Allahu la ilaha illa huwa
alhayyu alqayyoomu
la ta/khuthuhu sinatun wala nawmun
lahu ma fee alssamawati wama fee al-ardi
man tha allathee yashfaAAu AAindahu illa bi-ithnihi
yaAAlamu ma bayna aydeehim wama khalfahum
wala yuheetoona bishay-in min AAilmihi illa bima shaa
wasiAAa kursiyyuhu alssamawati waal-arda
wala yaooduhu hifthuhuma wahuwa alAAaliyyu alAAatheemu

1. Allahu la ilaha illa huwa

Allah, There is no one worthy of worship, love and Obedience in any way, shape or form except He.

The word Ilah in Arabic has several meanings, It connotes love and obedience. An entity that is worthy of extreme love. No body deserves to be loved like Him. That is one of the meanings. It also refers to leaning towards someone, like how you lean on a wall. When you are exhausted from life ... Who are you supposed to lean on? It is Allah.

An example of where the dominant meaning of Ilah is love and Obedience , In Surah Jathiyah, Allah says:

Have you seen the one who takes His empty desires as an Ilah... (Ayah 23)

He turns his empty desires and temptations into his Ilah,

Now ask yourself this, What kind of desires? maybe greed, lust.... etc.. Do people pray to those desires? Do they worship those desires or do they obey, love and obsess over these desires?

There are people who do not have a stature in front of them but are mushrik because they are enslaved to their taste for money at whatever cost. That is an Ilah that demands from them obedience as well. (Obey your taste??).

So Ilah is an entity that demands obedience.

This is important to highlight because muslims sometimes separate worship from obedience. There are muslims that worship Allah but do not obey him in their dealings, the way they speak, the way they do business, etc..

Whenever we see translation of La illaha Illa llah , It is often : There is no one worthy of worship except Allah.

A more comprehensive understanding is : There is no one worthy of worship, love and obedience in any way, shape or form except Allah.

How does this make a practical difference in the life of a muslim? So many people worship Allah but do not love Him, So many worship Allah but they don't obey Him. They could worship a lot but their business is haram or they consume haram. People make a distinction in their head, they could be very religious in their worship on one hand but disobey Allah in their family life, their dealings with their neighbours, their business life etc.

This is why this meaning of La illaha Illa llah needs to be highlighted. Someone should not think that they have done right with La illaha Illa llah just by worshipping Allah. There is a love matter, an obedience matter, a loyalty matter and a worship matter. That is all included in la ilaha illa huwa.


2. alhayyu alqayyoomu

The living, The one who continously and is extremely engaged in keeping things standing.

The 'Al' here denies the existence of any other. So Allah is The living and all life that exists is because of Him. The Alif lam has that benefit here.

Someone who is watching over something and making sure it stays intact. You know when you have a delicate plant, and the farmer has to make sure it stays alive by looking after it all the time. This is qayyim.

Allah is Qayyoom, constantly watching over all of existence so that it does not fall apart. qayyim is temporary, Qayyum is excessive and it is permanent.

So Allah is the source of all life and He maintains all existence and harmony.

More to come, Insha Allah.

tbaba1234:
2. alhayyu alqayyoomu

The living, The one who continously and is extremely engaged in keeping things standing.

Someone who is watching over something and making sure it stays intact. You know when you have a delicate plant, and the farmer has to make sure it stays alive by looking after it all the time. This is qayyim.

Allah is Qayyoom, constantly watching over all of existence so that it does not fall apart. qayyim is temporary, Qayyum is excessive and it is permanent.

So Allah is the source of all life and He maintains all existence and harmony.

More to come, Insha Allah.

right, there's a reason why the earth has not accidentally, or spontaneously left its orbit. or why solar flares have not lit the earth ablaze. comprehensible init.

^hehe! True

Waiting for pt 2. Nice one thaba, you know barring political happenings in the muslim world, it is clear to me that we can never really exhaust the discussion of the wonders of the Qur'an.

Note: This ayah would have multiple sentences and they are all predicates. The subject of all of the sentences is 'Allah'...

The sentences all go back to the subject.

i. Allah, la ilaha illa huwa

ii. Allah,alhayyu alqayyoomu

iii. Allah, la ta/khuthuhu sinatun wala nawmun

etc

All the sentences go back to Allah,

Another beautiful thing, you will notice about this ayah is that there will be twos of everything. So many things are mentioned in twos

First of all: Allah, There is no one worthy of worship, love and Obedience in any way, shape or form except He.
Then two attributes: alhayyu alqayyoomu

It continues through the ayah

3. la ta/khuthuhu sinatun wala nawmun

Neither drowsiness nor sleep overtakes Him

Allah calls Himself alqayyoom... Constantly watching over all of existence.

