Al-Qahhar, the Irresistible, the Prevailer, the Subduer

• This picture is taken straight from vecteezy.com but the austere gold and black seemed appropriate to the meanings of this word.

Grappling with this name has been a struggle that has taken months.  I set myself a goal of a new name each week, and now months have gone by since my last post.  That has not all been getting busy with other aspects of my life, but wrestling with what to do with this name in a Christian context.

The root of this word is ق ه ر and according to the myislam.com website, it has root meanings which include to subjugate, to overpower, to compel against one's wishes.  Two names al-Qaahhar and al-Qaahhir are based on this word, and of the two, al-Qaahhar is the most emphatic.  So this emphasizes the idea that God is completely overpowering.  Basically, that if you try to fight against God, you haven't got a chance.

Jacob did wrestle against God (or at least against the angel of God and "prevailed" and thereby won the approving name Israel.  Genesis 32:28 NIV "Then the man said, 'Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome."  Jacob calls the place where he fought, Peniel, "It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared." (Genesis 32:30).  

I think no one questions that God had the power to quash Jacob in this encounter.  He did dislocate his hip.  God allowed him to win, and blessed his endeavor.

Still, as Christians, we believe that God has said, "As surely as I live, every tongue will acknowledge God" (Romans 14:11 quoting Isaiah 45:23).  Isaiah 45:24 goes on to say that "Every tongue that has raged against him (clearly God in context) will come to him and be put to shame."  All of which makes it seem to me that there will be a time when God will compel assent to Himself.  We also have the similar statement in Philippians God gave Jesus "the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Philippians 2:8-11)

I must acknowledge that God is not always "a gentleman, who will not force me against my will" (as some popular sayings suggest that He is.)

Still, when will that day of God's forcefulness come?  In the book of 2 Peter, we read that, "in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires.  They will say, 'Where is this 'coming' he promised.  Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation. (2 Peter 3:3-4 NIV).  The author goes on to say, "The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness.  Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9 NIV). In other words, the day will when God will come as the Irresistible, the Prevailer, when God forces everyone to submit, whether they want to or not--but God is in no hurry to get there.  He would rather draw us patiently into submitting willingly to his rule.

As I considered this name, I was also strongly reminded about the story of Jesus calming the winds and waves of the storm. (Mark 4:35-41 and Luke 8:22-25).  In both tellings of the story, the disciples are amazed.  "Who is this, that even the winds and waves obey him?"  Why is this so amazing to them?  I think when people are healed or delivered there is always some lingering doubt that perhaps this is merely a psychological phenomenon.  Not that it is totally a placebo effect, but maybe when the human spirit is set right with God, then the body can heal itself.  But the winds and the waves?  No.  They are purely physical.  It takes someone special to control them.  And that someone was Jesus.

So where do I find myself in the midst of these considerations?  Right now, I am struggling with what I suppose I must acknowledge has become an addiction to computer games.  Challenged to lay them aside for a season, my own selfish desires are rising up like a storm of winds and waves in my soul.  I haven't yielded yet, but it's been an awfully near thing.  And I found myself singing, "O Subduer, come subdue me."  And perhaps I am getting a glimpse of what devout Muslims understand to be the "greater jihaad" the struggle against evil in ourselves.

Al-Qaahhar

I have no question, not a shred of doubt.

If we fight against You can take us all out.

Just a flick of Your finger, a puff of Your breath

We'd be flat on the floor at the gateway of death.

You've got the power, You've got the might.

You could wipe out our wills with a flash of Your light –

But You don't.

You wait

You are longing for folks to come in

To acknowledge your Kingship,

and turn from our sin.

To be rescued from death and be blessed with Your life

Still You patiently wait for us.

And I see in myself things that do not bow down 

Things that rise up and struggle against You

There are storms in my soul that I cannot control

Desires that I long to yield to

O Subduer, please come subdue me.

Great Subduer, come subdue me.

Al-Qaahhar, the Subduer

Come subdue me.

Al-Ghaffar, The One who Keeps on Forgiving

This word comes from the arabic root letterغ ف ر, ">which carries the meaning of covering something, concealing it, pardoning, forgiving, setting aright.  There are three related terms, al-Ghaffar, al-Ghaffur, and al-Ghaffir.  Of these three, al-Ghaffar implies the quantity and repetition of forgiveness.  Al-Ghaffur focuses on the magnitude  of what is forgiven.  I don't know about al-Ghaffir.  It just gets translated the forgiver.

