The importance of the knowledge of Allah's Names and Attributes

The importance of having knowledge of Allah&"s Names and Attributes

The importance of knowing the Most Beautiful Names, Attributes and the Supremacy of Allah is outlined in the following points:

First Point: The most honourable and dignified knowledge to possess is that which is related to Allah, and His Beautiful Names and Supreme Attributes. The extent to which a slave knows Allah&"s Names and Attributes determine the extent of his slavery to Allah, his love for Him, and the pleasure that he finds in Allah&"s company. This knowledge is the reason why this slave seeks his Lord&"s pleasure, His Jannah and the bliss of beholding His Face in the Hereafter. But this desire will only be realized by the grace of Allah (mighty and majestic is He).

Second Point: The knowledge of Allah&"s Beautiful Names and Supreme Attributes is the root of all other branches of knowledge and the root of Iman too. The basic ideas of this knowledge is also the first obligatory act the people have to fulfill, as if the people know their Lord, they will be able to worship Him properly. Allah the Exalted says: &"So know (O Muhammad]) that there is no deity except Allah&" (Muhammad: 19).

Third Point: By gaining knowledge of Allah and His Beautiful Names and Supreme Attributes, one’s Iman and certitude increases, one also truly realizes Tawheed, and relishes the taste of slavery to Allah. This is the spirit of Iman and its basis and purpose. The best way to achieve this is to contemplate over Allah&"s Attributes and Names that are mentioned in the Qur&"an. When Allah, may His Praise be exalted and His Names Sanctified, wants to honour His slave by making him know His Lord and completely filling his heart with love only of Him, He expands his breast to accept the meaning of His Supreme Attributes and to learn them from the divine revelation. As when the slave comes across any of Allah’s Name or Attribute, he accepts their meaning, is pleased to know them, surrenders to them, and acts upon them, thus enlightening his heart with guidance.

A Mu&"men&"s heart opens to such knowledge and this knowledge fills his heart with pleasure and love, making his soul feel joyful and satisfied, strengthening it with knowledge of Allah and making it feel comforted, and his heart is also put at ease. He roams in the branches of that knowledge and the eyes of his insight wanders in enjoyment in its gardens and orchards. He is certain that the honour of the knowledge depends on the subject of that knowledge, and that there is nothing greater than Allah, who encompasses those Beautiful Names and Supreme Attributes. Moreover, it is honourable due to the need for that knowledge, and the souls do not need anything more than they need to have knowledge of their Maker and Creator, and feel His love, be busy with His remembrance, rejoice in Him, request to know the path to Him, and be near to Him. And the only way to achieve this is by knowing His Beautiful Names and Supreme Attributes, for the more the slave has knowledge of them, the more he knows Allah and seeks His Face, and the closer he is to Him. However, the more ignorant a person is of those names and attributes, the more ignorant he is of Allah, the less he knows Him and the further he is from Him. And as much as the slave is near to or far from Allah, Allah will be near or far from him.

Fourth Point: He who is truly knowledgeable of Allah (mighty and majestic is He) draws on his knowledge of Allah&"s Most Beautiful Names and Attributes in order to be aware of Allah&"s laws that He has legislated, for He only acts according to His Names and Attributes and His actions are characterized by justice, beneficence and wisdom. Allah does not legislate any law except according to His praiseworthy characteristics, which include His justice, beneficence and wisdom. His Words are all truth and His commands and prohibitions are marked by justice, wisdom and mercy. It is not necessary to explain the importance of this knowledge as everyone knows how great and important it is.

Fifth Point: There is a close relationship between Allah&"s Exalted Attributes and what is required of outward and inward acts of worship. Every attribute has a specific form of servitude connected to it. These are the results of this attribute and the results of possessing knowledge and correctly understanding the attribute. And this is the case for all forms of worship that are manifested in the heart and in one’s actions. The knowledge of the servant that Allah alone is able to harm and benefit, grant and withhold, create, sustain, and give life and cause death, will produce the worship of tawakkul (depending on Allah) inside the person (i.e. in the heart) and also the effects and fruits of tawakkul in its apparent form (i.e. in one’s actions). If the slave realizes that Allah hears, sees and knows, and the fact that not a single atom in the heavens and earth escapes Him, that He knows the secret and the hidden, as well as what the treacherous eyes behold and what the breasts conceal, this will make him save his tongue, limbs, and the thoughts in his heart from anything which displeases Allah, and he will also make these limbs devoted to what Allah loves and is pleased with; bearing the fruit of inward shyness which will- in turn- lead the slave to avoid prohibited actions and doing wrong. If the slave knows that Allah is Rich, Generous, Kind, Merciful and Enormously Benevolent, this will make him have great hope in Allah, and this hope will give birth to many types of hidden and apparent servitude. Likewise, if he is aware of the Perfection and Beauty of Allah, this will make him love Him and have a great longing to meet Him; this will also produce several clear forms of servitude. All these inward feelings in turn give birth to outward forms of worship. In light of this, one sees that all forms of servitude to Him spring from knowledge of His Names and Attributes.