You know when someone is watching over something like a security guard... What could happen? What happens to security guards all the time? They fall asleep. They get the best sleep of their life on the job. Guards are known for falling asleep.

Allah tells us that He is constantly and extremely engaged in keeping all of existence from falling apart and not even the hint of sleep or sleep itself affects Him.

In sunnah tradition, we say this dua when we wake up from sleep:

Alhamdu lillaahil-lathee 'ahyaanaa ba'da maa 'amaatanaa wa'ilayhin nushoor

Praise and gratitude is to Allah who gives us life after He has caused us to die and to Him is the return (Bukhari, Muslim)

So we know that sleep is a form of death, But Allah has already established Himself as the all-living. So even the resemblance of death which is sleep does not even come close to him nor sleep itself.

The presence of the 'la' in between Sinat and Nawmun means none of them either individually or together can affect Him. If it was left out, it would have meant that they can not get Him together but can possibly affect Him individually. So Allah put La at the start and in the middle so whether they come together or separately, they can not affect Him.


4. lahu ma fee alssamawati wama fee al-ardi

He exclusively owns whatever and whoever is in the skies and whatever is on the earth.

Why should He watch over everything?
Is there a difference between someone who watches over things they own and people who watch over thing they don't own?
If it is not yours, you do not take care of it well, if it is yours, you take extra care of it. The more you value something, the more you take care of it.

Allah values His creation, He loves His creation and he tells us why He watches over and preserves it like this.

Look at the word 'ma'. It is a more inclusive word. The word 'man' is only used for living things i.e intellectual creatures like humans, Jinns and angels. ma includes them and other things. More comprehensive. It refers to whatever and whoever is in the skies and the earth.


5. man tha allathee yashfaAAu AAindahu illa bi-ithnihi

Who is there that can intercede with Him except by His leave?

Now when he has exclusive ownership over everything, who is left to come and make a case? If he is in charge of everything, the one in trouble is His property and the one trying to get the guy out of trouble is also His property.

You know an equal can make a case. If you get in trouble with a teacher, a second teacher can make a case for you. Since they are equals, the teacher might take the other teacher's opinion more seriously and give you another chance.

There is no equal to Allah.. Anyone other than Allah is owned by Him.

'man tha' means 'who dares'!!... Imagine there is a wrestler and he beats all of his opponents and he is standing in the middle of the ring saying ' who else, Who is going to fight!!''

Allah is challenging humanity, Who is going to come and make shafa (intercession)? Who is going to make a case for somebody else?

Except by His permission, even the Messenger (Peace and blessings be upon him) does not open his mouth until Allah gives him the permission to speak. And if Allah gives him permission, he can only say what is 100% right.


6. yaAAlamu ma bayna aydeehim wama khalfahum

He knows what is before them and what is behind them


The ayah is so awesome after that of intercession. You see, usually intercession is made by someone who knows something about a person that the judge does not know. For Instance, in court, a long acquaintance of a suspect can present a part of the suspect that the Judge does not know.

Who is going to make a case like that in front of Allah? He already knows what is in front of them and what is behind them. He knows what is obvious and what is not obvious. He knows, the present, the future and the past. Nobody is going to come and tell Allah something he does not already know. That is the entire hope of someone making intercession, to be able to tell the judge something about the suspect that he doesn't know.

Then Allah adds:


7. wala yuheetoona bishay-in min AAilmihi illa bima shaa

but they do not comprehend any of His knowledge except what He wills.

Not only do I know, what you are trying to tell me, I know what you don't know... I know the things you thought of saying and the things, you didn't even think of saying. The crimes you know of and the ones you don't know. I know all of them.I have taken everything into consideration before I decide that this person is worth punishing

illa bima shaa: Except that which He wills.

This is a very important lesson in our tawheed and Eeman in Allah, We have no way to encompass what Allah knows except the little droplets, He might give us.

What is the Ruh? The human being will exhaust his studies in psychology, all these universities and researchers trying to figure out: what is the human personality? There is still no consensus of what the human personality is. There are multiple definitions in psychology.

There is no agreement because the human personality is rooted in the Ruh and Allah tells us (roughly translated):

They ask you [O Muhammad (saws] concerning the Ruh . Say: 'It is one of the things, the knowledge of which is only with my Lord. And of knowledge, you (mankind) have been given very little."

