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Request: Sura 1 Aya 1 to 7
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 1:1] BISMILLAHIR-RAHMANIR-RAHIM
, as the first verse, is the part and parcel of al Fatihah.
Aqa Mahdi Puya says:
The Holy Prophet said:
LA SALATA ILLA BIFATIHATUL KITAB WA BISMILLAHIR RAHMANIR RAHIM MIN AYATIHA
There is no prayer (salat) without al Fatihah, and bismillahir rahmanir rahim is one of its verses. The Ahl ul Bayt (the thoroughly purified members of the family of the Holy Prophet), and the scholars, who follow their teachings, time and again, had verified this saying of the Holy Prophet. So according to Muhammad and ali Muhammad bismillahir rahmanir rahim is a verse by itself, which, if not recited as a part of al Fatihah, the prayer is rendered null and void. It is not only the component of al Fatihah but also of every surah except al Bara-at.
In the light of the clear decisions and evidences of the practical acts of the Holy Prophet and his Ahl ul Bayt, the arguments of the dissenting scholars carry no weight. According to the Holy Prophet and his divinely chosen Ahl ul Bayt bismillahir rahmanir rahim is the first of the seven verses of al Fatihah. And when Muhammad and ali Muhammad have said so, there remains no doubt whatsoever. Any opinion contrary to the verdict of Muhammad and ali Muhammad is pure conjecture.
Abu Hanifa, founder of the Hanafi school, gave permission to his followers to recite bismillahir rahmanir rahim quietly, with al Fatihah, in prayers, because the Holy Prophet used to recite al Fatihah with bismillahir rahmanir rahim in his prayers, yet in his (Abu Hanifa's) opinion it was not a part of the surah. (Tafsir Kabir - Abdul Hayy) There are some scholars who admit that al Fatihah consists of seven verses but to insist on their misconceived notion that bismillahir rahmanir rahim is not included in it they split the last verse into two separate verses, although the meaning and the construction of the verse does not justify it.
According to the Holy Prophet any deed begun without reciting bismillah goes bad and lacks effectiveness. As al salat is known as the best deed (khayrul amal) and al Fatihah is the inaugurator of the book it is logical that bismillahir rahmanir rahim is the first verse of al Fatihah.
Once a man offered prayers in presence of the Holy Prophet without saying bismillahir rahmanir rahim in his recitation of al Fatihah. The Holy Prophet told him:
You have rendered your prayer null and void by omitting bismillah from Fatihah. Do you not know that bismillah is the part of al Fatihah? (Durrul Manthur by Suyuti)
On one occasion, Mu-awiyah, while leading a prayer in Madina, recited al Fatihah without bismillah. At the end the participating pray-ers, made a hue and cry. To pacify the protestations he prayed the same prayer again and recited al Fatihah with bismillah. This event bears out the fact that those who saw and heard the Holy Prophet, prior to the influx of alterations, knew that if in any prayer al Fatihah is recited without bismillah, it is rendered null and void. (Fakhruddin Razi and Kanzul Ummal)
Bismillahir rahmanir rahim, in addition to al Fatihah, is also the part of al Naml:
Verily, it is from Sulayman; and it is 'In the name of Allah, the beneficent, the merciful'. This is the beginning of the letter prophet Sulayman wrote to the queen of Shiba.
Whatever be the point of view of the dissenting scholars, it has been decisively established that the Holy Prophet always recited bismillahir rahmanir rahim as the part of al Fatihah, therefore, we all should follow him.
BISMILLAH
To start any good deed with "(I begin) in the name of Allah, the beneficent, the merciful" means a supplication unto Allah for successful completion of the work. It also means that the supplicant undertakes the job in the name of and on behalf of Allah to serve the good in the work as well as achieve his own legitimate purpose. In other words he dedicates his life to Allah and employs his self-interest-oriented activity in the service of overall goodness. He admits his helplessness and relies on the truth that ability to make any work fruitful is exclusively with Allah, and with no one else. By invoking Allah in the name of His beneficence and mercy he prays for His aid to achieve success in his undertaking. It is quite logical to believe that the divine beneficence and mercy would bless such a faithful. It does.