In making the picture, I used the picture of a wave because waves keep coming.  I used red text, because red speaks of blood.  and for Christians, it is understood that Jesus died on the cross so that we might be forgiven.

In the gospels, there is a story that Peter came to Jesus, who was teaching the people to forgive each other, and asked "Lord, how often will my brother sin against me and I forgive him? As many as seven times?" and Jesus answered "I do not say to you seven times but seventy-seven times (or seventy times seven)" (Matthew 18: 21-22).  God enjoins us to be freely and repeatedly forgiving.

One might wonder, if God keeps on forgiving us, do we make any progress at all?  It is true that sometimes we seem to make no progress, but I think if we keep seeking to improve, we find that God does give us victory but also shows us subtler sins.  At any rate, this song represents an aspect of my experience as I struggle to walk with God in integrity and faithfulness.

Over and Over

Over and over and over again

I find myself missing the mark.

Over and over and over again

I stumble and fall in the dark.

Sometimes I've tried and failed

And sometimes I've failed to try

Over and over and over again

I cry out for forgiveness from God on high.

Over and over and over again

You forgive me and help me to make a new start.

Over and over and over again

You clean up the mess in my heart.

And I stand here in wonder and awe that You

Would keep on forgiving a person who

In all of my blunders keeps coming to You

Over and over again.

Beginning Again

I started this blog back in 2011.  I had been teaching an introductory course in Great World Religions at Temple University as part of my Ph.D. studies at Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia.  I was working at giving students, many of whom started with a tendency to see Islam in a very negative light, some insight into the positive side of that religion.  I do not believe that all religions are equal.  I disagree with Islam in some very important ways.  But I do believe that the better we understand all of the people in the world, including their faith, the more equipped we are to love those people and to share with them the things that we believe are important.  As I was looking for ways to teach my students about positive aspects of Islam,  I found the 99 beautiful names of Allah, particularly in this Nasheed:

I have personally been captivated by the many ways that God describes God's self in the Bible.  I have many biblical self-descriptions of God painted on the walls of my house, and I love the verse that says "The name of the LORD is a strong tower.  The righteous run into it and is safe." (Proverbs 18:10 ESV).  In my understanding, to run into the name of the LORD is to run into the nature of God.  I thought that the above Nasheed was beautiful and it seemed to me that it would be an interesting and valuable devotional exercise for myself to spend time with each of these names of Allah, pondering them and understanding them better and seeing whether I could see them reflected in the Bible.  My goal was to understand how the words were understood by Arabic speakers, and by their usage in the Quran, and then to look at them from a Christian perspective.

As I began writing my Ph.D. dissertation, I felt that I had to cut back on activities that did not directly feed into that arduous process.  After a bunch of years, two different approved topics and a lot of fruitless effort, I decided to abandon my attempt to get a Ph.D. in historical theology, and proceed with my life as an A.B.D. (All but dissertation).  I had by this time completely forgotten about this blog.

Recently, I reconnected with a childhood friend, and she asked me whether I had any resources that would help her learn more about world religions.  Ha!  An assignment I would really enjoy!  As I began looking through what I had gathered over the years, I found not only the 99 names nasheed, but rediscovered this blog.  All of the links to pictures and songs were broken, but as I looked through the writing I had done back in 2011, I found that I still liked the work I had done.  Although I have recently taken on some new responsibilities, it seemed like the time has come to take this up again.

My new responsibilities are that I have been ordained and installed as a copastor at a small "dinner church".  

Who is my audience, and what is my purpose for doing this?  First and foremost, I am doing this for myself and for God.  That does not mean that I am not going to share it with people (I'm a pretty open person--if you know me, I am likely to share whatever is uppermost in my heart and mind at the time).  I would love it if the work I am doing here would come in time to bless other people.  But the first thing I am doing is coming before God to love and worship Him.

If it ministers to other Christians, I will rejoice.  If it allows me to share my faith with Muslims and other non-Christians, I will rejoice in that as well.  If these songs and thoughts and poems are valuable at some point for Arabic-speaking Christians that would also be great.  But my primary purpose in doing this is to worship God, and to grow in my own faith and love.

Over the past 3-4 weeks, as I have rewritten and re-recorded the songs that were on the blog, and fixed the broken links, I find that this work has given me a renewed appreciation for the awesomeness of God.  And so my plan at this point is to pick up the work where I left off, and to attempt to deal with one new name each week or so.

