Allah’s Names in the Qur’an | Sh. Mohammad Elshinawy | Juz 1 Qur’an 30 for 30 S7 | Ramadan Series

Allah's Names in the Qur'an

Because people often ask, will God forgive me? Who sort of stirred your interest in tawbah? The one who wants to accept your tawbah. Where have I oppressed myself? Where have I went? I haven't given it my best. And where have I said to myself, well, I have it figured out.

You experience Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in accordance with what you seek. We're seeking Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh, everyone.

Welcome to season, was it six or seven, Shaykh, where are we at, man, I forgot. Season six or seven? Seven. Seven? Are you sure? No.

It's like tawbah. You're not sure? Welcome back to Quran 30 for 30. Alhamdulillah.

May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala bless everyone in their Ramadan. May Allah azza wa jal accept your ibadah in and outside of this blessed month. Allahumma ameen.

Allah's Names in This Ramadan Series

As I'm sure you all are aware, alhamdulillah, the Ramadan series is about the names of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. This year, our Quran 30 for 30 is going to focus on how Allah talks about himself in these chapters of the Quran. And we'll focus on the pairing of the names, inshallah ta'ala, we'll focus on the context of the names.

So, it'll be a great companion, biidhnai ta'ala, to the Ramadan series and hopefully allow us an opportunity to really understand Allah azza wa jal in a much deeper way, biidhnai ta'ala, throughout this month. I want to remind everyone, inshallah ta'ala, to please support the work of Yaqeen. I hope that you see the depth and the breadth of the work and that it's benefiting you and know that it's benefiting so many other people and Yaqeen does not charge for any of its content and we need your support.

Ramadan is the time that we really count on your support and inshallah ta'ala, what we ask of you is whatever amount it's going to be, go ahead and click the link and automate your donations, inshallah ta'ala, for the month, whatever amount it's going to be. This is the season, biidhnai ta'ala, a season of acceptance and biidhnai ta'ala, an opportunity for us to grow our work, inshallah ta'ala, and affect more people. We pray that all of that is pleasing to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

Alhamdulillah, we're joined by Sheikh Muhammad al-Shinawi, Abu Abaad. Hayyakallah, how are you? Alhamdulillah.

Al-Jabbar: The Current Focus

SubhanAllah, that's a great question. The reason being is that it never stays the same. So right now is very operative.

We just wrote most recently on Allah's name Al-Jabbar and it just, it colors everything that I try to see in the world through the lens of Allah's names and attributes. It reminds you that the names are far more comprehensive. It's like pointing to Allah azza wa jal from so many different directions.

And so there's thousands of different phenomenon in the world without getting too philosophical here that I'm starting to see anew. If I didn't spend months and 20 pages writing the Jabbar paper, maybe I wouldn't have done that. And you think you know the names of Allah, like you can give the verbatim translation sometimes, or you can give a 20 minute talk on it, but it's like a shoreless ocean.

The more you study them, the more you fall in love with them all over again. Alhamdulillah. So yeah, Jabbar has been very close to heart recently.

What's the closest translation to Jabbar? So that's part of the beauty is that you really just give up. You lose hope in any more, any one word translation anymore. Obviously, like the compeller is one component of Jabbar, that his power can't be resisted, but also the mender, the one who restores and mends and loves to do so over and over again.

Allah as Rabb al-Alameen

So inshallah ta'ala, we are going to go through, first and foremost, just high level, how does Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala talk about himself in this Juz? And it's really interesting.

I was thinking about the different ways to break this down. The first thing that caught my attention, الحمد لله رب العالمين, the Lord of all of existence, Al-Alameen, all of the realms, all of the worlds, all the creations, all the creatures and their functions. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is Rabb al-Alameen, the Lord of the worlds.

And so this idea of his control over everything and how everything is going to function in full harmony. And when you get into Surah Al-Baqarah, subhanAllah, it's like the categorizations of people happens. So right away, believers, disbelievers, hypocrites, and then the categorization of existence and how this perfect harmony that's only known to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and how the Alameen functions, angels, human beings, devils, it all starts to fall into place right away like the categorization.

So الحمد لله رب العالمين, the Lord of all of the worlds. And then مالك يوم الدين, master of the day of judgment. And obviously, if he's the master of the day of judgment, then he's the master of all that proceeds.