It is a fact that nothing exists or takes effect outside the course of Allah's will. The will of Allah governs the scope of every activity but does not determine the desires and methods of any created being. Anything that happens or exists without seeking Allah's pleasure, is covered by the will of Allah, but is not blessed with His grace. Should an individual begin any work without saying bismillah, it may be completed but without earning the divine pleasure. The desires and actions of an individual shall be blessed only when he surrenders them to Allah's pleasure. The Holy Prophet has made it known that anything done without invoking the divine grace by reciting bismillah is not approved by Allah.
As said earlier anyone can begin any work, without invoking Allah with bismillah, and it will be executed, if the divine will allows it. However, in this event, it does not earn the divine pleasure, but on the contrary is liable to be punished according to the degree of evil involved, the intention of the individual, the nature and the effect of the work. Even if it is not evil in its nature, disciplinary action can be taken because the individual has relied upon his ability and will which is as bad as setting oneself against the almighty Lord.
The very act of any one starting his work in the name of Allah whom he remembers as beneficent and merciful, eloquently speaks of the individual's obedience to the supreme being, who in return would automatically be reciprocal to the devotee's expectation in seeking His pleasure and mercy. In starting a work in the name of Allah, the reciter demonstrates the undernoted aspects of fundamental importance :
1. Acknowledgement of the supreme being as his Lord master.
2. Confession of his own helplessness.
3. Belief in Allah as the ever-living and all-knowing - almighty.
4. Reliance on the supreme being, seeking His pleasure and mercy, and invoking Him with His mercy-invoking attributes.
5. Conviction at heart and confidence that if called, the beneficent and the merciful Allah will certainly not deny him His mercy.
The words of bismillah i.e., in the name of Allah, have wide and discernible implications. The words may mean not only 'in the name of' but also:
1. For the sake of
2. To the service of
These and many other implications will serve the supplicant when he sincerely turns to Allah for obtaining His mercy and blessings.
One of the many unique features and distinguishing factors about the originality of Islam is bismillah which was never before used by or known to any of the other corrupted or falsified creeds of the world. Rodwell, wrongly informed, states that bismillah, in its Quranic form, was taught to the Quraysh for the first time by the poet Umayya (of Tayf). This claim of Rodwell is contradicted by unimpeachable evidence of historic authenticity that the term was totally unknown to the Quraysh to such an extent that they even resented the use of it (see verse 60 of al Furqan). Besides, even till as late as in the 6th year of Hijra, the Quraysh did not allow the term bismillah, as used in the Quran, to be used in the treaty drawn between the Muslims and the Makkans at Hudaybiyah. At the use of the term bismillahir rahmanir rahim Suhayl bin Amru, the delegate of the Quraysh, objected that he did not know what it meant. Ultimately the term used was bis-mika-allahumma which was then current among the Quraysh. There is no evidence in the usage of the people of other creeds to show that this term was borrowed by the Holy Prophet. Moreover, Islam does not claim to be a new religion preached for the first time to mankind. Islam's claim is that the truth was revealed to mankind, one and all, in various stages, in many languages; the difference is in the presentation of the truth in its fullness, in all its details.
We never sent a messenger save with the language of his people. (IBRAHIM: 4)
ALLAH
Aqa Mahdi Puya says:
There is no fitting equivalent, in the English or any other language, to convey and express the essential essence of the word ALLAH. In the earlier times the idea of a "supreme being" was conveyed to man by the prophets of Allah, but due to the general low level of knowledge, a single word, containing the all-embracing sense and significance of the supreme, universal and absolute being, was not made known.