[Qur'an Al-Israa 17: 85]


Allah knows so much more about the akhira than He told us. We have been given very little. Allah knows so much more about our own selves than we know about our selves.

People go to hypnotics and psychiatrists to figure out what is going on in their heads. What do i have these thoughts? why do i have this weird dream all the time? People don't even know themselves. Allah knows them better than they know themselves.

And people question Allah's wisdom, they say questions of Allah:
how come Allah says this?
How come Allah says that?
How come He made hell fire?
How come He made paradise?
How come He does not mention this in the Quran?
How come He mentions that in the Quran?

Allah says you have been given very little, you just just to accept the fact that you know very little. And every little you know is because Allah wanted you to know, otherwise you wouldn't even have that.

More to come

8. wasiAAa kursiyyuhu alssamawati waal-arda

His throne extends over the heavens and the earth

Immediately, you hear this what comes into your head... what throne? Does it have four legs? What kind of throne is that? etc...

The answer to that question is the part of the ayah right before i,e

but they do not comprehend any of His knowledge except what He wills.

He set our attitude straight before he said it.

A muslim attitude is: Ya Allah, I do not know what that is but i believe it because i have no knowledge except for the little that you have given me.

Muslims who debate about things like this are missing the point of the ayah, the whole point of the ayah is that there are some things, you do not know. Do not get into them, you can't know that stuff.


9. wala yaooduhu hifthuhuma wahuwa alAAaliyyu alAAatheemu

And their protection does not exhaust Him, He is the ultimately High, the tremendeous


The surah starts with two attributes

alhayyu alqayyoomu

And ends with two:

alAAaliyyu alAAatheemu

Those are four attributes, Every bit of this ayah you read, you appreciate those 4 attributes. Over and over again

Ex.

Allahu la ilaha illa huwa

Two things: alhayyu alqayyoomu

and

alAAaliyyu alAAatheemu

la ta/khuthuhu sinatun wala nawmun

because He is :

alhayyu alqayyoomu

and

alAAaliyyu alAAatheemu

e.tc


More to come... Insha Allah...

Answering the deviations in Shirk.

Ayatul kursi answers all of the deviations in shirk in a pretty remarkable way... Most deviations in shirk are dealt with in Ayatul kursi

Deviation 1: There are many gods deserving of worship

Response 1: Allah, There is no one worthy of worship, love and Obedience in any way, shape or form except He.

Deviation 2: God died for our sins, God created everything and left it to roll on it own.

Response 2: The living, The one who continously and is extremely engaged in keeping things standing.

Deviation 3: God created the earth and the earth and rested on the 7th day

Response 3: Neither drowsiness nor sleep overtakes Him

Deviation 4: God created but he doesn't own us, just because you created something doesn't mean you own it.

Response 4: He exclusively owns whatever and whoever is in the skies and whatever is on the earth.

Deviation 5: Ok, fine he owns us but someone will come and save us on Judgement day... Jesus (alayhi Salam), the saints, the righteous men, mother teresa etc

Response 5: Who is there that can intercede with Him except by His leave?

Deviation 6: God doesn't know eveything that is going on, He has bigger things to worry about, super novas and black holes in the universe. He is going to worry about my little deeds

Response 6: He knows what is before them and what is behind them

Deviation 7: I don't understand this God, how come He does this and that? How come He made a Judgement day?

Response 7: but they do not comprehend any of His knowledge except what He wills.

Deviation 8: How do you know God is still there?

Response 8: His throne extends over the heavens and the earth, And their protection does not exhaust Him, He is the ultimately High, the tremendeous


All of that deviation that can happen inside the mind has been addressed in Ayat kursi so Allah says rightfully in the next ayah that truth has been made clear from falsehood.

SubhanAllah!!

how perfect God is! extremely beautiful. just one verse, with layers upon layers of meaning. the Quran really evokes reverence.

^Indeed

The Ayah of Nur

https://www.nairaland.com/1151782/ayah-nur-light-spiritual-cardiology

In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful.

Allah! There is no God but He, the Living, the Self-subsisting, the Eternal.
No slumber can seize Him, nor sleep.
All things in heaven and earth are His.
Who could intercede in His presence without His permission?
He knows what appears in front of and behind His creatures.
Nor can they encompass any knowledge of Him except what he wills.
His throne extends over the heavens and the earth,
and He feels no fatigue in guarding and preserving them,
for He is the Highest and Most Exalted.

(Al Baqara: 255).

A reminder

Reminder