A devotional exploration by one Christian woman of the 99 beautiful names of Allah.
"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things" (Philippians 4:8).
According to Tafsir ibn Kathir this carries the meaning "Free from any defects or shortcomings that lessen or decrease His perfect attributes and actions.'' The word Shalom in Hebrew and the word Salaam in Arabic both carry the sense not only of peace, but also of wholeness, completeness and health.
In all three of the Abrahamic religious traditions, we go to God for peace.
God told Aaron and his sons to bless the people. Here is a rabbi singing (and then praying in English) the traditional Aaronic blessing.
Jesus promised peace to his followers in a number of passages.
More Christian stuff.
Before his crucifixion, Jesus said this to his followers. "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid" (John 14:27).
He also said, "“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world" (John 16:33)
There is also another way in which Christians understand Jesus to be peace, because the entire purpose of Jesus's life on earth was to bring peace between God and mankind. His incarnation is a reconciliation, bringing the nature of God and humanity together in one being, and his death and resurrection are even more so.
In thinking about God as our peace however, in all three traditions it also behooves us to remember that there are times when God troubles our peace. God is not a source of complacency and there are times when drawing closer to God does not instantly result in peace but in increased trouble both in our hearts and in our situations. Jeremiah called the conduct of people loathsome who, "dress the wounds of my people as though it were not serious. 'Peace, peace,' they say, when there is no peace" (Jeremiah 6:14). Isaiah warns that there is no peace for the wicked (Isaiah 48:22). Jesus warned that his teachings would divide families: "I did not come to bring peace but a sword" (Matthew 10:34).
Here is a song that came as I was considering this name, in its various dimensions
O God, bring me to real peace. Where I need to be troubled on my way into your peace, then I ask for the troubles I need, so that I can come to the peace and wholeness that are yours.
According toTafsir Ibn Kabir, "(Al-Quddus,) meaning "The Pure,'' according to Wahb bin Munabbih, while Mujahid and Qatadah said that Al-Quddus means "The Blessed.'' Ibn Jurayj said that Al-Quddus means "He Whom the honorable angels glorify.'' "
What does it mean to be holy or pure? If we think about purity in natural things, it is very short-lived, and one might almost say fragile. We are clean until we get dirty. A piece of white paper is clean only as long as it is not used. A cup of water becomes impure as soon as anything is added. That which is holy is set apart for God, with a certain amount of fear lest it become unclean before the offering is accepted.
It is God alone whose purity is such that God not only remains eternally pure, but has the power to transfer that purity to others, to make them clean. When the prophet Isaiah saw a vision of the Lord, he saw him
seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another:
“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory.” Isaiah 6:1-3
(Notice that here we do see the angels glorifying God in conjunction with his holiness, as Ibn Jurayj mentioned.)
In the Hebrew, the word is Kadosh, and it is related to the Arabic Quddus. Isaiah's response was immediately to be aware of his own impurity in contrast to the holiness of God. He cried out, "Woe to me, I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty” (Isaiah 6:5). God sent a seraph to touch his lips with a burning coal to take away his sin.
In the New Testament, it is Jesus who is portrayed as having this kind of contagious purity.
More really Christian stuff:
An unclean woman touches his clothes. Instead of making him impure, she gets healed. He touches lepers. Instead of getting leprosy himself, their leprosy is healed. And perhaps most startling of all, he claimed the ability to forgive sin. The people around were offended, and thought this was blasphemy. If Jesus had not been God, it would have been blasphemy. (Anyone can forgive sin against themselves. But Jesus was talking to a stranger with no sense in the story that the man had done something to Jesus as a man.)
Oh God, I want to have your kind of purity in my life, to be completely and totally given over to your love and your ways.
Here we have a name that God is called that people can also be called. The King, the ruler, the lord.
American democrats sometimes have troubles with the idea of anyone being a King. And modern seminaries sometimes have troubles with calling God a name with such "patriarchal" overtones. The fact remains that traditionally within Christianity and Islam, we have known God as King.
A central prayer in Christianity, the Lord's prayer, which Jesus taught to his followers starts out with "Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven."
When we call God King, we emphasize the fact that he is the one who has the right to make the rules. He is the one to whom we give our allegiance, who has the supreme right to tell us what to do, to boss us around, both personally, the way a King sends his vassals on errands, and in general, the way a King makes laws for his kingdom.
One of the spots where the Qur'an talks about Allah and gives him the title Al-Malik is in Surat Taha, (20:114). In this passage, though not in this specific verse, God tells the angels to prostrate themselves before Adam, and Iblis (Satan) refused. And, as we all know, Adam didn't do such a good job of obeying God's command to him. God is King. He has the right to tell us what to do, even when the command may not make a lot of sense to us (as when Adam was told not to eat one specific fruit, even though it was "good to eat" and "a delight to the eyes" (Genesis 3:6)). He has the right to tell us to give honor to someone, as in the command of the ten commandments to honor father and mother, and as Iblis refused to do to Adam and Eve.
