In the name of
Allah the Beneficent the Merciful
ALLAH’S GREATNESS
One of the ways of realizing something of the greatness of
the Lord is to reflect upon how we came into existence. He tells us about in
the following verse of the Holy Qur’an. He says:
O mankind, if you have doubt about resurrection, know that
verily, We created you out of dust, then out of a sperm, then out of a
leech-like clot, then out of a morsel of flesh partly formed and partly
unformed. (22:5)
Allah is Infinite, and all creatures are finite; so the
All-Wise Lord selected to make a tiny, microscopic grain of sand be His
Representative here on the earth. No wonder why the angels were surprised when
this was told to them.
Man has been blessed with the capacity to represent the Lord
in two dimensions; viz. physically and spiritually.
Although the Lord is not a physical being, He has made known
to us the way He connects with His creatures. This He calls His Divine
Attributes (His Beautiful Names). This connection He calls His Habits, and they
will never change. He says:
The Nature of Allah is the nature He has bestowed on mankind.
There is no change in the Habit of Allah. That is the Upright Way but a lot of
people cannot understand. (30:30)
We are all supposed to behave like our Lord here on the
earth. We interact with our fellow human beings on the basis of the qualities
contained in the Attributes of the Lord. For example, we are supposed to show
kindness and compassion, must be able to forgive, etc. When we do so we are
really representing our Lord, because we are behaving like Him.
Every human being can behave like the Lord in two ways, one
is to manifest something of the Divine Attributes in our daily physical
activities, and the other is to keep our souls polished, bright and shining.
In order to keep it clean and bright we are required to
uphold the permissible and avoid the prohibited. The prohibited things are
unclean and produce stains on our souls. Allah says:
Nay but that which they have earned is rust upon their
hearts. (83:14)
We must always keep in mind the important fact concerning our
great enemy, Satan. He decorates the physical things that are prohibited to
make them look attractive, and he works on one’s desires and emotion to entice
that person to do the wrong.
Let us all make a genuine effort to submit humbly to the Lord
by upholding the permissible and avoiding the prohibited. In that way we will
have no need to fear or grieve.