And if this world is only meant to function in a way that leads to certain outcomes on the day of judgment, then that is Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, of course, once again, demonstrating the full inclusivity of all that he controls and all that he owns. And so that's the first thing that caught my attention about this juz is Allah azza wa jal setting the stage of all of this coming under his domain subhanahu wa ta'ala. And so now you're going to start to understand the categories, you'll start to understand the role, you'll start to understand the way that it all harmonizes under him subhanahu wa ta'ala.

Allah's Consistent Attributes and Variable Treatment

Also the fact that his attributes, his names, his attributes are consistent. But the way that he is going to treat people is based upon to an extent, their righteousness or their lack thereof. So there are certain things that are unaffected, and he is unaffected subhanahu wa ta'ala, by our righteousness or wickedness.

But the way that he's going to treat people is very different based upon who they are and what path they choose. So هدى للمتقين, Allah azza wa jal introduces himself right away as a guide. And then those that وما يخدعون إلا أنفسهم, those that are only deceiving themselves.

They try to deceive Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and Allah azza wa jal instead leads them astray. So you get Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala guiding, and then you have Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala treating those who seek misguidance with an appropriate response. You have how Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala treats the hypocrites, the disbelievers, the believers.

You have how Allah treats the repentant versus the disobedient, Adam versus Iblis. Adam alayhi as-salam chooses a path of repentance, and Allah azza wa jal accepts him, Iblis chooses disobedience, and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala treats him with the disdain that he deserves to be treated with. You have how Allah treats the grateful servant versus the ungrateful servant, Ibrahim alayhi as-salam versus Bani Israel, like right away that categorization is made.

And so you experience Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in accordance with what you seek. And this really is at the crux of what we're going to be doing biidhnai ta'ala this Ramadan and beyond biidhnai ta'ala is we're seeking Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And the beauty of Allah azza wa jal in this regard is that he's not just guiding you to the next step in your religious journey.

He's not just guiding you to understand this verse a little bit better. He guides you to a deeper relationship with him, and that's the greatest gift, that these layers start to unveil themselves for you. As we're talking about like Al-Jabbar, when you ponder a name enough, like you get into a deeper relationship or it's hoped that you'll get into a deeper relationship with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, you'll understand him more.

And through that understanding, you will want to do more. And Allah azza wa jal will keep unlocking another layer of understanding, another layer of understanding, another layer of understanding, which comes with a parallel experience. Another thing is that Allah azza wa jal introduces his mercy before he introduces his commands.

He immediately starts off with الرحمن الرحيم and everything is framed within that mercy. Mercy frames revelation. Mercy frames law. Mercy frames everything that is to come in this beautiful book that you are to read. The last thing, and inshallah ta'ala we can use this to pivot into the discussion.

Talking to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in a very personal way. So Adam alayhi as-salam, seeking his Lord, being inspired with some words to come back to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. That Allah azza wa jal accepts Adam alayhi as-salam as he turns to him in that very personal way. The same names are used later on with Ibrahim alayhi as-salam.

That verily you are the acceptor of repentance, the especially merciful. And so this idea that whether it is through a sin that you are repenting from, or through a good deed that you hope there's acceptance of, you're turning back to Allah and saying, ya Allah, I'm presenting this to you so that I can be accepted by you, so that I can be brought closer to you. And so it's again, al-alameen, and now you're going to see the harmony of it all coming together.

The Angels' Response: Al-Aleem Al-Hakeem

So let's actually start with this. Let's start with the part of the coherence of it all under Rabb al-alameen. We go to verse 32, where immediately you have the angels that are questioning why Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is bringing, but questioning from a place of fear, of taqseer on their part, of deficiency on their part. Are you really going to place upon it these human beings that will spread corruption and spill blood? And the angels acknowledge their limits. So this is the first pairing.

They acknowledge their limits and they affirm Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's knowledge and wisdom. We have no knowledge except for what you teach us. You are the all-knowing and the all-wise.

Al-Aleem who knows everything and al-Hakeem who puts everything in its perfect place. And this is the way the Quran is going to unravel the story of revelation and the story of our existence.

So let's start with that inshallah ta'ala. In this context of the angels asking the first questions. Alhamdulillah.

I think this is, subhanAllah, just the response of the angels upon this immediately. We see this with Isa alayhi salam. That this response, سبحانك, is a response of tawheed.

It's a response of glorifying Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, of saying that he is not like his creation. The scholars call it tanzih. It's making him far from any of his creation. He is unlike them in any shape, form, or fashion. It is as though they give an explanation of سبحانك or the reason why we say سبحانك.