The New Testament talks about being transferred out of the Kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of light (Colossians 1:12-14). We don't actually have a choice about whether or not we are going to live in a spiritual kingdom--someone will be king over us, whether we choose that or not. We do have a choice about which King we will have.
For myself, I want to be a member of the kingdom of light, and have God for my King, Al-Malik.
Playing with calligraphy. I am trying to make a crown from the Arabic words. I don't know whether this will be obvious to all viewers.
Having said that individualistic Americans sometimes have difficulties with the idea of a King (or anyone) telling them what to do, I should probably also be honest, and say that I find the notion of a King to be very romantic. I identify quite a bit with the legend of St. Christopher, a warrior who wanted to serve the greatest King. He works his way up through various kings, then winds up serving Satan because a very great king is scared of the devil. This of course brings him around to serving God, though the story is more complex than that.
There is a sense in which this is part of the story of how I came to become a Christian.
Aggressively Christian bit follows, read at your own discretion.
I was looking for a Lord worth serving, and I found one in Jesus, a King who came to his people in humility, and whose humility will someday lead to every knee being bowed, and every tongue confessing that he is Lord.
I will admit that as I think this through I am more and more struck that while in Christian literature both Father and Son are addressed as King, and it is the Father who gives Jesus his throne and kingdom, it is clear that the cry of Christians has been from the beginning that "Jesus is Lord" (and in being the Lord, also our King.)
Although this word comes from the same three letter root as Ar-Rahman, traditionally this is understood to refer to the love, mercy and compassion that is reserved for the believer. "Ibn Jarir said; As-Surri bin Yahya At-Tamimi narrated to me that `Uthman bin Zufar related that Al-`Azrami said about Ar-Rahman and Ar-Rahim, "He is Ar-Rahman with all creation and Ar-Rahim with the believers.''
This concept that there is a way in which God is merciful to believers which God does not extend to unbelievers is something that is very familiar to traditional Muslims and Christians alike. But it is very disconcerting to the modern mind. Why should God care who believes or what it is that people believe?
There are a number of answers to this question, but I think that an important piece of the answer is that for all of the Abrahamic traditions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, belief is not just a matter of intellectual assent, but a matter of trust, and a matter of being willing to come to God. "Taste and see that the Lord is good," says the psalmist, "blessed is the man who takes refuge in him" Psalm 34:8. There is an aspect of God's mercy that you cannot experience without drawing close enough to God to fling yourself upon that mercy.
Christians and Muslims alike have tended to check whether the believers have all the concepts in their creed correctly lined up. And Muslims and Christians are in sharp disagreement about some of the most important aspects of the content of faith.
When Jesus answered the questions of one legal expert, he told the familiar story of the Good Samaritan. A man who was beaten up by thieves and left for dead is passed by two religious leaders, and then rescued by a good Samaritan. Nobody listening to the story would have thought that the Samaritans had their theology right. They didn't have their blood-lines right either, for those who thought that this what mattered to be accepted by God. The Samaritans were the descendants of people that the Babylonians had moved into the area after they moved the Jews out of the area. The man whom Jesus held up as an example (from the form of the story, probably not a real person but a type) held extremely questionable doctrines by almost anyone's standards, but his actions showed him to be a lover of his neighbors.
I do not mean to imply that God does not care about the content of our faith. But I do think that it matters a great deal more whether or not we are drawing near to God in love and trust than whether we have all the details right. Ultimately it is God who will judge all hearts. Will we trust in our own ability to have gotten things right, or in the greatness of God's mercy?
Another aggressively Christian moment, read at your own discretion:
As a Christian, I put my trust in the greatness of God's mercy as it was revealed in Jesus' death on the cross, followed by his resurrection. In the New Testament it is very clear that " if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation" (Romans 10:9-10) and "Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God" (1 John 4:15). But I also believe that God will reveal what is true to those who are looking to follow him (John 7:14).
For this name, I did not write a song, but instead played with making a calligraphy picture.
This is part of the full phrase, "Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Raheem," "In the name of Allah, the most Compassionate, the most merciful," which is recited and printed before the beginning of every surah but one in the Qur'an, and which is recited as part of salat, the daily prayers and at other times. It is a very commonly used name of God.
But what does it mean? I have seen it variously translated as The Most Compassionate, The Beneficent, the Most Merciful, The Merciful, The All-Merciful, The Gracious One, and I am sure this does not exhaust the list of possible translations. I want to make it clear that all of these translations are given by Muslims and by scholars. I am not trying to be stubborn or officiously scholarly when I give different translations. On Wikipedia, there is currently a passionate argument that this is simply the personal name of Allah, and as such does not correspond to an attribute. (The author of this particular part of the article does not speak English in a very grammatical way, and I will be surprised if their addition stands for long. But I have been surprised before.)