13. Al-Musawwir, The Bestower of Forms

I tried to use people who are such public figures that they wouldn't mind the use of their images.

Al-Musawwir, the Bestower of forms (and some say colors), the Shaper.  When I thought about this name, the image that first came to my mind was diatoms, the miniscule organisms whose skeletons make the diatomaceous earth that is white dust in swimming pool filters:

Picture courtesy of Wikicommons

Don't they look like buttons or beads?  I love the amazing variety.  God is an awesome designer.

The connotations of the root of this word:  s - w - r  ض و ر according to the Wahiduddin Web are

to make something incline, lean or bend towards

to form, fashion, sculpt, imagine or picture something

to have an inclination or desire towards something

This is supposed to be the most specific of the three names that have to do with God as creator, and as I thought about that I found myself thinking  particularly about the way God has made each and every person unique.  Of course, this applies not just to our bodies but also to our hearts and minds and spirits. And of course, Allah has shaped many many things other than people.  Lots of things to celebrate.

Al-Musawwir

Al-Musawwir

You give the shape to everything that's shaped

And everything is shaped

Al-Musawwir.

Every little snowflake that drifts from the sky

Has a form and fashion that you did supply.

Every person's body and each person's face,

Bears a special signature that You stamped in place.

The path of every river that flows

The shape of every flower that grows

Fancy guppy tails and the swirling shells of snails

The track of every planet spinning out in space

Each bump and every wrinkle on each rhino's face

Are crafted by the Great Engineer

Al-Musawwir

12. Al-Baari, The Shaper

Using colors that are meant to be reminiscent of clay.

This name is found once in the Qur'an (59:24), which is a list of names, and there I find it variously translated as the Evolver, the Shaper out of naught, the Inventor of all things, the Maker, the Originator, The Initiator.
One website tells me that the difference between three of the names that talk about Allah as creator is as follows.

Some scholars differentiated between al-Khaaliq (the Creator), al-Baari’ (the Maker) and al-Musawwir (the Bestower of forms) as follows:
Al-Khaaliq (the Creator) is the One Who created from nothing all creatures that exist, according to their decreed qualities.
Al-Baari’ is the One Who made man from al-baraa, i.e., clay.
Al-Musawwir is the One Who creates various forms and shapes.

But Haj Ali Dirani says that some say it is this name which refers to bringing things into existence from nothing.   Others say it is creation without a model (thus I presume, "the Inventor" and "the Originator").
Apparently the root can also mean cutting or separating something as in cutting a twig, or a woman separating from her husband, or a business partnership being severed.  Finally, it can mean to cure.  Some of the prayers addressed to Al-Baari are clearly based on this last meaning.meaning.

So where do I go to think about this name, with all these bits and pieces of insight, some of which contradict each other?  I ended up writing a poem, and not a song.

Al-Baari

Lord, you spoke the universe into being from nothing.

One step at a time, but stuff out of no-stuff and your word.

Lord, you drew Adam into being, 

bringing mankind

out of mud.

Lord, you drew me into being

From a tiny speck within my mother's womb

To a squalling baby in my mother's arms.

Lord, you still draw me into being

From nothing to something

From dark to light

Through the curtain of Christ's death

You draw me into the inheritance of the saints in light.

Lord, You are the one who keeps drawing forth

Who keeps shaping something out of nothing.

In the world

and in my life.

11. Al-Khaliq

I like this nasheed by Dawud Wharnsby.    This is available in versions designed for children, but I like this version better.  The chorus is in Arabic but the verses are in English, so wait for them.

"So God is the Creator.  Big deal, I already knew that, tell me something I didn't know." I'll admit that this has been my attitude some of the time.    Muslims teach it to their children in songs like the one above. We teach it to little children in Sunday School.  It makes an easy lesson. We hear it so much and say it so much that I think we sometimes lose track of how awesome this is.  That is, when we aren't getting sidetracked into fruitless arguments about exactly what God's creation process looked like, fighting for or against a literal interpretation of Genesis 1.  I believe Genesis 1 contains a true picture of creation.  I do not believe that it is meant to be a detailed scientific description of how the world was created.  God certainly has the power to have created the world in anyway he chose, and taking any amount of time that he chose.  But I do not think that a belief that the book of Genesis is inspired by God requires us to come to conclusions about this.  