What's so beautiful is when you see the adab of the hiwar and how they speak to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. It's so beautiful because it just shows the epitome of adab and the epitome of understanding who you're speaking to and knowing who you're speaking to. The way you respond to them. How you answer before you even speak and continue on.

So glorifying Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And then they said لا علم. And what's so beautiful about this here is, it's similar to when we say لا إله. When you put a fatha at the end of the noun, just one fatha, لا إله. It means, in Arabic they call it la nafil al-jins. You're negating any genus, any type of that.

So we're saying we have no knowledge whatsoever except what you depart upon us. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentions that he taught mankind what he knew not. And understanding the repository of knowledge comes from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

And that's what's so beautiful because they say, look, we totally rely on you, ya Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And this beautiful month of Ramadan is the time to really look into yourself and realize that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is the one that has given us everything that we have, including the knowledge of whatever we know in our life and whatever we act upon, that knowledge that we have. And understanding that when we know something, it is from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

And when we act as though that knowledge that we have been given is from ourselves, this is where it can be very dangerous. So when we look at this response, that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is the all-knowing and the all-wise. Recognizing that Allah, as some of the scholars mentioned, when they talk about the knowledge of Allah, they say he knows what was, what is, and what will be.

That Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala knows the past, the present, and the future. And again, we all know that subconsciously, but it relies on our action. And do we act in accordance to the knowledge that we know of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

And as the Shaykh mentioned, to know him is to love him. The more that you know Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, the more that you increase your love of Allah. But that knowledge that was imparted upon you was from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

So it is this beautiful relationship that Allah is putting in front of you to see are you going to make the effort to learn about him. Particularly in this month of Ramadan, are you making the effort to come closer to him to know more about Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. The more you learn about yourself, you're even learning more about Allah.

Because Allah huwa khaliquk, he is the one that has created you and created your faculties that you use or misuse. And as the Shaykh mentioned earlier, about the deeds that you may do and you praise Allah. But when you do wrong, do you actually go back to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

And when you do that, you come closer to him, you recognize his power and his greatness. So that's what's so beautiful about this verse. Also humbling the angels and them being so ready to be humbled. That's also a beautiful thing. I mean, we are in a time and place where we have been so inundated with messages that make us so sure about a fraud, a falsity, that the human intellect is a worthy reference point for all matters. Like it is the ultimate reference point.

Intellectual Humility in the Quran

But throughout the Quran, Allah azza wa jal constantly cultivates intellectual humility in those that he loves and those he sets forth as models for the believers. So the angels are made to learn from Adam alayhi salam, who in certain respects is inferior to them. They were there before him and they engage with Allah azza wa jal before he existed or he breathed his first. And then you go elsewhere in the Quran, you find that Musa alayhi salam is made to learn from someone lesser than him.

Al-Khadir did not know more than Musa alayhi salam. He knew some things that Musa didn't know. There's a difference. Sulaiman alayhi salam, Allah makes him find out that a bird knows something and a bird says to him, I've come across some knowledge that you don't have. And so constantly, you will never get to know Allah until you know that only he is inherently praiseworthy.

SubhanAllah, you're mentioning pivots, beautiful pivots in the beginning of the Quran. All praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, most gracious, most merciful, loose translations, of course, owner of the day of judgment. Those are all discussions about Allah. Then all of a sudden, you're pivoting to say, it's you we worship.

So there's actually, it's called a grammatical shift. Why is this grammatical shift there? Some of the scholars said, only after you've internalized knowledge about him, do you have access to him? It's almost like Allah is Lord of the worlds, gracious, merciful, owner of the day of reckoning, all of that, then the curtain gets lifted. Of course, no one sees Allah in this world. That's the test of life and the ultimate reward in the afterlife.

But that is when the curtain between your heart and Allah begins to get lifted. And so the angels, even the verses before it, why did you create creatures where we don't understand? We don't get it, but they did not come from a place of entitlement. They're gonna be corrupt. They're gonna cause genocide.

And he didn't answer the question. That's the most beautiful part. He said to them, I know something you don't know. And for that to be enough of an answer for you is the epitome of intelligence. To know that only Allah can know best.

And me not being al-hakeem, al-aleem al-hakeem, that means logically, it would be illogical to think I'll know all the wisdoms unless I was the most wise. So the epitome of intelligence is deferring to Allah's intelligence. And when he loves you, he opens those doors for you, but you gotta capitalize.

