In The Name of Allah, The Most Gracious, The Most Merciful.
Allah is the Creator of the universe, the King of everyone and the Lord of everything. He is the Only One who deserves to be worshipped. He manages the affairs of all kingdoms. He commands and forbids, creates and provides, gives life and death, raises and lowers people, alternates night and day, and alternates victory and defeat amongst nations, so that one nation rises and another falls.
Only Allah’s commands and decree are carried out throughout the heavens and the earth, deep in the oceans and in the skies, and throughout the entire universe. His knowledge encompasses all matters; accounting for each and every being, and enveloping them with His mercy and wisdom.
He hears all voices, in their different languages, and with their varied requests and pleas. One voice does not distract Him from hearing another, nor do their innumerable pleas confuse Him. The pleading of the needy beggars knocking at His door does not aggravate Him, nor do their questions annoy Him.
He sees all things: the visible and invisible. He sees the black ant crawling across a solid black rock in a pitch-dark night. ‘No matters are hidden from Him nor are secrets withheld from Him.’ He has knowledge of all that has occurred and all which has yet to occur.
Everyone in the heavens and the earth beseech Him for their needs. Every day, He attends to His creation: He forgives sins, eases difficulties and relieves distress. He mends the broken, enriches the poor, teaches the ignorant, guides the astray, directs the confused and helps the desperate. He frees the captive, feeds the hungry, clothes the naked and cures the sick. He accepts the repentance of the one who repents, and rewards the one who does good. He aids the oppressed and humbles the tyrant. He conceals faults and calms fears.
He does not sleep nor does sleep befit Him. The deeds of the night ascend to Him before those of the day, and the deeds of the day before those of the night. Light is His veil: were He to lift it, the splendour of His Face would burn all of His creation as far as His gaze reaches. What He possesses is not diminished by what He gives, for His Right Hand always remain full.
On the Day of Judgement, the whole earth will be enclosed in a single grip of His Hand, and all the heavens will be rolled up in His Right Hand. Then He will shake them and say, ‘I am the King, I am the King. It is I who created the world out of nothingness, and I who will return it to how it was.’
No sin is too great for Him to forgive, no request too great for Him to fulfil. Were all in His heavens and on His earth, from the beginning to the end of His creation – mankind and jinn alike – were to be as pious as the most pious amongst them, this would not increase His sovereignty in the slightest. And if they all, from the beginning to the end of His creation – mankind and jinn alike – were to be as sinful as the most sinful amongst them, this would not decrease His sovereignty in the slightest.
If all those in His heavens and on His earth, human beings and jinn, living and dead, were to assemble in one place and ask Him, and He gave each one of them what they asked for, this would not decrease what He has by even an atom’s weight.
He is the First before whom there is nothing; the Last after whom there is nothing. He is the most High, and there is nothing above Him; the most Near and there is nothing closer than Him. He is the most Blessed and Exalted. He is the most worthy of being worshipped and remembered. He is the most deserving to be thanked and praised. He is the most compassionate of kings, the most generous of those who are asked, the most forgiving of those who have power, and the most just of those who take revenge. With His knowledge comes wisdom; with His might, His forgiveness and with His withholding, His wisdom.
He is the King who has no partner, the Unique who has no rival, the Perfect Master who has no companion or child; He is the Independent who has no helper. There is none like Him. Everything will perish except His Face; every kingdom falls except His kingdom. Every grace except His has its limit. None obeys Him except by His permission; none sins except by His knowledge. When He is obeyed, He is appreciative; when disobeyed, He overlooks and forgives. His anger is always just. Every punishment from Him is just, and every blessing from Him is a favour. He is the closest witness and the nearest protector. He records the deeds and sets down the appointed times for all things. When He intends something to be, He only says to it, ‘Be’, and it is.
(Adapted from Ibn Qayyim’s al-Wābil al-Ṣayyib)
“What does one know if one does not know Allah and His Messenger ﷺ? What truth has he recognised if this truth has eluded him? What knowledge has one gained and what action has one obtained if one has failed to know Allah, failed to act for His pleasure, failed to know the path to Him and failed to know what is in store for him once he reaches Him?” – Ibn al-Qayyim