NAMES OF ALLAH - AS SUBBUH Part 1

INTRODUCTION

The best delight is knowing Allah subhanahu wa taala. When we know Allah, then we will understand the world and everything that occurs in this life make sense. Then everything will make us attached to Allah. If we do not know Allah, or we know only Him only superficially , then we will conclude wrongly on everything that happens in this life. We will be restless, terrified, depressed & we will rely on the wrong things. Many occurrences terrify us today - may it be people terrifying us , volcano erupting, the destructive winds , or climate . We are in need to know Allah. There may be worrying news of the present or we may be told of the terrifying future . We will be terrified & will be asking why they will happen in such frightening ways, whereas they had not even happened ! Many things make us too negative and will make us restless , scared and negative; whereas Allah Tell us that in the Remembrance of Allah, the hearts find rest . Dzikr Allah ( Remembrance of Allah ) make our hearts at rest. Otherwise, even when good, you are already in panic & restless . What more when negative things happen.

Remembering Allah make us a positive person because our hearts are at rest. We will be at peace even with negative things happening . People may say that we are living in a bubble , unaffected by negativities . Everything is “Alhamdulillah” to us . And when things do not concern us , we apply the following Hadith :

On the authority of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) who said: The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: "Part of the perfection of one's Islam is his leaving that which does not concern him." [Tirmidhi]

When we know Allah, we hence know that there is something good in whatever that happens. When people do evil, they are accountable to their deeds . However, this evil is like one ugly piece of the whole puzzle. These evil are parts of a puzzle that are necessary to make the whole , bigger picture …. which is beautiful.

Knowing Allah give us tranquility & peace because we understand many things more . Our vision will be bigger, deeper & complete. In every matter, we can zoom in & zoom out , with nothing affecting us negatively . We know there is a reason for everything. Believers are called believers because of al iman , and they are in security. Wherever you put them, they are in peace owing to their belief , whether in air, water or land. Belief give you peace . Belief makes you rested . We truly need the Greatest Delight which is knowing the Names of Allah .

It is the Name of Allah, AS SUBBUH , that we truly need to see through , at everything in our lives. The Name, Subbuh, was mentioned in the Sunnah. Ruku’ is the place of magnifying Allah. The Sujud is when we are very close to Allah . This doa is said in our most closest position to Allah in the solat.

We can find the derivative of Subbuh in the Quran : Subhaanah Yusabbihu Sabbaha

All these derivatives are from Subbuh which is a Name .

Subbuh Quddus are in the Sunnah .

The Rabb ul Malaikat / The Lord of Angels and the Rabb of Ruh i.e. the Lord of Jibril alaihi as salam . Not Rabb un Naas / Lord of the People . This is a magnification - for the angels reforming is unlike the reforming of humans .

Names of Allah , As Subbuh

Other derivatives , Verbs from this Name as mentioned in the Quran is :

Subhaana is a Noun

Yusabbihu - a Verb in the Present

Sabbaha - a Verb in the Past.

O r i g i n a l l y , Sabbaha is from the word Sabaha which

means “swim” . Swimming : That is you are in the sea with your feet on the sea floor , or kicking in the sea with your hands moving above water . When we swim, we have a beginning . We are going far from the beginning point , moving & pushing through the water , with our hands & feet continuously moving . Once we stop, we sink ! We need to be focussed , determined and keep swimming till we reach the end point . If I stop, I will not go forward.

Allah mention Yisbahh in the Quran but not referring to fish ( swimming). Allah Mentioned some Creation as swimming ( e.g. planet swimming in their orbit) or floating in their orbit. They are efficient to remain in the orbit. This is the meaning of

sabbaha . It is physical.

Relating to , what suits Allah is that we need to swim

to reach Him. This requires us to constantly swim , and persistently strive to

reach Allah. Overcome & push away any obstacle . Otherwise we will drown . To reach Allah, we need constant movement . To achieve this , we need to push away all negative thoughts about Allah. Persist in positivity regarding Allah - keep moving & swimming towards Allah by doing our worshipping, our dzikr / remembrance of Allah. What we really need to do is doa and persist in our swim towards Allah . There may be an obstacle even when you doa , that is, someone may point out that you are not getting what you are asking for in your doa. Overcome this whisper from shaitan & persist with our swim towards Allah , making constant effort & accompanied by positive good thoughts of Allah. Otherwise , we will drown.