Sixth Point: Performing worship to Allah by using His Beautiful Names and Supreme Attributes has good effects on the soundness of the hearts and of the manners and behaviour. Not performing such a form of worship, on the other hand, leads to being infected with diseases of the heart.

Seventh Point: Knowledge of the Beautiful Names and Supreme Attributes of Allah grants the Mu&"min comfort when calamities, abominations and adversities befall him. If the slave is aware that his Lord is All-Knowing, Wise and Just, then that slave will feel contented and will exhibit patience. If he is aware that the abominations to which he is being exposed and the tribulations that are befalling him are beneficial to him in ways that he cannot grasp, and that they are the result of the knowledge and wisdom of Allah (mighty and majestic is He), the slave of Allah will become at peace with His Lord and leave all his affairs to Him.

Eighth Point: Understanding the meaning of Allah’s Beautiful Names and Supreme Attributes causes a person to have the proper fear of Allah, love for Him, hope in His Mercy, reliance and dependence upon Him as well as other fruits that result from knowing His Beautiful Names and Supreme Attributes.

Ninth Point: Contemplation of the meanings of Allah&"s Beautiful Names and Supreme Attributes helps the person, more than anything else, to contemplate Allah&"s Book, the Qur&"an. Allah commanded us to contemplate over the Qur&"an in the following ayah: &"(This is) a blessed Book which We have revealed to you (O Muhammad) that they might reflect upon its verses, and that those of understanding would be reminded&" (Sâd: 29).

Since the Qur&"an mentions Allah&"s Supreme Attributes very frequently – the attribute that is stated being consistent with the meaning of the verse that contains it - it follows then that in reflecting upon them, there is a great opportunity to ponder over the Qur&"an itself. When you reflect on the Qur&"an, you become aware of an Everlasting King taking care of everything while on His mighty Throne which is above the heavens, managing each and every affair of all of His subjects, commanding and prohibiting, sending messengers and revealing scriptures, becoming pleased and becoming angered, rewarding and punishing, bestowing and preventing, honouring and humiliating, lowering and raising, and seeing and hearing. He knows what is kept as a secret and what is done in public, and He does what He wills. He has the Most Perfect of Attributes, is Exalted from any defect, and no atom or anything bigger than that budges without His permission and no leave falls without His knowledge. Indeed, He is the Knower, the Most-Wise.

Tenth Point: Knowing Allah&"s Beautiful Names cultivates politeness and a feeling of shyness towards Him in the slave’s heart. Being polite towards Allah means to follow His religion of Islam and act as the religion dictates, both inwardly and outwardly. And being polite towards Allah can only be realized properly when the following three issues are grasped: knowing Allah&"s Most Beautiful Names and Supreme Attributes, understanding His religion and laws and what He loves and what He hates, and having a supple, manageable and receptive soul that is immediately ready to accept the truth and to act upon it in every situation he may face.

Eleventh Point: The knowledge of Allah and His Beautiful Names and Supreme Attributes opens wide the slave&"s eyes to his own defects and spiritual ailments, thus diligently urging him to embark on rectifying them. The four corners of ingratitude are: arrogance, envy, anger and lust. The root of all four of them is the slave&"s ignorance of his Lord and his ignorance of his own self. As if the slave knows his Lord through His Beautiful Names and Supreme Attributes, and identifies his own defects and faults, he will not be arrogant nor feel anger; in fact, he will not envy anyone for what Allah has granted him.

Twelfth Point: Allah&"s slave being ignorant of the Beautiful Names and Supreme Attributes of Allah, not understanding them, and not worshipping Allah with them, on the other hand, leads to his misguidance and even more ignorance. What does a person know if he does not know Allah and His messengers?! What fact could a person be aware of if he does not know this basic fact?! What knowledge or work is achieved by those who do not know Allah and do not work for His pleasure or to know the path leading to it and what happens after reaching it? The life of man is represented by the life of the heart and the soul, and there is no life to the heart but by knowing its Creator, loving Him, worshipping only Him, turning to Him in repentance, gaining tranquility in His remembrance and being in His company. A person who does not have this kind of life does not have any kind of good, even if he has been compensated for this by whatever this worldly life can offer.

Thirteenth Point: Knowing the Names and Attributes of Allah leads to the purification of Tawheed and the perfection of Iman. Such knowledge fosters deeds of the heart such as devotion, love, fear, hope and trust in only Allah. But this topic is not considered and reflected on much, though it is a very important topic if one wants to fix his heart and purify it from its evil desires and ailments. When one contemplates the source of the Islamic legislation (the Qur’an), he will discover the connection between the acts of the body and those of the heart, and also discover that the acts of the body are no use without the acts of the heart. Actions of the heart are more obligatory for a slave than those of the body. Isn’t it possible to distinguish a Mu&"men from a hypocrite by what they hold in their hearts and by the different views and attitudes they have? And isn’t it possible for one to embrace Islam with the deeds of his heart before he performs any physical form of worship? The servitude of the heart is also greater than that of the body, the amount of servitudes of the heart are more and (their effects) also endure longer. This servitude of the heart is the driving force of all the person’s outward actions, and is, therefore, obligatory at all times (in order to encourage the person to do good and avoid evil all the time).