What's amazing, subhanAllah, is like this is at the beginning of the Quran, meaning you're just starting to read. And how many of these stories, if you only knew the first chapter of the story of Yusuf, if you only knew the first chapter of the story of Yunus, if you only knew the first chapter of Hud, then wait, why? What's gonna happen here? What's gonna happen next? What's gonna happen next? And the whole story of Musa and al-Khadir is that Musa alayhi salam is trying to get the answer too quick. Just let it unfold. Once it unfolds, so much of this will make sense.

The angels still had not been introduced to Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. They hadn't been introduced to the prophets. They hadn't been introduced to the righteous ones. They hadn't been introduced to the people of Gaza yet. They hadn't seen these precious souls yet. Like it makes sense after it unfolds. And our patience with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in this regard is one of trust.

Like I know it will unfold in a way that makes sense, even if it makes no sense to me right now. And like you said, the epitome of intelligence is, alhamdulillah, I'm fine. Knowing that it doesn't make sense to me, but knowing that it is all within the scheme, the divine scheme of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

Like I'm at peace with that. I find joy in that, alhamdulillah, and contentment in that all. And even if I know, because sometimes you might know something, but you don't agree with it. You don't agree with the logic because you're not seeing certain dimensions. Someone might say, well, if the answer is that, I know that which you don't know is that these prophets and these righteous ones are going to come, but still humanity should not have been created. It's still this, Allah is al-Hakeem as well.

And so Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will see this. Dr. Hatem actually, my Sheikh and yours, he says, to accept, to be content with being the ant on the carpet, that for you, you need to know you're the ant. It's actually liberating. It's exhilarating. A-N-T not A-U-N-T.

So the ant, if you're the ant on like a carpet, the carpet looks like chaos. The whole idea of the problem of evil. It's chaos, colors going all these weird direction and tangled and broad blocks and all this stuff. But if you were the carpet maker, like if you were able to zoom out, that's the test of life.

You're not allowed to zoom out right now. Zoom out, you would see it. This is glorious tapestry. It's like the Cinderella story, if I'm not cheapening things. It's so beautiful if you think about it.

At-Tawwab Ar-Raheem: The Story of Adam

With that, the next pivot is Adam alayhi salam now. We see through his introduction now. So the first is the angels coming to terms with, or showing at least, demonstrating. Then it's Adam alayhi salam and his learning about coming back to a Lord who turns back to him with forgiveness and mercy and who invites sincere return, no matter what the slip is. And still shows this beautiful compassion that is unknown through any other creature and restores a sense of dignity and hope.

So what can you say about at-tawwab ar-raheem as it shows up in the context of the story of Adam alayhi salam and then Ibrahim alayhi salam? So one time after a slip, another time after a presentation of a good deed.

This is a very difficult ayah to talk about because I will risk ranting. I'm in love with this ayah for so many reasons. But of them is the fact that you started with that Allah is inviting. I didn't always catch that. The ayah says people need to pay attention.

The ayah says, Adam received from his Lord statements to say, and because of them Allah accepted his repentance. Allah redeemed him. He is at-tawwab ar-raheem. So that's the first thing that we begin the Quran once again by praising Allah because he initiates.

In the Quran we often read also, belonging to Allah is all praise at the onset and the conclusion because he initiates. You don't actually redeem yourself with God. Even the Christian notion of like, it's not your deeds, it's grace. That's an incomplete explanation, but it is ultimately grace. It is by his grace that he opens the door again and invites you again.

Like literally what's happening with Adam alayhi salam right here is that Allah azza wa jal is telling him, here, say these words, I will forgive you. When I think about that, it gives me shivers. Which is us as well. That's our story in Ramadan. He tells you, here's Ramadan. There you go, rinse.

It is incredible. Like the one who gave it to you is the one who wants to accept it from you. He initiated it. And the scholars of tazkiyah, of spiritual refinement, they say that your tawbah, because Allah's name is tawwab. The verse ends saying Allah is at-tawwab. What does at-tawwab mean? Most Muslims know the word tawbah means to come back to Allah.

Tawwab linguistically means U-turn. Just, U-turns are allowed on the highway of God, if you will. They're always allowed. You're always, so long as you're breathing, you can redeem yourself. But Allah is the one being called tawwab here means he's the one coming back. So they said, when you turn back to Allah, your tawbah, that's always and forever sandwiched between two tawbahs from Allah. So Allah comes back to you first to invite you.

This is very important because people often ask, will God forgive me? That question that you're asking the Shaykh means he's going to forgive you because who interested you to begin with? Who sort of stirred your interest in tawbah? The one who wants to accept your tawbah. The one who's inviting you with that feeling. Your heart could have been sealed. You could have kept going. And so your hopefulness of tawbah was created by God so that you would perform tawbah. So Allah turns to you so that you may turn to him so that he may turn back to you in acceptance the second time.

