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The Greatest Ayah in the Noble Quran (1 of 2)
By: Dawud Adib
The Sign
of the Footstool
Ubayy ibn Ka'b transmitted that the Messenger of Allah said, "Oh Abu Munthir (Ubayy),
do you know what is the greatest verse of the Qur'an? I responded, "Allah and
His Messenger know best. He then asked "Oh Abu Munthir, do you know what is the
greatest verse of the Qur'an? I then responded, "Allahu La Ilaha Illa Huwa Al-Hayu
Al-Qayyoom." Thereupon, he struck me on my chest and supplicated, "Oh Abu
Munthir, may Allah nourish you knowledge" (Muslim).
This ayah is the greatest of aayat, and in the allotted space we intend to
mention a few words about its ten phrases one by-one: Allah says,
"All the praise and thanks belongs only to Allah, Who
revealed the Book on (the heart of) His slave (Muhammad sallallahu alayhe wa
sallam) and has not placed any crookedness therein" (18:1).
This book that has no crookedness in it has a verse in it that is called Aayah
al-Kursee. Frequently, this aayah is mis-translated as 'the verse/sign of the
Throne.' A more accurate translation is 'the sign of the Footstool.' Allah has a
Footstool and a Throne, and there are not the same thing. In authentic hadeeth
we find that the heavens and the earths are to the Footstool as a finger band
(ring)/bangle is to the desert. We can only imagine what the size of the heavens
and earths are like. Let alone the footstool (Kursee), and moreover, the Throne
('Arsh), and moresover, the Creator of them all (ALLAH).
Comments
This ayah is recited throughout the Muslim world after obligatory Salah, before
going to be, as protection from Shaytan, etc. it contains the aayat from among
the aayat of Allah and the names from among the names of Allah. Allah begins by
saying:
(a) "There is none worthy of worship besides Him" :
Allah begins this Magnificent Verse talking about Himself. 'A-L-L-A-H' is the
greatest of Allah's Names. He is the Lord and God and has the Best Names and
Attributes. The scholars differ about the construction and definition of this
auspicious and beautiful word, however, they all unanimously agree that this
name must not be disrespected in the least.
The name 'Allah' was never used by anyone in the time of Jahileeyah nor in the
time of Islam. It is only recently that people have the audacity to call
themselves Allah, viz. NOK (nation of Kufr/the "so called" Nation of Islam), the
5%ers, and others. There have been others throughout history who have claimed to
be Allah, or possess His attributes, or have taken for themselves some of His
other names like Ar-Rahman or Al-Haqq but never until recently have people gone
so far to take the name Allah for themselves. May Allah help us. Ameen.
Throughout revelation is often repeated that He is the only one to be
worshipped. Perhaps the most used text is "I do not create
the Jinn and the humans except to worship only Me" (51:56).
(b) "Al-Hayy Al-Qayyoom - The living The Eternal" :
These two names of Allah are paired together in three different places in the
Qur'an (2:225, 3:2, and 20:111). One shows the perfection of the attributes
themselves and the other shows the perfection of the actions of Allah. Al-Hayy
signifies the possessor of complete life-which means eternal which means
self-subsisting which means independent which means everlasting which means
forever which means eternity/eternal.
Al-Qayyoom means that Allah stands and exists on His own, therefore, He has no
beginning and no end. So we see that these two names are similar in meaning. Abu
Umamah said if we use these two names in our supplication it will never be
rejected.
(c) "Neither slumber nor sleep overtakes Him" : Allah
Attributes pertaining to Himself are categorized into two types: the affirmed
and the negated. These are two qualities that He denies or negates of Himself.
They also confirm that he is Al-Hayy and Al-Qayyoom: The Forever Living, The
Ever-Standing/The Eternal.
The wording and expression of this phrase (and entire ayah and Qur'an shows the
deep, immense and extreme sagacity and acumen of Allah. He, Al-'Aleem: The
All-Knowing; Al-Hakeem: The All Wise, could have said 'He does not sleep. 'Allah
did not use this wording and used "neither slumber nor sleep overtakes/seizes
Him" because seizure encompasses seizure-by-force and seizure-by choice. If
Allah were to say that He does not sleep, we already know that Allah is not
forced to go asleep but it could be implied that Allah by His choice does not
sleep-and He is not overtaken by sleep nor does He choose not to sleep. Neither
by force nor by choice does Allah ever sleep!
Furthermore, the prelude to sleep (slumber, fatigue, drowsiness, etc) also dies
not seize or overtake Allah. If Allah were to have this quality it would show a
defect in Him. As for humans, this quality shows the completion and perfection
of its being for Allah says, "I have made sleep for you (humans) to be a repose"
(78:9). As for Allah denying slumber and sleep from Himself, this shows His
perfection.
(d) "Whatever is in the heavens and whatever is in the earth
belongs to Him" : This phrase shows the tremendous ownership of Allah.