"Father" may imply creativeness but, in no way, refers to compassion, beneficence and mercy. The word father implies that the father of the universe had a father and a mother who gave birth to him, because it does not indicate that the father of the heaven and the earth had no father or mother to bring him into being. It also fails to establish his uncreated self-existing eternity, unless explanatory words are added. The word Allah is a compound of the definite article al and the noun ilah, meaning "that God". The literal meaning of ilah is "puzzling" if waliha is the source, and "referred to" if it is derived from aliha; in either sense, it can be used for the supreme being unto whom man must surrender.
Known to every one, there is only one universal ultimate whom all human beings devotedly worship; and upon whom they depend and rely. He is undefinable, beyond the reach of human intelligence, unknowable to knowledge, unimaginable, yet recognised by one and all.
Imam Jafar bin Muhammad al Sadiq pointed to the spirit and vision of the word Allah to an atheist, in the course of a discussion. He said:
"When you are in a ship, sailing in the middle of an ocean, and a wind-storm comes on from every side, and there is no conceivable means of rescue, yet, in this hopeless situation, you make efforts, in hope of deliverance; this ultimate faith is Allah, referred to by Allah in verse 22 of Yunus."
Aqa Mahdi Puya says:
The word Allah points to that which is already in the consciousness, but cannot be arrested by comprehension, or conceived mentally. It is universal, because it is connected with the whole as well as with the part. Whether the word Allah is a proper noun or a common noun, because of the article al, is a solvable controversy. The common noun ilah, appropriating definite sense with the definite article al, referring to that which is universally known and recognised by every conscious being, unconfinable to form or concept, never to be two or more save one, becomes a proper noun.
So it is concised in the word Allah, giving it the unique unity of the sense of a proper noun. It must be noted that as the absolute can never be perceived by consciousness, so it cannot be defined by any name. One can refer to Him by personal pronouns, of which "He" (huwa) is the most suitable. The word Allah stands for the absolute self, the greatest name (ism azam), the one perfect total of all good and excellence with no defect.
In contemporary commentaries it is speculated that the word Allah might have been derived from the Hebrew uluhim. Allahumma is closer to uluhim than Allah, because the infidels, very intimate associates of the Jews, were more familiar with Allahumma than Allah, which was a new development. At any event what has been said earlier is further substantiated by the argument put forward to indicate the etymological development of the word.
In the process of evolution, the intellect of man began to make adjustments in the man-god relationship. He had been bowing in adoration to the powerful, useful, harmful, or unintelligible manifestations of nature which, step by step, developed into worship of imaginary deities. As the pantheon of man-made gods grew, man, in desperation, began to seek a supreme being, over the heads of the mini-gods, serving the chief to administer the destiny of man, in one way or other. So gradually man started to seek a supreme being with all comprehensive authority. The word Allah, more suitable than the other words, became popular among the people.
The two possible words ilah is derived from, are alaha and walah meaning astonishment and wonder. The word Allah is formed by adding the definite article al to alah, which means the one who is beyond the reach of conception, or even imagination, and out of the range of knowledge.
The quest for knowledge about Allah comes to a close when the seeker in astonishment confesses that with all his sincere efforts supported by intellect and insight he cannot know Him.
Imam Muhammad bin Ali al Baqir said:
Observe and examine the creation of Allah, do not pry into the being of Allah because no one knows what He is except He.
Imam Ali ibn abi Talib said:
He! O He whom none knows what He is, nor how He is, nor where He is, nor in what respect He is, but He. (Al Mashlul)
The name Allah stands for the supreme one who encompasses everything in the universe but nothing can encompass Him. He is the ever-living allknowing almighty. He has no equal. There is none comparable to Him. He has no associate or partner. All goodly names and ideal attributes belong to Him. He owns and controls that which is in the heavens and that which is in the earth and that which is in between them, the kingdom of the universe. It is only His will that is done. He is the all-seeing, all-hearing, all-just, all-merciful. He is eternal, infinite and essential. He is the first, the immediate and the ultimate.
The name Allah is called the ismi-dhat, the name of the absolute self, the only essential being owning all the divine attributes. The other names called asma ul husna are appellative and descriptive, relating to various attributes, each separately applicable according to His dealings with His creation.
