To be a Muslim is to believe in Allah, Creator of the Universe, and to commit to obeying Him, worshipping Him as He deserves in the hope of meeting Him in His All-Encompassing Mercy. Having faith in Allah is one thing and having the knowledge of Allah that allows one to live a life in His worship, submitted to His commandments, is another. What drives a Muslim to take action and to align his life with obedience to the All-Merciful? Many elements can determine it. Yet one science is as decisive as it is accessible on this journey.
The knowledge of Allah: what is it? How is it acquired? That is today's subject.
The knowledge of Allah: definition
It is the intellectual act by which the Muslim, the believer, seeks to grasp who his Creator is, to learn to know Him with the aim of worshipping Him. It is the greatest form of worship, the foundation of every act of devotion that is supposed to be performed for the sole purpose of pleasing one's Creator. It is the Muslim's first duty on Earth since it will enable him:
- to attain Tawhid
- to love Him
- to know how to worship Him
- to have a pure heart and soul
The Quran, the best way to learn to know Him
To know Allah, to know how He is, to Him belong the Majesty and the Glory, one must seek how He presented Himself to humanity, and it is thanks to the Quran that we can do so!
Thanks to the study of the Quran, the knowledge of Allah is granted to him or her who meditates upon:
- the way Allah speaks of Himself, of some of His Names and Attributes, and notably in Surah Al-Ikhlas, which is equal to a third of the Quran given how much it contains of His perfect knowledge. Then the Names and Attributes He has given Himself specify even more, in every verse, details about His Perfection:
He is Allah, the Creator, the One who gives a beginning to all things, the Fashioner. To Him belong the most beautiful names. All that is in the heavens and the earth glorifies Him. And He is the Almighty, the Wise. Surah 59 Verse 24
To Allah belong the most beautiful names. Call upon Him by these names and leave those who profane His names: they will be repaid for what they have done. Surah 7 Verse 180
Say: "Invoke Allah, or invoke the Most Merciful. Whatever name by which you call Him, He has the most beautiful names. And in your Salat, do not recite too loudly; nor too softly, but seek a middle course between the two." Surah 17 Verse 110
- the divine commandments, exhortations and recommendations that tell us a great deal about what He expects of us, what He loves, what He hates, what He warns us against, and so on
- the stories of the prophets, the description of Paradise, of Hell, and so on, which teach us to know His Creation, His Will, the details about the Meeting with Him that He has decreed
According to Ibn Al-Qayyim, in the entire prophetic Message, from beginning to end, there resides but a single objective: the knowledge of Allah!
Al-Fatiha: the knowledge of the Lord of the Worlds in 7 verses
The surah without which our prayer is not accepted is a unique exposition of the Names and Attributes of Allah, set out in a perfect order.
The four Names follow one another in the greatest logic:
- Allah, which is the first Name revealed in this surah in the first verse. It alone encompasses all the other Names and Attributes of Allah.
- Rabb is the Name by which the believer is educated in the servitude of his Lord. He praises Him and admits that he needs Him whereas He needs no one.
- Ar-Rahman, Ar-Rahim, Al-Malik are the 3 other Names of Allah used in Surah Al-Fatiha, which show how the attribute Rabb is put into practice: He is our Lord, the Lord of the Worlds, and therefore this Name is understood in the sense that He is the Protector, the Gentle Ar-Rahman, which means Merciful towards us at every moment, and He will always be so since He is endlessly Merciful, Ar-Rahim, and finally He is the King of the Day of the Last Judgment.
The knowledge of Allah through the knowledge of His Names and Attributes
The science of His Names and Attributes is a noble science indispensable to the believer who wishes to worship his Creator with sincerity.
Allah has more than 99 Names and Attributes and the real number surpasses our imagination. Only he or she who implements 99 of them in his life will enter, with Allah's Permission, into Paradise as was promised by our prophet Muhammad, may peace and blessings be upon him.
According to Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), the Prophet (may Allah's prayer and peace be upon him) said: "Indeed Allah has 99 names, one hundred less one; whoever enumerates them enters Paradise." Reported by Muslim
The proof that Allah does not have only 99 Names is found in this sublime prophetic supplication:
According to 'Abdallah Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him), the Prophet (may Allah's prayer and peace be upon him) said: "There is absolutely no one who is stricken by a worry or a grief and says:
-O Allah, I am Your servant, the son of Your servant, the son of Your maidservant, my forelock is in Your hand, Your judgment concerning me is executed, what You have decreed for me is just. I ask You by every one of Your Names, those by which You have named Yourself, or which You have taught to one of Your creatures, or which You have sent down in Your Book or which You have kept in the knowledge of the unseen with You, that You make the Quran the spring of my heart, the light of my chest, the departure of my grief and the end of my worry- without Allah removing his worry and his grief and replacing them with a solution to his problem."
Someone said: O Messenger of Allah! Should we not learn this?
The Prophet (may Allah's prayer and peace be upon him) said: "Indeed yes, it is fitting that whoever has heard it should learn it."
To learn the science of the Names and Attributes of Allah does not only mean to retain them in one's memory but to recognize them as the means of:
- knowing our Lord better
- invoking Him by His Names
- practising one's acts of worship with what His Names entail (loving Al-Wadud, performing actions that bring about the Mercy of the Merciful Ar-Rahman, avoiding the actions that bring about the wrath of the Severe in Punishment, Shadid Al-'Iqab, etc.)
According to Ibn Mas'ud, may Allah be pleased with him, the knowledge of Allah is the true knowledge. It is the one that is reflected in our actions, that makes us better, transforms us so as to attain Taqwa: the reverential fear of Allah that enables us to obey Him, to abandon the blameworthy acts that Allah hates, and to strive on His Path by performing good deeds in the hope of meeting Him pleased with us.
To have Taqwa is to be aware that Allah sees us, observes us in all our actions. Having this knowledge makes us feel that He listens to us when we speak to Him or when we think, that whether we are alone or in a group we fear Him and love Him, and this has repercussions on our behaviour.
This awareness can only take place if we learn to know Him.
A pure heart, the ultimate goal of the knowledge of Allah
To seek the knowledge of Allah is to seek to strengthen our faith and our religious convictions. This developed knowledge of Allah is at the origin of our perfection in our acts of worship and the finality of our faith since He, to Him the Glory, created us to worship Him.
"I have not created the jinn and mankind except to worship Me. Surah 51 Verse 56
Having the knowledge of Allah drives one to cleanse one's heart of all that clutters it, such as flaws, impurities, diseases. It gives birth to the best feelings and traces the spiritual road of a heart that turns towards Him, and thus leads:
- to loving Him,
- fearing Him and
- nurturing hope in what is with Him, in Him,
- working without associating anything with Him in our fear, our love, our admiration, and working sincerely to meet Him pleased with us and to access His Paradise.
.Conclusion
The scholars are unanimous in saying that the most important thing that increases faith is the knowledge of Allah. It is the most illustrious science given its benefits in the life of the believer. To concern oneself with it is to concern oneself with the purpose for which Allah, to Him the Glory, created us.
True faith in Allah is not limited to a word but implies the servant's knowledge of his Lord through His Names and Attributes that are found in the Holy Quran.
The Dhikr of Allah is there to maintain this Tawhid, this knowledge of Allah, by mentioning Him throughout our days, our lives, so as to turn our sincerity to Him alone (Ikhlas) and to make us increase in faith.
Let us remember that only a pure heart will enter Paradise, a heart filled with the knowledge of Allah, made tranquil by His Remembrance, purified of every disease, every rancour, every hatred.
May Allah grant us such knowledge and such a heart full of Tawhid. Amin
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