Ownership is part of the belief of Allah's Ruboobiyah. Allah owns everything
absolutely and we only own things on loan. Someone may say he owns his limbs,
but this is not absolute. For instance, we cannot look at whatever we want. We
cannot touch whatever we wish. We cannot eat whatever we like. etc.
This is also a reminder that He owns all of the earths. Even though the singular
is used, the scholars say this means the plural. The proof that there are seven
earths are: Allah says, "Allah it is Who created the seven
heavens and the earth the like thereof" (65:12), and the Prophet (SAWS)
said, "Anyone who usurps land will be engulfed from the neck down in the seven
earths (in another narration it adds: on the Day Resurrection) (Bukhari), and
the Sahabah said Allah created seven heavens in tiers/layers and seven earths in
tiers. These earths are not to be misconstrued with the planets.
Allah owns all that is wet and dry, high and low, visible and invisible, dead or
alive - He owns everything, He owns the universe with no partners whatsoever.
(e) "Who is it who can intercede with Him without His
permission?" :
NOTE! All of the humans (black or white, rich or poor, Muslim or Kafir, Arab or
non-Arab, etc.) will be restrained on the Day of Judgement, thereby, causing
them to look for intercession with their Lord. Intercession is a mercy from
Allah to His creatures - and we should be very grateful for it. There are a lot
of misconceptions prevalent about intercession, and the opportunity will not be
taken at this time to address them. However, a few words will be mention about
this divine act of compassion.
Only certain people will be able to intercede for others and they only do this
by Allah's permission: Prophets, pious people, martyrs and angels. Not anyone
can be interceded for: it is, only Muslims who can be interceded for regardless
of who is asking or will want to ask for the intercession. Muhammad sallallahu
alayhe wa sallam, cannot make a plea for his mother, nor Ibraheem (alayhe s-salam)
for his father, nor Nooh (alayhe s-salam) for his son, etc. this will take place
in the Hereafter: intercession does not occur in this life-phase. There is much
more to be said about intercession in Islam, however, these few words should
paint a general idea about the oft-misunderstood concept of Aqeedah.
Shafa'ah - Intercession
"Who is he that can intercede with Him without His permission?" No one!
Intercession is seeking pardon for others because of their sins. The Arabic word
Shafa'ah comes from the root shafa'a, yashfa'u that means - 'to be equal; to
even up, to add on,' and to intercede.
There are two extremes in this matter: Sufis and the Grave-worshippers go to one
extreme by giving divine attributes to the dead. The Mu'tazilah and the Khawarij
go to the other extreme by rejecting intercession either totally or partially.
The correct Islamic belief is derived solely form the Qur'an and the authentic
Sunnah. There will be 70,000 Muslims who will enter Paradise without any
reckoning of accounts: This will be the first group to enter Paradise; others
will follow them, and then the intercession will begin (Muslim -367 and 425).
There are several forms of intercessions:
1. The Prophet's first intercession is called ash-Shafa'at ul-'Udhma (the
Greatest Intercession). Only the Prophet (SAWS) will be able to make this
intercession. This is known as al-Maqam ul-Mahmood (the Praised Station)
mentioned in the Qur'an 17:79 and in the supplication after the call to prayer.
The Muslims held for judgment will be turned away by Adam, Nooh, Ibrahim, Musa
and Eesa.
Their last hope will be Muhammad (SAWS). The Prophet (SAWS) will prostrate
before Allah for as long as He wishes. Then Allah will tell him to rise, and
will grant his requests for a limited amount of people. This process will occur
three times until those who are destined to be in the Fire eternally are left (Bukhari
vol.9 -507).
Pleas will not be made for disbelievers (Bukhari vol.4-569, and the Qur'an
11:45-7, 74:46-48 and 26: 100). So we can see that intercession is controlled by
Allah. Thus, nobody can intercede with Allah except by His permission.
2. The Prophet's second intercession will be for all the Muslims to enter
Paradise. This also is particular to our Prophet (at-Tabaranee).
3. Intercession will be done by other Prophets (Qur'an 21:28 and
Muslim-381,383), angels (Qur'an 53:26 ), martyrs (Abu Dawud -2516), and the
righteous ones. Their intercession will be:
- To raise the ranks of those Muslims who are in Paradise.
- To plea for those Muslims whose good and bad deeds are equal.
- To plea for forgiveness of the Muslims who would (otherwise) deserve to enter
the Fire (Bukhari vol.4-556).
- To plea for the Muslims who entered the Fire to be taken out of it
(Muslim-357, 373).
The Prophet's third form of intercession will include the above types as well.
He will also plea for Abu Talib to get the lightest possible punishment in the
Fire (Muslim-409,411).
Also, Allah will allow some to come out of the Fire without any intercession out
of His mercy alone (Muslim-359). It is clear from this discussion that the
intercession of the Prophets and the righteous is only reserved for the
hereafter.
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The Greatest Ayah in the Noble Quran (2 of 2)
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