He is Allah, the creator, the maker, the fashioner. His are the asma ul husna (the excellent names), (HASHR: 24)
The word Allah has been divinely chosen. The religious-minded know fully well what wonderful efficacy the name of Allah has.
RAHMANIR RAHIM
Aqa Mahdi Puya says:
The words rahman and rahim point out to the essence of one divine attribute-rahmah (mercy or grace), yet, in application, each demonstrates a distinct aspect of the divine mercy. He is rahman to all His creation, one and all, be they obedient or disobedient; and He is rahim to the faithful who do good and receive His mercy as a reward, or as an appreciation of the goodness of their souls.
Rahmah (grace), which is the root of both the words rahman and rahim, is the most comprehensive attribute of Allah. It is the source which initiates and stimulates His activities. Creation, sustenance of the creatures, guidance and legislation are the outcome of His universal grace. Mercy or grace stands for active willingness to give with no strings attached, without expectation of return, just for the well-being and good of His dear created beings.
No being is out of His grace. Rahman signifies the (all) penetrating and (all) enveloping universal grace of Allah. But every one receives His mercy according to his ability of receiving and containing, in relation to its usefulness for each individual, neither less nor more than that which is appropriate and equitable. To give more than what one deserves would mean to waste the grace. Therefore the worthiness on the part of the creature itself restricts or limits the measure of grace to be bestowed. The manner of giving is just. His justice is as universal as His grace. In short, as he gives to each and all unreservedly and with no expectation of return, His gift is grace; and as He gives to each according to its merits His gift is justice. This grace subject to merit is implied in the attribute rahim.
Grace and justice are not two separate attributes, in fact, one cannot be conceived without the other. They, together, are responsible for every activity in the realm of creation and the laws controlling the operation of creation. Every being, in the scheme of existence, under all circumstances, represents His grace and justice, whereas many theological and secular theories, based upon conjecture and insufficient knowledge, suppose that grace and justice are two contradictory dispositions of Allah.
Creation of life, brought about by His mercy, makes evident that He is an everliving uncaused supreme being, hayy bidh-dhat, and on account of the mercy and its demonstration it is inevitable that He, in His will and decision, is on His own, absolute and final.
He is the creator of the creation and of the nature of creation, therefore, He is essentially all-aware and all-knowing.
He is the beneficent and merciful. He loves each and every living being, so the beloved must stay attached with Him. He is near, gives answer to the supplicants when they cry unto Him.
As it is His mercy which sustains the whole universe, He alone is the true bountiful.
Belief in His mercy and beneficence, derived from observation and contemplation in its operation, creates love, brotherhood, justice, peace and harmony in the social, economic and political life of the human beings; and as an individual, every one of them makes a choice of sincerity, integrity and piety as a way of life.
The mission of Islam is to reform mankind not only by giving fair warning to the wrongdoers who adopt the life of sin and crime but also by creating love and attachment with the merciful Lord. The true message of Allah had always been available to mankind, but in view of the interests of the ruling classes; greed, and inadequate knowledge, many a fictitious god had been fabricated. All these imaginary deities were ruthless, arrogant and cruel. In many instances people worshipped those revengeful ferocious idols in hope of avoiding their venomous anger. The manipulation of fear and terror gave birth to superstitions, false beliefs and irrational systems, which brought mankind into bondage, reduced to slavery, century after century, till, at last, the merciful Lord struck a death blow to all irrational false beliefs and sent down Muhammad, not only as a nadhir, a warner, but also as a bashir, the bearer of glad tidings. The Holy Prophet was introduced to mankind as a "mercy unto the worlds".
"We sent you not (O Muhammad) but (as) a mercy unto the worlds" (ANBIYA: 107)
The Holy Prophet proclaimed that "there is no god save Allah", and directed the individual and collective behaviour to love and kindness so as to let man get rid of fear and terror for good, as long as the human race lives in this world.
