Allah, The Most High
Blog Post 50
March 16, 2022
Everyone knows that the belief in and worship of Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala is the foremost duty of humankind. Because we came from Allah and we will return to Allah we have been provided with a fitrah (innate disposition) that recognizes Allah
as the Creator of the worlds, including ourselves. Our fitrah enables us to discern the Truth, the Reality, that is Allah, The Most High. Plus our worldview is tauhid which is the Oneness of Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala and the Unity of the universe. It is the worldview that everything and everyone in “the universe has appeared through a sagacious will and that the order of being is founded on goodness, generosity, and mercy.” (Mutahhari, M., 1985, p. 74)
However, we cannot just depend on our Allah-given fitrah.
We must nurture our own and each other’s belief system.
We must nurture each other’s worship.
And this must begin in childhood, with Allah’s Help, inshallah. It is not enough to simply mention Allah’s Name in phrases, such as Al-Hamduilllah, Subhanallah, Inshallah, Bismillah, Allahu Akbar, Shukran Allah, Fi Sabilillah, Mashallah, etc. We must teach by words and deeds, by the Holy Qur’an and Hadith, by the stories of the Prophets and the chosen ones, the lovers of Allah, and through our personal example as a role model, inshallah.
As a person who was brought up and nurtured as a Christian, and all that that entails, the love of God was the central commitment in my life, in my mind and heart and soul. After that was, of course, the love of Jesus, Prophet Isa, peace be upon him. Since my parents and sister also worshipped God with me at church, I felt loved, happy and secure in the small world we inhabited. Al-Hamdulillah, I never viewed God and Prophet Isa, peace be upon him, as the same entity.
I understood Allah to be The Creator of the universe, The One and Only, The Eternal,
The Needless, The Powerful, The Just, The Loving, The Forgiving, The Almighty...
I felt Allah’s Power and Spirit and Love as a child and adolescent and young adult.
I saw Allah’s miracles in nature, in people, in the way the world works,
in the mountains and the oceans, in the little insects and cats and birds,
in the delicious tomatoes, green beans, peaches and watermelons.
I knew that Allah causes birth and death, the wind and rain and snow,
the tides to ebb and flow, the moon to orbit and the planets to rotate and orbit,
the sun and stars to shine, the people to see, hear, speak, smell, taste and feel,
some animals to hibernate and migrate and aestivate, the crops and fruits to grow and ripen…
And I knew Prophet Isa, peace be upon him, as a loving, caring, pious, intelligent, spiritual teacher we should be like. And I was taught that he was crucified and died on the cross for our sins and was raised on the third day and ascended into Heaven. Astagfir Allah.
Al-Hamdulillah, I have been a Muslim for over 42 years. Most converts experience elation upon becoming a Muslim, a spiritual high, a fulfillment of their purpose on Earth, a peace and tranquility without equal. Naturally, I did also. But looking back on this journey, reflecting on the learning, the communities, the politics, the khutbahs, the sisterhood and brotherhood, the Jumahs, the conferences, the lectures, the workshops, the readings, the conversations, the teachings, I have felt that something is missing at times, something that is crucial to our lives as Muslims, something that I felt before my embrace of Islam. Our love of Allah, our knowledge of Allah, our dependence on Allah, our devotion to Allah, our worship of Allah is not always prioritized, expressed, experienced, discussed, nurtured, felt… A lot of what we are and do as Muslims is wrapped around stories, tafsir, hadith, lessons, politics, jihad al-akbar, duties, fiqh, history, personalities, and surface-level stuff.
We need time and opportunity to experience the mystery of Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala, to contemplate, to perform personal and communal devotion, to ponder our place in the world, to lose ourselves in Allah’s Love, Beauty and Majesty, to renew our covenant with Allah, to glorify Allah’s Name, to affirm Allah’s Supreme Divinity and Grandeur and Power, to plead for Forgiveness and Mercy. We need reminders and support and time to re-establish our relationship with Allah, The Most High, alone, in our families and with the community of Muslims.
We need to feel the One Who Loves us, Who Forgives us,
Who Calls us, Who Turns to us.
We need to know we are worthy of the mantle of Islam
which we carry with us day by day and night by night.
We need to have certitude that it is Only Allah Who Helps us.
We need to reaffirm that we came from Allah
and we are marching steadily back to Allah.
Sometimes I feel that those alims and scholars and Muslims who drift toward interfaith work have witnessed the joy and love that Christians especially feel during worship services, communion, song and prayer and are searching for that themselves. That feel good feeling, that deep spiritual connection, that special surety that Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala loves us definitely is worth experiencing.
It is the Divine Breath of Allah, the Divine Whisper of Allah,
the Divine Touch of Allah, the Divine Call of Allah
and His Loving-Kindness and Light and Guidance
that we all are in need of and desire for connection, renewal,
hope, sacredness, servitude, calmness, reverence and energy.