Before I was a Christian, I didn't much care who or what, if anything, created the world.  It didn't happen one of the questions that captured my imagination.  When I became a Christian, it was part of the package. "I believe in God, the Father, maker of heaven and earth and of all things seen and unseen..."

But I think perhaps we get a glimpse of the power of this aspect of God's nature when we see it play out in a situation where the people were not monotheists.  When Jonah was running from God, he told the people that he was running away from YHWH.  When a storm arises, they woke him up to come and pray. (I think their reasoning was that they should call on as many gods as possible--perhaps one of them would answer.).  But then they cast lots to decide that Jonah was the reason for their problems.  That's when he told them that the God he worshiped was the creator: "I am a Hebrew and I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land."  When they realize with which god he has tangled with, from which god he is running, they are terrified.  And rightly so.  This is no little, local "god."  This is God.

And as I ponder the vastness of what it is that God has created, as I begin to unpack that simple statement that God created the universe, I find myself drawn into worship.  Like staring into different levels of a Mandelbrot set, the world is stunningly beautiful and complex at both the macrocosmic and microcosmic levels.  (By the way, this wonderful created universe includes the Mandelbrot set, the mathematics that makes it possible, and the imaginations that figured out how to display it in all its dizzying beauty.)

Al-Khaliq

You spoke the world into being

Creatures both seen and unseen

Spirit and flesh came to life at your touch

My mind can't imagine how you did so much

Every star and every planet

Each electron spinning so fast

Every galaxy whirling so slowly

In the dizzying cosmic dance

Each blade of grass and every kitten

Each grain of sand and each fish in the sea

Thunder and lightning, sparrows and chickens

You made it all; You caused it to be.

You made the whole world 

And you made me.

My Creator created the world--

Fire and water and vacuum and dust

Unthinkable vastness

And hearts that can trust.

My Creator created the world.

10. Al-Mutakabbir, The Supreme, The Majestic

This is a name that the commentators have some difficulty with because the word would convey pride and arrogance if applied to a person, but of course, this is God, which changes things.  The Wahiduddin website says

Mutakabbir is an empathic [sic -- I think they mean emphatic] form of the root k-b-r which denotes actively using rights, privileges and attributes that are above and beyond the rights of everyone else. In mankind, this would be called pride or arrogance, but for the One this is simply the truth.

The root k-b-r (ك ب ر) is related to being great in size, dignity, age, majesty, knowledge and rights.

From what I have read, the key thought here is not just that God is great and majestic, but that God, in some sense, claims that majesty and displays it.  I liked the interpretation given on this website that Al-Mukatabir is "He Who Reveals His Greatness in Everything".

From time to time, I have spoken with skeptics who complained about a notion of a God who would require worship.  "What kind of a God worthy of the title would care about people bowing and scraping to them, would need to hear their praises constantly being sung?" they ask.  And it's a fair question in one sense--I do not believe that God needs this. And yet, God does claim it, and God, and only God, has a right to do so.  That is at least part of what is expressed in the name Al-Mutakabbir.  God does not need our worship to remind Him of His greatness.  However, as we worship God, we sometimes get a glimpse of that greatness and majesty.

In thinking about this, and in writing the song that follows, I have been informed by a number of passages of biblical passages.  I haven't followed any of them exactly, but many of the images were brought out by reading and thinking about Job 26:7-14, Ezekiel 1:4-28, Isaiah 6:1-5, Revelation 7:9-12, Psalm 93:1-4 and Psalm 104:1.

Al-Mutakabbir

You hung the earth in space

Put the stars in place

You stir up the waves

That crash upon the sand

These are just the outer fringes

Of how glorious You are

Our minds can’t understand

Rainbows and lightning 

And a throne set on high

Where angels forever

Make their “holy, holy” cry

All this is just a likeness,

just a shadow of what’s real

Our minds can’t take it in

Al-Mutakabbir, Al-Mutakabbir

Robed in majesty and splendor

Angels, jinn and people bow down

Al-Mutakabbir, Al-Mutakabbir

We just can’t know how majestic You are

Our best language falters and fails

We have the vision of the prophets

And your splendor written on the world

But our words turn to stammers

And our hearts are undone

When a touch of Your greatness assails.

Al-Mutakabbir, Al-Mutakabbir

Robed in majesty and splendor

Angels, jinn and people bow down

Al-Mutakabbir, Al-Mutakabbir