To frighten with the consequences of wrongdoing is a negative approach, whereas to invite unto love and attachment with a real beneficent and merciful Lord-sustainer is a positive step towards a meaningful life, wherein even a wrongdoer can obtain amnesty if he undertakes to make amends and go straight. The religion of Allah, Islam, grows out of the divine mercy and attracts universal attention with its references, and relies on it to give feasible sense and significance to the relationship between the creator and the created beings.
The religion sent for mankind is Islam which means peace, and the prophet deputised by Allah to translate it into action has been made the "mercy unto the worlds".
The Quran relies upon the beneficence and mercy of Allah to assure man that he is safe in the hands of the beneficent and the merciful Allah, if he willingly surrenders to the almighty Lord of the worlds.
These two attributes of Allah, the creator Lord of the universe, are first presented to man to make him know that his master, by Himself, is beneficent and merciful, which automatically draws man nearer to the real master. Man runs away from dreadful events and things, but to escape the imaginary affliction or hurt from such terrifying agents he may yield to them under compulsion in order to appease their anger. Man, by nature, loves a beneficent being who benefits him, and a merciful being who overlooks his shortcomings. The submission of man to a beneficent and merciful being will undoubtedly be out of love rather than the caution to be safe from any tyrannical affliction, against which he is assured of safety by the qualities of beneficence and mercy.
Right from the beginning the Quran educates man with the truth that his Lord is the most loveable being whose primary quality is beneficence and mercy.
Islam teaches man to start every good effort with the holy name of Allah, who is beneficent and merciful, by invoking His mercy to bless his efforts.
Several other religions and creeds in the world have tried their best to bring down God to the level of man to make man god-minded and reform him. But Islam offers guidance to man to rise unto Allah and get nearer to Him, as nearer as his individual efforts, strengthened by his personal sincerity, can take him.
Islam wants to make man god-minded, so as to create in him the belief that he is nothing, can do nothing and can achieve nothing by himself, for himself or for anybody else. There is none other besides Allah who alone exists and who alone can cause anything to be or not to be. If man assures himself (and acts upon it) that it is Allah's will that is done, and only He and none else can fulfil anything and there is none who can resist His will, it gives him confidence and success. It is our common experience that when a mother censures her child to discipline his conduct, the child, even while being reproved, rushes towards the bosom of his mother. Why? It is because the young human soul is sure, and in his own heart is convinced of his mother's love, full of mercy. There is none else better than her in giving him the required protection even when her own self is being offended by him. It is also seen many a time that when a child in a family is reprimanded by the parents, displeased at any of his offences, he seeks protection with those of the members of the family who, he knows, love him and would surely give him the required protection. This same phenomenon works with maximum effectiveness in the man-god relationship.
Some people want less, and some desire for more, but no human being is free from wants. The demand of indispensable needs in presence of inherent helplessness makes man look for a supreme provider. Islam, at the very outset, creates in man love for and attachment with the Lord-nourisher of the worlds, so as to depend upon the divine mercy with sure conviction of getting that which is needed, by invoking in the name of His beneficence and mercy, the prime attributes of Allah.
It is reported that, with some of his companions, the Holy Prophet, by chance, passed through a graveyard. He covered its ground as quickly as he could. After attending the business, for which he had taken up the excursion, he returned by the same route. But then, very slowly, he walked down the distance of the graveyard. The companions wanted to know the reason. The Holy Prophet informed them that at the time of their first crossing, in one of the graves, a dead man was paying the penalty of his sins, and as a "mercy unto the worlds" he could not stay at a place where punishment was being administered; but during the return journey it so happened that the child of the man in trouble, for the first time, learned and recited bismillahir rahmanir rahim, on account of which the process of punishment had been cancelled.
The merit and the beauty of a religion lies in its perfection, in its contents and its comprehensive presentation. The Quran in this regard is singularly unique. In contrast to the various different creeds of the world, which might have been using some term or the other, the Quranic term, with clarity and perfection, brings home to man the truth that Allah, the Lord of the universe, is not an awful, dreadful, cruel being, void of love and compassion, but His prime attributes are His boundless love and compassion which invite, attract, encourage and even insist upon every sensible human being to rush to Him for the fulfilment of his demands, and to seek His succour in helplessness.