Arabic is a language of three and four letter roots, which tie together families of related words. The root of this word is R-H-M ر ح مز According to the The Hans Wehr Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, related words are رحمwhich can mean uterus, womb and relationship or kinship. The related word رحمة is variously translated as pity, compassion, human understanding, sympathy, kindness, and mercy. The Qur'an itself does not give us a lot of clues as to exactly what flavor is best ascribed to this word. In many places, it is used as a name without any particular clues.
So I have turned to the Tafsir Ibn Kathir, because it has been translated into English, and is available on the internet. Ibn Kathir was a mufassir (scholarly commentator on the Qur'an) who was born in 1302 C.E. Tafsir is commentary on the Qur'an which goes word by word, and phrase by phrase. There is a detailed discussion of the distinction between Ar-Rahman and the related name (they share the same root) Ar-Raheem. He cites a tradition (Hadith) judged to be authentic (graded Sahih) that Abdur-Rahman bin `Awf heard Mohammad say "Allah the Exalted said, 'I Am Ar-Rahman. I created the Raham (womb, i.e. family relations) and derived a name for it from My Name." Ar-Rahman is said to embrace a wider scope of Allah's mercies, and it applies to the mercies that are given to all of creation, believers and unbelievers alike. The term Rahman is not an adjective that can be applied to anyone but Allah. People can be Raheem (merciful) but not Rahman.
One of the places which I think gives the best flavor of the word is in the Surah which is named Ar-Rahman (Surah 55). You can hear this recited, with an interpretation/translation here:
This surah starts with the name of Allah, Ar-Rahman, and goes on to talk of the things that he has done: He taught the Qur'an; He created man; He taught him speech, and to extol the wonders of creation. He not only created man from clay, but the jinn from smokeless fire. There is the beautiful repeated line, "Then which of the favors of your Lord will you deny?"
As I think of this Surah, and of the boundless nature of the mercy and favor of God, I am reminded of Psalm 65:5-13,
5 You answer us with awesome and righteous deeds, God our Savior, the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas, 6 who formed the mountains by your power, having armed yourself with strength, 7 who stilled the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, and the turmoil of the nations. 8 The whole earth is filled with awe at your wonders; where morning dawns, where evening fades, you call forth songs of joy. 9 You care for the land and water it; you enrich it abundantly. The streams of God are filled with water to provide the people with grain, for so you have ordained it.10 You drench its furrows and level its ridges; you soften it with showers and bless its crops. 11 You crown the year with your bounty, and your carts overflow with abundance. 12 The grasslands of the wilderness overflow; the hills are clothed with gladness. 13 The meadows are covered with flocks and the valleys are mantled with grain; they shout for joy and sing.
I also think of Jesus encouraging his followers to pray for their enemies, so that they can be like their Father in heaven. "He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous" (Matthew 5:45). The goodness and mercy and generous love of God flow out on everyone as freely and fully as the sunshine. And while we think of the sun as setting daily, in truth we know that the sun NEVER stops shining. It is constantly pouring out its blessing on the earth, just sometimes more fully on those we cannot see or know.
I like the fact that Ar-Rahman in Surah 55 is shown blessing not only mankind and the natural world, but even the jinn. His mercy and love are vast beyond our capacity to imagine them.
Here is the song that came as I considered and prayed about this name, with a WordArt calligraphy picture to illustrate it.
Ar-Rahman
Like the waves keep rolling in the ocean
Like the sun keeps shining up above
Ar-Rahman keeps giving gifts of mercy
Ar-Rahman keeps giving gifts of love
To the righteous one and faithless sinner
for the thankless and the thankful eye
There is still the cooling touch of water
There are still stars shining in the sky
You can't stop the rolling of the ocean
You can't stop the sparkling of the dew
You can't stop the changing of the seasons
You can't stop God's grace from touching you
Like the waves keep rolling in the ocean
Like the sun keeps shining up above
Ar-Rahman keeps giving gifts of mercy
Ar-Rahman keeps giving gifts of love.
And here I want to put a final set of thoughts. These are thoughts that I cannot avoid having as I consider this name as a Christian. However, it is not my purpose to be obnoxious and argumentative in this blog. Let me say, as Lemony Snickett did in the children's books, that I have to write this, but you DO NOT HAVE TO READ IT. The following section could be described as aggressively Christian. If you prefer to avoid such material, don't click on the +.
How can I read about the most Gracious mercy of God, God's goodness poured out to all, upon all of God's creation, without thinking of what is for me God's greatest act of self-giving? God so loved the world...(John 3:16) and "This is love, not that we loved God but that He loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." (John 4:10). "God demonstrates his love for us in this. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:18). How do I talk about this in a way that might make some kind of sense, especially in the light of the fact that the Surah of the Qur'an which uses the name Ar-Rahman the most is Surah Maryam (Surah 19). That Surah talks about the birth of Jesus, and Mary's virgin conception, the gift of a child to a woman who had never been with a man in a sexual encounter.