TASBEEH is the Determination & Focus to go towards Allah which MUST

be accompanied by (constant, positive, persistent) Actions .

We have to push away all obstacles, & all negativities. Otherwise these will slow you down in going towards Allah & you end up drowning ! This action is Tasbeeh .

In Al Ma’na Al Loghawi , Sabaha means to swim .

But , ( sabbaha, yussabbihu, subhaana) means the action of

pushing away negativity & negative thoughts about Allah. Some may look at the Decree and then they entertain their negative thoughts and start wondering on why the Decree happens. But they are looking at the small puzzle , not the whole picture . e.g. In Surah Al Kahf , Musa was puzzled when Khidr killed the boy & made a hole at the bottom of a boat they rode in. This is Decree in the form of a person ( Khidr) doing what is seemingly evil . We are not to ask why a person does evil - for accounting for his evil or good deeds is with Allah . Decree is from Allah which sometimes is delivered through people as the means . It is not for you to say, “ Why ?” Everybody is responsible of their own actions , not the actions of other people . So your part is SUBHANA ALLAH . That is why Musa could not handle Khidr - Musa had no sabr. Sabr is a very important tool . When people are a test for us, just be patient .

From the point of our belief, Allah want to teach Musa , not the Knowledge which is written but to teach him what is behind - that is , the Hikmah. We cannot see all that is written. What Musa learnt from the Divine Book was contrary to this incidents with Khidr . The Divine Book stated Haram on certain acts but this incidents with Khidr are different . What should we do ? This is not to bad but we have to accept Decree . After the Decree happened, and Musa could not remain sabr & Khidr explained the 3 incidents to him . Rasulullah salallahu alaihi wa salam said , had Musa been sabr and not asked why ? , we would learn more than 3.

All Decree we got (from people, incidents, situations) in our lives is 1 of the 3.

1. You had helped other people but instead of thanking you for your kindness , they made a ‘hole in your property’. This seems like a bad action. But you are patient. And in the near future , you will say “Alhamdulillah , there is a hole” because now you will understand why the hole was made and that it was good for you & prevented you from getting evil happening for you. e.g. you love a dress but a hole was made because of ironing . It had happened. So just sabr. Allah may have prevented evil from happening to you because of this dress although you do not know it.

2. When faced with a Decree , just look at the bigger picture which is good - not the small picture which seems evil. Khidr had killed a young boy, whose beauty just stood out from the rest of the children. An evil act indeed and Musa was furious. But later Khidr explained that this beautiful boy would be a bad person and will make even his parents rebellious in their

belief . So Allah saved this boy and his parents from An Naar . Allah Sees the Hereafter and saved them.

3. Sometimes you see good being done to undeserving people . And you will object to this Decree! And you question why ? example : Khidr had made upright , a falling fencing - although this is a good act , but to Musa , this help is undeserving because the people of the city were evil. Again Musa pointed out that the people in the town do not deserve Khidr’s kindness . Finally, it was revealed that there were 2 orphans of a righteous man and they were due to get the Treasure under the fencing when they grow up. We do not know the future and we may object when good is happening to evil people ! We do not know how Allah Preserves the good for the good people . Actually Allah is dispensing their affairs ; that is why ALLAH IS AS SUBBUH with regards to everything in our lives , & what we face in our lives.

Subbuh is actually excessive Sighah , exaggerating . Subbuh is from Yusabbihu . Yusabbihu means that Allah is the One worthy of Tasbeeh . ( meaning everybody need to magnify Allah and to exalt Him & glorify Him by negating any imperfection in Him from every aspect , may it be His Decree , His Commands , His Actions in everything which we are going through. ) . All others (other than Allah) may have negative in them , that is , their actions, & thinking are not perfect . None of Allah’s Actions are imperfect . Even the minute (small) , seemingly insignificant actions proves Allah’s Perfection in His Actions. e.g. a falling leaf . Make Tasbeeh a form of worship by His Creation which are living or non living beings . The ibadah , worship of the non living Creations of Allah is to do Tasbeeh . Only the disbelievers do not do Tasbeeh. They are odd in this Universe & they talk bad of Allah. But the whole world is saying “Subhana Allah” meaning ‘ Don’t think bad about Allah ‘ .

