Riyadat an-Nafs

The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, enumerated to us 99 of Allah’s names and told us that knowing them grants access to Paradise. But these are not the only names of Allah, for He has kept some hidden in His knowledge, others He revealed in His Revelations, and others He taught to any of His servants that He chose to honor, as in the Prophet’s supplication, peace be upon him,

“I ask You by every name belonging to You which You have named Yourself with, or which you revealed in Your Book, or which You taught to any of Your creation, or which You have preserved in the knowledge of the Unseen with You, that You make the Qur’an the life of my heart and the light of my breast, and a departure for my sorrow and a release for my anxiety.”

So not only are the names of Allah a means (waseela) of entering Paradise, but they are also a means (waseela) of having our prayers and supplications answered by Allah, and for drawing nearer to Allah Most High. And as these names show Allah’s attributes, we should try to acquire what we can from them in order to become better humans.

These names are also signposts to Allah, teaching us about Him and reminding us of Him through His creation. For example, by looking at the Earth and the skies, the animals and the rivers, we remember Allah’s name The Creator, and by thinking about how some people rise and others fall we think of the names related to that, and when we are faced with a difficult task we remember the names that tell us that God is all-powerful and that He makes what is difficult easy, etc.

As I said earlier, we need to start living with Allah’s names. At every point in our life, there is a certain name that will seem especially needed for us, or that will have a certain appeal, based on your spiritual, physical, or emotional states; or maybe based on whatever challenges you face in life. I have recently chosen, or perhaps I was drawn to, Allah’s name al-Mu’min, which is mentioned in the hadith of the 99 names, and with which Allah describes Himself in verse 59:23 of the holy Qur’an.

* This first link, Ya Mu’min!, describes why I chose that name and all the meanings that we can get from the word’s root, a-m-n. Then I talk about the benefit of repetition of certain words, including this specific Name.

* In Living with al-Mu’min, I began looking at how different scholars have explained this Name, or Attribute, in their commentaries on the Qur’anic verse 59:23. I showed the Arabic tafsir and its translation. It includes the commentaries of Al-Sulami (d. 412 A.H.) and al-Qushayri (d. 465 A.H.).

* In Living with al-Mu’min 2, I continued with the Quranic commentaries, and showed those of Ruzbihan Baqli (d. 604 A.H.), the tafsir attributed to Ibn Arabi (d. 638 A.H.) or his disciple, and that of the more recent Ismail Haqqi Bursawi (d. 1127 A.H.).

* In Living with al-Mu’min 3, I continued with the long commentary of Ismail Haqqi Bursawi, starting with an explanation of Abu Hamid al-Ghazali’s commentary on the Name. It concludes with instructions on how to repeat that name in order to gain security in regards to one’s self and possessions.

* Then in Living With God’s Names: Al-Mu’min, I translated the commentary of Ibn Ajiba (d. 1224 A.H. , 1809 C.E.) from his famous commentary on the Fatiha in which he explained almost all the Islamic sciences. This commentary is important because it shows you how to live with that name through ta’alluq (attachment, relationship), takhalluq (adoption, appropriation, cultivation), and tahaqquq (realization).

* Finally, in Al-Mu’min: A Du’a, I put an Arabic supplication to God based on that Name by a Sufi shaykh.

And now I would like to conclude with an excerpt on that Name’s meaning and its benefits from a discourse of shaykh Muzaffer Ozak al-Jerrahi, the latest in our chronological order, in Irshad: Wisdom of a Sufi Master:

AL-MU’MIN: The Guardian of Faith. He who awakens the light of faith in our hearts. He protects and comforts those who shelter with Him.

YA MU’MINU: O Guardian of Faith! If we repeat this constantly, the Exalted Lord will make us safe against the evil of the foe.

Sufi, rest not at the Names;

Come learn Whose Names they are.

To know the Named One, that’s the aim,

The only aim in studying the Names.

- Shaykh Abdul-Ahad al-Nuri, as quoted by shaykh Muzaffer in Irshad.