Certainly learning how to read the Holy Qur’an, reading, reciting and listening to the Holy Qur’an and reading, reciting and listening to duas to Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala are admirable, helpful and spiritual and forms of worship. They must not, however, just become routines that we attend to without being present with our heart or read without meaning or contemplate about without sincerity. Islam means surrender and submission and so it is vitally important for us to know to Whom we are surrendering and submitting. Allah, The Most High, is the Only One to Whom we surrender and submit, the Only One worthy of worship. Thus, the individual who surrenders and submits to Allah and worships Him Only is a muslim.
Read and ponder these ayats from the Holy Qur’an:
“There is nothing like Him.” (42:11)
“You are the ones needing Allah,
and Allah is The One Free of Need, The Praiseworthy.” (35:15)
“He is aware of all things.” (42:12)
“He is capable of all things.” (22:6)
“Wherever you turn, there is the presence of Allah.” (2:115)
“We created human beings, and We know what his soul whispers to him,
and We are nearer to him than his jugular vein.” (50:16)
“The Most Beautiful Names belong to Allah.” (7:180)
“No visions can grasp Him, but He comprehends all vision.” (6:103) (Mutahhari, p. 75)
Ayatullah Murtadha Mutahhari, in Fundamentals of Islamic Thought: God, Man and the Universe (1985), tells us that Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala “is characterized by all the attributes of perfection.” Allah is “the Living,” “the Powerful,” “the Knowing,” “the Intender,” “the Merciful,” “the Guide,” “the Creator,” “the Wise,” “the Most Forgiving,” “the Just”… (p. 80) Allah “Most High is the Unlimited Being and the Absolute Reality.” (p. 81) The Essence of Allah is in His “unity and uniqueness.” He is Self-Sufficient. Allah “is the Necessary Being.” He is the Source and Creator of everything, “but He is from nothing.” Allah “is the Primal Cause.” (p. 84) “Say, ‘Allah is the Creator of all things.’” (13:16) He is present everywhere. “He is with you wherever you may be.” (57:4) We are travelling back to Allah. “Behold, all affairs course to Allah.” (42:53) (p. 85)
All of Allah’s Names or Attributes are not separate from Him. Allah is just and so He is Al-Adl (The Just). Allah is compassionate and so He is Al-Rahman (The Compassionate). Allah judges and so He is Al-Hakam (The Judge). Therefore, “tauhid as regards the attributes means perceiving and knowing the unity of the Essence and the attributes of God.” (p. 86)
As well, we perceive and know “that the universe, with all its systems, norms and causes and effects, is God’s act and God’s work and arises from His will.” (p. 86) “Every agent and cause gains its reality, its being, its influence and agency from Him; every agent subsists by Him. All powers and all strength are by Him.” (p. 87)
Ayatullah Mutahhari tells us: “A Muslim who views the reality of man as not just the corporeal reality, who views the basic reality of man as the reality of his spirit, whose substance is the substance of knowledge, sanctity, and purity, well understands that so-called theoretical tauhid…in addition to being the foundation of tauhid in practice, is itself in its essence the highest perfection of the soul. It truly elevates man to God and grants him perfection. ..Man’s humanity is dependent upon his knowledge of God.” (p. 87) “To perceive theological truths, quite apart from the practical and social effects deriving from these truths, is itself the ultimate end of humanity.” (p. 88)
And so the person who knows Allah The Most High will naturally worship Him, carrying “out the rites of glorification and affirmation of His transcendence.” (p. 88) And that person will make only Allah his “object of obedience, destination, qibla, and ideal.” They will “reject any other object of obedience, destination, qibla, or ideal.” They will “bow and rise for God,” “stand for God,” “serve God,” “live for God,” “die for God.” (pp. 88-89) Inshallah.
“Say: I have set my face to Him Who created the Heavens and the Earth,
in all exclusivity. My prayer, my sacrifice, my life, and my death are for Allah,
the Lord of the worlds. He has no partner. I am commanded of this,
and I am of those who surrender.” (6:162-163) (p. 89)
May Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala grant us closeness to Him and keep us on the Straight Path forever embodying the pledge of Prophet Ibrahim, peace be upon him, in the preceding ayats and forever obeying Allah, Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him and his family, and those charged with authority among us. (4:59)
Inshallah, as we prepare for Ramadhan, may we all grow closer to Allah Subhanahu wa ta’ala and feel that deep spiritual connection and energy and love and joy and certainty as we renew our commitment of servitude to our Compassionate and All-Knowing Creator.
Note
Ayatullah Murtadha Mutahhari was born on February 2, 1920, in Fariman, Iran, and was martyred on May 1, 1979 in Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran. He played a major role in reawakening the Islamic consciousness in the people of Iran, guiding and participating in the Islamic Revolution of Iran and the newly formed Islamic government, and as an intellectual Muslim thinker, teacher and writer.
Resource
Mutahhari, Ayatullah Murtadha. (1985). Fundamentals of Islamic Thought: God, Man and the Universe. Trans. by R. Campbell. Berkley, CA: Mizan Press. Accessible from Al-Islam.org @ https://www.al-islam.org/fundamentals-islamic-thought-god-man-and-universe-murtadha-mutahhari