It is said that al Fatihah is the quintessence of the Quran, and bismillahir rahmanir rahim is the essence of al Fatihah, and the letter ba of bismillah is the embodiment of bismillahir rahmanir rahim, and the dot below the first letter ba of bismillah is the spirit of the first verse. Ali, son of Abu Talib, the first of the holy Imams, had said:
"I am the dot below the ba of bismillah" which means that to Ali has been entrusted the whole of the book and its true exposition, i.e. Ali had been endowed with the knowledge of the Quran with its external meaning and internal interpretation. The statement of Ali is testified by the well-known and universally accepted declaration (hadith) of the Holy Prophet:
I am the city of knowledge and Ali is its gate.
[Pooya/Ali Commentary 1:2] AL HAMDU
Alhamdu
means that (all) praise, thanks, gratitude, be to Allah alone, not to any one else, from the beginning of the universe to its end, not under compulsion, but because He alone, and none else, deserves to be praised, not only for the fulfilment of his particular desires but also, mainly, for all the bounties and blessings made available to man in his existence.
The love of the merciful for His creation is so deep and fulfilling that no compensation, even in the form of gratitude, can be offered to Him. In fact He needs no return. The divine mercy is independent of gratitude. It reaches and covers all the created beings whether the creatures show gratitude or not for the benefits and bounties they make use of and enjoy. The smallest bounty is an unconditional favour. Man does not deserve it, nor has he any right to claim any favour from the Lord. It is the all-embracing mercy of the merciful Lord which reaches one and all, whether any creature asks for it or not, whether the recipient acknowledges it or not.
A person likes to be praised if he accomplishes or acquires something extraordinary, novel or very important, after investing his best efforts, but the good in Allah is with Him. He has not acquired it.
He is goodness itself in its fullness and perfection. He is not in need of praise. In a prayer, He is praised, only to make the pray-er love and cherish the attributes which are praised, because as a matter of course, he would like to possess the attributes which he is praising.
The all-knowing Lord-nourisher is fully aware of the needs and wants of all His creatures more than they themselves know. He bestows His favours and bounties without receiving petitions from them, yet to educate, train and discipline the mankind, prayer, in which He is praised, is necessary, so that man remains attached with the merciful creator, while enjoying the divine bounties, conscious of the absolute sovereignty of the Lord of bounties and grace.
Aqa Mahdi Puya says:
To find out the truth in connection with the praise and the praising (hamd) the question as to who praises whom, must be answered. Man can praise Allah if his existence is presumed to be as eternal as Allah, whereas, in fact, it is Allah who created man and taught him how to praise. Truly, the praise as well as the praising both belong to Allah. Allah is the hamid, the praiser, and also the mahmud, the praised. There is none else other than Allah who is the subject as well as the object of the praise, and in this sense no one can share His praise. This is implied in the preposition li (for), which signifies the exclusive authorisation.
Hamd, adoration through praise, takes the place of gratitude to be expressed for getting favours and bounties. Man, by nature, shows his readiness to yield to love and compassion, even to the extent of unconditional surrender. To depend upon the co-operation and help of others is human. When he finds that someone, attached to him, is taking interest in his well-being, he is automatically drawn to him. His desire for a happy life makes him go after that which helps and protects, and avoid that which he finds harmful to his existence and welfare. By realising that praise, in any form or content, must be for Allah, and for no one else, and that Allah alone deserves every praise and adoration, man is freed from the fear of awesome tyranny, corruption and servitude which he presumed that the dreadful and false gods would inflict upon him. On the contrary now he knows that his real master is the Lord of beneficence and mercy whom he approaches through His praise . He is free to get as near to Him as he likes in order to earn more and more from the bountiful benefactor who Himself is ready to bestow favours and bounties, in abundance, on the sincere seeker and on those on whose behalf He is beseeched.