Surah 19:35 says "It is not for Allah to take [or beget] a son; exalted is He! When He decrees an affair, He only says to it "Be," and it is."
And here are the Christians, saying not only that Jesus is, in some sense God's "only begotten Son," but also that he is God. Christians believe that God, the one God, the only God, is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. That these three are not three Gods (though I can understand that it would feel like that to an outsider looking in) but one God. That forever and always God has been Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
if the issue is that, unlike the Greek gods, who were understood to come to women rather freely, and produced "heroes" like Hercules, God is not such as to have sex with a woman, then I am in complete agreement that God does not and did not do that. But the Qur'an repeatedly rejects the notion that God can have a son at all. And here, of course, Christianity disagrees.
For me, the most central and defining act of God's love and mercy for all humanity, and for the world as a whole is that seeing us all messed up in our sin, God did not stand aloof. He sent his son, and because of the nature of God, that means that he came himself. God who had the ability to be completely apart from us, who in some ways is completely apart and beyond us, also became fully human in Jesus. Having become fully human, and lived a life bound by the many limitations involved in being human, and though he was completely sinless himself, he did not stand aloof from our sin. He could have just come and showed us how it's done, lived a perfect life, and given us a brilliant example that we would not be able to follow. Instead, he did something about our predicament. He died on the cross, taking our sin upon himself, dying our death so that we could have his life.
Not that we loved God, but that God loved us. Not for righteous people but for us unrighteous sinners.
How do I write about this name, and what can I say? The plan was to start looking at the names by examining the verses in the Qur'an where the name occurs, and right at the beginning, I am unable to do what I said. I would have to read the whole Qur'an--which perhaps I could do, but what would I have to say about it? I cannot do it for this name; better to admit my defeat at the beginning.
Allah is generally not considered "one of" the 99 names of Allah, since it is the name of Allah, but lists vary. Still it seems important to begin here.
Allah is the Arabic name for God, and its use by Christians is controversial, both among Christians and among Muslims. According to some Muslims, the name Allah is a Muslim word, and its use by Christians is wrong. In Malaysia, this became a matter for a court decision.
There are also Christians who believe that it is wrong or confusing for Christians to use the word Allah, even when they are speaking in Arabic, when they are talking about the Christian God. As an example, Matt Slick of CARM (Christian Apologetics & Research Ministry) in his discussion of Exodus 20:7, Do not take the name of the Lord in vain, says "He did not say his name was Baal, Krishna, or Allah, which are all names given to false god’s by people." This is a misunderstanding, and a pernicious one.
The name "Allah" is the Arabic version of the Hebrew term El or Elohim. There are several different names used for God in the Hebrew Scriptures, the Old Testament. This one is frequently translated "God" in English Bibles. Before Islam even began, Christians and Jews speaking Arabic used the word Allah to refer to God. Christians from denominations that have been in the Arabic-speaking world for a long time all use Allah as their word for God.
In fact the English word "God" has a significantly more confusing pedigree than the Arabic word Allah. I do not have any problem using the English word God to speak to God, even though it has roots in other religions. I know, and I know that God knows that I am using this word to speak to God as he is revealed in the Bible, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the creator of the universe, and the Lord of all that is created. This is what a Muslim means when s/he prays to Allah, and so, it seems reasonable to me to use both the Arabic word Allah and the English word God.
Are there differences between the Muslim understanding of who God is and my understanding? Yes. I do not want to gloss over the fact that I am a Trinitarian Christian, I understand that this is not consistent with the Qur'an. But for my part, I will trust that God at least understands who I am talking to when I use the name Allah.
Jews mark the name of God as holy by considering it off limits. Muslims fill their speech with phrases incorporating the name of Allah: Bismillah, Insha'Allah, Masha'Allah, Alhamdu'lillah. If part of the purpose of this exercise is to discover truths that may have been overlooked in my life, then perhaps the first question is: In what ways am I meant to hallow the name of God in my life?
This blog is an exploration of ways for me to do that. Here is the prayer that came as I pondered beginning this project.
Bismillah (In the name of Allah)
Bismillah, I open
Bismillah, I start
Bismillah, I welcome this new day
Bismillah, I follow
Bismillah, I stand
Bismillah, I'll walk upon Your way.
In the name of Allah
In the name of God
I open up my heart and my mind
Keep me seeking only for your Truth and Love
Help me fully embrace the things I find
Bismillah, I open
Bismillah, I start
Bismillah, I welcome this new day
Bismillah, I follow
Bismillah, I stand
Bismillah, I’ll walk upon Your way.