Evil can be in the Creations of Allah but Actions of Allah is always Perfect. Evil can be attributed to Shaitan & Nafs ( Desires) . The Goodness is always attributed to Allah only . This is Ismallah As Subbuh ( Name of Allah, As Subbuh) - worthy of all glorification and the Tasbeeh from Allah the Creation.

Subhaana At Ta’dhzeem wa al Tanzeeh wa Al Ib’aad - meaning Glorifying . You Glorify Allah so much by pushing away all negative thoughts & faults & descriptions from his Actions. Any bad is the action of the people , the creation - from the whispers of Shaitan upon people. Never the Actions of Allah are bad . If Allah Allows bad to happen , that means the bigger picture is good . We cannot explain everything in the present . That is why we need to believe in Al Subbuh before we actually come on the Day of Judgement when Allah will unveil the secrets & mysteries of the world . We do not know everything in this world , in this life - we do not see the details of the present , of the people in totality. When bad happens from people, we should know that they will be accountable for their (mis)deeds and we just move on , with sabr / patience. We must believe that in the bigger perspective , everything that Allah Decreed is perfect. Story of Khidr & Musa makes us realise that we do not understand everything - the ghaib is beyond our comprehension . That is why we always refer to As Subbuh . People may ask ( with negative thoughts) why certain Creations are made - that is thinking bad of Allah. That is why the solution for all these negative thoughts is Allah Subbuh who Deserves all the Tasbeeh & negate all imperfections from Him .

The AL MA’NA AL SHAR’EE ( the meaning from the perspective of the religion)

As Subbuh Alladhzi yasabbihuhu kulli jamaad wa kulli dhzuruuh . Subbuh came from Actions worthy of all Tasbeeh, Glorification from all living & non living Creations. They all say SubhanaAllah continuously .

Al Munazzah wa al mubarrat ‘an kulli al naqaadh. Allah , As Subbuh, is the One which you need to negate from Him all shortcomings & faults .

(a)

From Dhzaatihi , i.e. about Himself - you should not feel any bad about Allah as a dhzat - there is never anything bad for Allah, As Subbuh . There may be some evil in anything else but never in Allah.

(b)

Sifaatihi - We must negate all imperfection from all Attributes of Allah ( Knowledge, Wisdom, Feet, Face, Laugh, Hearing, Pleasure, Anger) . Humans & Creations have weaknesses in the attributes but not Allah. There is not faults or weakness in all Attributes of Allah. No faults in His Hearing, His Anger , His Love, etc. All his Attributes are Perfect. And we negate all imperfection from them.

(c)

In His Name - We negate all imperfection from All His Names (Allah, Ar Rahman, Ar Raheem, As Salam , etc ) . All His Names are perfect .

(d)

Af’aalahu - His Actions - We negate all imperfection from His Actions . Even the small Actions of Allah are not without Reason or Wisdom. We negate all imperfections from all of Allah’s Actions.

As an application of As Subbuh, we need to be like a swimmer in this life. Do not get stuck. We move, float with no sound - like ‘Ibaad ur Rahman ( slave of Ar Rahman) . They float & swim / move with smoothness without banging or being interruptive - that is, they do not think bad of Allah . We can worship Allah smoothly.

We will find a place with so many people but without any sound ( no shouting, no honking, no angry words or gangsterism) . This is because everybody is swimming smoothly . These are ’Ibaad ur Rahman . They are thinking good , moving in the flow, so everybody swims making no sound. Compare this with even 2 people living with no system - they make so much sound, so much upheavals .

Everything is about how we think of & see the bigger picture. Are we moving / swimming for Allah ? or are we just seeking excuse to follow or not to comply ? May Allah make us always make Tasbeeh - removing dirt from our mind. Detoxification . You will feel heavy , & down. And get sick & stressed.

So the best detox is hisbiAllah ( Allah is Sufficient). Everything good is with Allah. Allah will remove all the bad people & Reward all the good people.