The Arabic word shukr implies gratitude for some particular favour, whereas hamd, without reference to any particular quality, is an objective gratitude, for all that is good and gracious, profitable and advantageous. It may also involve the idea of free, unrestricted and unqualified admiration. But, again, admiration refers to the Arabic word madh which is used both for the animate as well as the inanimate objects, without necessarily implying that existence of the qualities admired depends on the conscious will of the object, in which case admiration will relate to the qualities admired, not to the possessor of those qualities. Allah is never praised in this sense. The prefix al confirms that hamd is for no one but Allah who alone, not merely on account of the manifestations of the divine attributes, but because He is the sole owner of those glorious qualities, deserves to be praised; identifying His self-existent absolute self. The qualities belong only to Him alone, to none else, and it is so for all times since eternity, and will be so till eternity. So, in this sense the English word "praise" should be understood and used as a translation of hamd.
Hamd (the praise) is Allah's. It has no beginning and no end. We, the created beings, do our best, within our limitations, to give expression to the "real praise" (hamd). His hamd, as His grace, is unlimited and continuous. No one can praise the merciful even for a whole life-time and say that justice has been done, because every time one gives thanks to Allah he inhales and also exhales, drawing in the good life-giving air and exhaling the bad air, two bounties he is receiving for which only once can he say "I thank the bountiful Lord". It is impossible to thank Allah for the innumerable bounties He has put at the disposal of man, right inside his body, and in the world where he lives as an individual as well as a member of the community. Even the thanks and praises he offers to the bountiful have been taught to him by the Lord of the worlds. Therefore, every creature is, all the time under the obligation of the bountiful grace of Allah.
By praising, we reach the stage where the infinite goodness of our Lord purges out of us the taste for evil and creates in us the eagerness to get nearer and nearer to Him to earn His mercy which purifies us and reflects in us the divine attributes.
By making Allah known as the rabbul alamin, Islam has disclosed the truth to mankind that He is the Lord of everything in the universe, be that human, animal, vegetable, mineral, perceptible or imperceptible, visible or invisible, near or far, in the earth or in the heavens, or in between them. With infinite power, able to do all things, the all-wise almighty creator of matter and meaning is a supreme sovereign in every aspect of His absolute authority. His independent will extends to and covers all kinds of the worlds created by Him.
The five "mystic" classifications of the worlds are as under:
- Material or physical NASUT
- Metaphysical MALAKUT
or supernatural
- Spiritual JABARUT
- Divine LAHUT
- Imperceptible and GHAYBUL GHAYUB
unknowable
The rububiyat begins to operate as early as the will to create a being takes effect, and continues to nurture the created being with love, care and never-ceasing vigilance, providing all its needs according to the changes it goes through. It is like a self-imposed duty to guide the creature to make conscious efforts to avoid harm and avail profit.
"Verily, We have created everything by (the right) measure". (QAMAR: 49)
Things necessary for the living beings, all over the universe, in all times, are available to satisfy various wants and needs. The quality and quantity of the "resources" have been determined according to the collective requirements of all that which has been created. Some things are rare, some things are plentiful, but at all events nothing is less or more. A thoughtful study of the complex of "things" brings the obvious fact to light that there is only one single owner master who has set the wonderfully harmonious working of the universe in motion, allowed life to be created, and in addition, enabled each and every creation to put into effect the aim of its being brought into existence.
The heat of the sun changes the water into a mass of fog and the wind takes it to the sky in the shape of rolling clouds and drives them over various parts of the earth; and when the stored water in the clouds melts on account of the solar glow, it rains all over the earth. The earth receives the water and grows "food" for all the living beings. Every being finds, all that which serves to maintain life on earth, ready, as soon as it comes into being, duly provided and arranged in the required quantity and quality. The milk, a new-born baby feeds on, is ready in the mother's breasts well in advance of its birth.
