messengers and prophets of Allah and their ranks in the divine order.

Asma’ul Husna: The Names of Allah

The Attributes of Allah- Part X

Wa lillaahil Asma’ul Husna, fad’uhu biha’.

The most beautiful names belong to Allah, so call on Him by them. (Al-Arraf 7: 181)

Asma’ul Husna, means the most beautiful names, and the most beautiful names indeed belong to Allah (twa).

In a Hadith compiled by Imam Bukhari (ra), it has been narrated that the Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said: 

“There are 99 names that are Allah’s alone, one hundred less one. Whoever (learns, understand, and) enumerates them, enters Paradise.” 

The Attributes of Allah- IX

The 'Fall' of Hazrat Adam (as)

Alhamdulillah, Summa Alhamdulillah we continue today on the subject of the attributes of Allah, and man’s thanksgiving to Allah for the sublime favours which He has done to him. We thank Him by mentioning Him by His most beautiful names.

Through the favours that Hazrat Adam (as) benefited from Allah during his creation and also afterwards, it appears to us that the elite has with God states [stages, emotions & connections] that they do not share with any other, and that it is through them, excluding ordinary beings, that God executes His plan.

The fact of having eaten the [forbidden] fruit, and the fall on earth which followed, had indeed many happy effects. But how could this disobedience to Allah have had good repercussions, you may ask? Well, in paradise, Adam and his wife knew God only under His attributes of Provider (Al Razzaq), Donor (Al Mu’ti), and Benefactor (Al Muhsin), but in His Secret Benevolence (Lutfihi Al-Khafi) which presides over the divine plan, it pleased God to reveal Himself to them as The Magnanimous (Al Halim), The One Who conceals [faults] (Al Sattar), The Forgiver (Al Ghafur), The Indulgent (Al Tawwab), and the One Who chooses [His elect] (Al-Mujtabi) among many other attributes. His magnanimity in fact meant that He did not hasten to punish them for their act, which is indeed the characteristic of this attribute, which leaves a delay to the sinner (whether to forgive him afterwards and have mercy on him, or to better exercise His power over him by making him suffer a painful revenge).