(Sahih Muslim)

And this is embodied in the Hadith of Abu Musa al-Ash'ari radiyallahu anhu, wherein the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, "Verily Allah extends his hand by night so that those who sinned by day would repent. And he extends his hand by day so that those who sinned at night may repent. And he continues doing this until the sun rises from the west." So the last day of this world.

There comes a point like that even parents will give up on their children. But not Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So long as you're breathing. Imagine someone extending his hand to you 20 years, 30 years, 40 years, 50 years. A person on their dying breaths, Allah may send them an invitation because he knows of something inside of them.

Stories of Last-Minute Guidance

The Hadith Sheikh Hassan Alwan often tells us, or has mentioned to us and it has always stuck. The woman who lived a life of depravity, of indecency, selling her body and destroying hearts and homes, as they say. Who sent that dog at that moment? The one who wanted to forgive her for giving the dog a drink.

And it's not just her. Allah's always doing this. I remember two incidents and I need to be brief here. But I do want to add to his legacy of good deeds. The late Sheikh Abbas Haq Al-Huwaini, rahimahullah, passed away one year ago, one year from this Ramadan. He mentions in one incident that there was in Darush Shifa Hospital in Cairo, a woman who they told her children take her home. These are her final days. So they went to process her discharge and the ambulatory care workers are going inside to prep her for the drive home. They walk in, they see her opening her mouth and closing, opening her mouth and closing. They realize she's gasping, she's dying. So they tell her lady, say, لا إله إلا الله. So she says, لا إله إلا الله and she dies away peacefully.

They stop her sons at the door and they brace them. And they say, listen, your mom's all right. She's resting. And God inspired her to say the best thing you can possibly say, لا إله إلا الله, before she died. And the son said, what? You made our mother a kafir? She was Christian. SubhanAllah. He made my mom a disbeliever from their perspective. Perhaps Allah knew something about her, that he sent her and sent her boys out at the right moment and the humility to say it.

The other incident that Sheikh mentions, Al-Huwaini, rahimahullah wa ta'ala. Dear Sheikh, hadith scholar. He said that I'll never forget one time a masjid was overflowing with people and I was giving a talk. And when the Q and A started, I got a letter from the sisters. One of them said, Sheikh, I've lived a life that cannot be described. And I want to make amends with Allah and I need to speak to you privately. She left her phone number and he called her.

She said, listen, both my parents died in a car accident. And I had to take care of my sisters. And I've been in the nightlife since, doing whatever I had to do to provide for myself and my sisters. And I feel dirty and I want to be clean. And I was going to work tonight and I felt this indescribable thirst inside me to drink water. I just had to drink. I couldn't wait. And so I crossed the street to the water fountain. And as I leaned down to the water fountain from outside of the masjid, I heard your words about tawbah on the microphone. And that was the change in her life. So Allah invites you in, subhanahu wa ta'ala.

And ultimately, I mean, the archetypal lesson here in the story of Adam alayhi salam is that as you said, Sheikh Omar, this is all of us. Like the beautiful story of the human being is the story of a person that can make all the wrong turns, but on the path of Allah, you wind up arriving at the right location. So long as you know who he is, subhanahu wa ta'ala.

The Words of Repentance

Sheikh Abdullah, Ramadan is starting. 30 seconds, one minute. Give him that, go hard. I think it's really, some scholars say the words that Adam received was when he mentioned that him and his wife said, just having that introspection and starting your month, that looking at your deeds from the past 11 months and seeing where have I oppressed myself? Where have I went? I haven't given it my best.

And where have I said to myself, well, I have it figured out. Where have I neglected someone? And then asking Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, for forgiveness and being sincere because as he mentioned, and using this month to make that effort is important.

Jazakumullah khairan. Abu Abaad, beautiful way to start us off. Alhamdulillah. Sheikh Abdullah, beautiful way to start us off. May Allah reward you both. Just a reminder to everyone, inshallah ta'ala, tune in. We want you to finish your khatm of Quran this Ramadan.

So watch every day consistently and read a juz. Don't fall behind and say, I'll catch up tomorrow. No, no, keep up with it, inshallah, and interact with the Quran and engage it. May Allah azza wa jal accept it from you all. We'll see you all tomorrow, inshallah. Wassalamu alaykum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.