Auron ka hai Payaam aur, mera Payaam aur hai,/ Ishq key dardmand ka tarz-e-kalaam aur hai! (Iqbal)
In the Qur’an, Allah calls himself not just Rahmaan and Raheem (most merciful and most merciful), Ghaffaar and Ghafoor (most forgiving and most forgiving), and Jawwad (most generous) and Wahhaab (greatest giver of gifts and bounties) and Kareem (most generous and noble), but also Al-Wadud.
Very respectfully, let me give every reader a simple assignment: Please somehow check the meaning of that expression Al-Wadud in an Arabic-English dictionary. Or check it in an Arabic-Urdu dictionary, if you will. Or ask someone else to do it for you.
If it turns out to be something like “Most Loving” in English and “Bohut hi mohabbat karnay waalaa” in Urdu, then go ask the Muslims how come they never told you this, when they were busy thundering everything else at you from the Minbars and other public platforms.
That was the Qur’an. Now let me tell you about the Hadith.
In the Hadith, the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, says that Allah sent down one per cent of his love and mercy into this world – his Rahmah. And it is out of that one per cent that every animal and human mother finds the love, which it showers upon her young.
How much clearer does it get that Allah is a “Most Loving God”, whether you look at it using the Hadith or using the Qur’an?
THE MIRACLE OF AR-RAHMAAN
This is not to attack, insult or put down anyone or anything. This is just a simple question that everyone must ask and yet no one seems to do.
It is actually two questions in one. And here is the first question: Who do you know, other than God Almighty, in the Qur’an, who calls himself Ar-Rahmaan – the most merciful, loving, caring, compassionate and doting one?
Does anyone know anyone by that name? Or as the Qur’an puts it: Hal ta’alamu lahoo samiyya?
That is the first part of that two-part question if you want to call it that. Who do you know, other than God Almighty in the Qur’an, who goes by that name or title – Ar-Rahmaan?
We are not talking about a certain exotic name lying buried in the obscure and rarely read pages of this or that book in this or that cave. We are talking instead of a well-known and famous name that is on the lips of almost everyone everywhere every day? At almost the same level as the common expressions God and Lord?
I don’t want it to come out sounding the way it is going to, and I certainly do not want to insult anyone’s religion or culture, but here is my question, and it is an honest and humble one: Who else is out there that has a God named Ar-Rahmaan – the most merciful, loving and compassionate one?
Is there anyone else there with a God with that name?
Hal ta’lamu lahoo samiyya?
This is the case the Muslims failed to make.
Allah bless the Muslims. They owe the world an apology for sitting on this treasure like a snake and not sharing it with the people of the world.
THE MIRACLE OF ABDUR-RAHMAAN
And the second question, which you can consider a corollary of the first question, is this: Who else, other than Muslims, other than the followers of the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, go about calling themselves the “People or Slaves of Ar-Rahmaan”?
Do you know anyone by that name? I don’t. I am not saying there is no one in the world with a name like that other than the Muslims. All I am saying is I don’t know anyone by that name. Do you?
‘Abdur-Rahmaan – slave of the most merciful, loving and compassionate one – is as popular a Muslim name as you are going to find in any part of the world. It is like John or Bob in America.
Does anyone know anyone else with that name?
What an amazing and breathtaking miracle is this simple fact of Islam! And what an ordinary and yet widely prevailing fact it is in the everyday life and existence of Muslims around the world!
And how sadly ignorant our world is about this ever-living miracle of Islam and ordinary Muslim life! Thanks mainly to the indifference of the Muslims to the duty of taking the word of God Almighty to every home and heart that needs it.
And how ignorant are the Muslims themselves!
God in his heaven and in his creation, and in his eternal book, immortalized his glorious name: Ar-Rahmaan, which means the most loving and merciful and compassionate one. And the Muslim followers of the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, have kept that name alive and active all over the world, for all these 1400 years, by naming their sons Abdur-Rahmaan right here on earth.
Who cannot see this direct and most luminous connection that exists between heaven and earth? Between God in heaven and the Muslim followers of the Prophet, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, right here on earth?
If God Almighty in heaven above is Ar-Rahmaan – the eternal fount of love, mercy and compassion – his slaves the Muslims personify in their name of Abdur-Rahmaan the continuing outflow of that divine love and mercy right here on earth. They are the conduit of that divine mercy to the world.
Wake up the Muslims and tell them this. And also don’t forget to tell the world this.
How simple and beautiful this miracle of Islam and Qur’an and Muslim life is. And how sad and tragic is the fact that the world knows nothing about it.
And how wrong, baseless, mischievous, perverse, evil and wicked it is that some in this world should try to associate the beautiful and glorious name of Islam with violence – and with all that is evil, terrible, cruel and inhuman in this world!
Just Like the Miracle of Assalaam
The miracle of Ar-Rahmaan is no different from the miracle of As-Salaam. It is just another colossal find that came out of the same diamond mine of Islam and the Qur’an.
As-Salaam is all that is good. Remember, we said “Something Good” earlier? Now upgrade it to “All That Is Good.” That is As-Salaam. And that is God Almighty, the maker and master of this world and all that exists in that world. The one and only creator and lord.
La Ilaha Illah Hu! No one deserves to be served, loved, adored, worshipped or obeyed so totally, completely and wholeheartedly – and in every single aspect and walk of our life – as he.
And that includes any good, noble, decent, lawful and “fun” thing that any human being needs or can think of, such as health, wealth, happiness, security, liberty, dignity, honor, opportunity, and the rest.
All good and beautiful and felicitous names and attributes belong to him. They are all his domain. As the Qur’an itself phrases it: Wa lahul asmaa-ul husnaa.
I am not saying he is the source and fount of all those good things. I am saying, he is those things. And in saying it, all I am doing is echoing the words of the Qur’an: Al-Malikul Quddoosus Salaam…
And each one of those divine attributes and qualities then extends from infinity to infinity in overlapping and intertwining continua from ever to for ever.
What a miracle! And what a beautiful and blessed gift to the world from the maker and master of the world!
Now is it fair to ask if you know anyone who has a god with that name? I am not saying no one does. All I am saying is that I don’t know. And, mind you, I am not referring to some obscure name known only to an exclusive and elite set of specialists, but a name that is most common in society and that is practically on the lips of everyone.