The merciful rabbul alamin has provided manifold bounties for the survival and happiness of the incomprehensibly large number of the members of each of the innumerable species in the universe. There is perfect harmony and undisturbable control in the continuous working of nature. Each creature, perfectly formed and fully equipped, has an inherent capacity to make use of the available "resources of the bounties", and obtain its own means of sustenance from one complete regular system. This orderly arrangement, according to the Quran, takes effect by means of taqdir and hidayat.
Taqdir means "consider a thing well; fix in measure and quantity, render possible".
Imam Ali ibn abi Talib had said:
Allah had conditioned and circumstanced the operation of all that has been created under precise (self) regulating laws, in the sphere of time and space, made their unlike, complex and diverse dispositions agree and fit well together, implanted and infused rhythm and balance and co-ordination in their nature, to give them the inbuilt discipline that follows an orderly system. (NAHJ AL BALAGHA)
The appropriate assignment of a prescribed condition is taqdir, a precise system of laws which cannot be tampered with or led astray outside its logical course by any force except by almighty Allah, who is omnipotent and able to do all things. The perfect working of the well defined plan under definite laws depends upon His justice. As the 26th verse of Ale Imran says: "In Thy hand is all good", the almighty Lord through these precise laws, governing the operation of creation, has provided the living beings all the opportunities to make effort and win success by relying upon them.
The whole complex of the immeasurable universe is working in perfect harmony, keeping the living beings inhabiting it, and the living conditions and circumstances provided for them, in co-operative accord. No one can make the slightest attempt to disturb the "predestined nature of creation". The law of cause and effect can never be made to stop its inevitable function. The various elements can never do otherwise than as they have been directed under the divine laws of the nature. In this sense the meaning of the word taqdir should be understood.
Hidayat means "right guidance". All the living beings, all over the universe, are motivated to exercise their free choice and do that which is meaningful and profitable, and avoid that which is absurd and harmful, by discovering, understanding and making use of the "controlled by precise laws" environment.
Taqdir governs every natural phenomenon and hidayat directs all the activities of the living beings. Their combined application is universal. Every being in the universe is so perfectly designed that each fulfils its own individual needs from one and the same environment. But in order to refer to the particular aspect of sustenance and preservation which the nourishing and preserving Lord justly and mercifully supplies for the benefit of His creatures, a few typical examples are sufficient.
A newly born child at once sucks the mother's breast. The roots of the plants and trees absorb from the earth only that which helps their growth, leaving out the unessential, notwithstanding its presence in the soil. As soon as a fish is born it swims. Every creature functions under the divine guidance.
Glorify the name of your Rabb (the Lord) the most high;
He who creates then fashions in the proportion.
And He who has planned, then guided, (A'LA: 1, 2, 3)
The whole universe has been designed, created and guided (to function according to the divine laws) by one single authority who is eternal., almighty, all-knowing, all-just, benevolent and merciful.
The perfect unity and harmony found in the sustainment of the creation points towards the supreme authority of one Lord of the worlds. There is no room for anyone to claim the position of a false god or goddess because for sustenance he or she also depends on the rabbul alamin. So all unreasonable beliefs in the false imaginary deities are destroyed for ever.
(He is) the Lord of the heavens and the earth and all that which is in between them. (SHU-ARA: 23, 24)
Alamin means the heavens and the earth and that which is in between them. According to the Quran, out of the seven heavens, the lowest is the starry space (sama ud dunya), above which, there are six heavens, not physical in nature, but controlling the physical region as the intermediary stage to the ultimate.
The physical directions, up and down, are relative definitions. The ultimate, the goal or the termination is the Lord of the worlds. The most sublime being, who encompasses and penetrates the whole universe, is the absolute high (up).
They ask you of "the hour"; whereto (is) its anchorage? Wherein are you (concerned with) its notion? Unto your Lord (alone) is its termination, (NAZI-AT: 42-44)
The most finite and least encompassing and penetrating or the lowest (down) is the water, as described by the Quran.