Out of the 99 attributes of Allah, four have been selected for Surah Fatiha and have been arranged in a significant manner. The first name Rabb and the fourth name Malik have been used as constructs with respective genitives. This linguistic device is meant to highlight the fact that these two names are functionally different from the two middle attributes Ar-Rahman and Ar-Raheem.
Allah is the personal name of the one and only God that the universe has. He always functions as Rabbul Aalameen. That is to say that this name is a designation; it refers to His official position. In His official capacity as Rabbul Aalameen, He will discharge the official duties of Maliki Yowmiddeen. This name is more or less a designation too. To denote these designations, the construct + genitive structure has been employed.
However, one designation is permanent. Allah is Rabbul Aalameen in this world (1:1), on the Day of Judgment ,(83:6), and in the hereafter (10:10).
Allah’s official duty as the Judge of mankind and jinn and all creation is confined to the Day of Judgment. This duty will be fully discharged. “Judgment will have been made among them with fairness, and it will be proclaimed: All praise and thanks to Allah, the Lord of whole universe.” (39:75)
In order to differentiate one designation from another and to underline the non- permanent nature of the second designation, two constructs and two genitives are used as against the one construct and one genitive of the first designation. Even though the Day of Judgment comes to a close, the decisions taken definitively on that Day have timeless consequences. “But those that believe and work righteous deeds, they are the best of creatures. Their recompense lies with their Lord: Gardens of eternity beneath which rivers flow; therein they shall dwell, forever and ever.” (98:7-8)
The fact that Rabbul Aalameen and Maliki Yowmiddeeen are designations is reinforced through the use of rhyme.
Sandwiched between these two designations are the attributive names – Ar Rahman and Ar-Raheem. They are etymologically related and denote the chief characteristic of the excellent character, disposition and personality or what is known in Sanskrit as Saushilyam of God. Their distinct nature is made clear through non-conformity to the rhyme scheme of the designations, and through the avoidance of the construct + genitive structure.
Tao Te Ching. LXXVI is reported to have said, “In life, man is soft and supple; in death he is rigid and hard. Plants and trees in life are tender; in death they are withered and dry. Therefore softness and tenderness means life; And hardness and stiffness means death.” (Source: The Times of India, Sacred Space, December 5, 2008, p. 12) Ar-Rahman and Ar-Raheem are terms referring to Allah’s softness and tenderness, implying thereby that Allah is Al-Hayy and Al-Qayyoom, that Allah is not only endowed with life but also the only Source of life for others and that He sustains all and none can sustain others except Him. His mercy sustains all worlds both simultaneously and sequentially. That is why the divine qualities of mercy are kept in the middle like a bridge connecting Aalameen and Yowmiddeen.
By placing the quality of character in the middle of two official posts, administrator-cum-legislator and the judge, the Qur’ān seems to imply that, in order to hold office successfully and efficiently, one must possess sterling qualities of head and heart. Character is the key to success and the foremost quality in character should be mercy. God is the administrator par excellence. The secret of His success as the best administrator is His mercy. In the Biblical extract, the use of ‘mercy’ as an adjective and as a noun may be noted. “The Lord is merciful and gracious (Rahman and Raheem?), slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.” (Psalm 103:8)
The use of Aalameen in the first verse conjures up the concept of ‘Space’ with the ultimate limits and the use of Yowm in the third verse refers to a unit of Time in the remote future. The strength of human mind is stretched to its nth degree in envisioning both Space and Time as mentioned in Surah Fatiha. In between these two – Space and Time, two aspects of Allah’s mercy are kept as the cementing and integrating factors. This suggests that all Spatio-temporal phenomena come alive when Allah’s mercy functions as the animating factor.
The attribute of Wahhab is associated with Allah’s attribute of mercy. The Qur’ānic prayer illustrates this relationship.
“And bestow upon us Your Mercy for You are the Munificent Giver!” (3:8).
Moulana Abdur Rahman Keelani enumerates ten Arabic terms for the act of giving and he says that hab as used in this prayer refers to that act of giving in which there is no involvement of or expectation of any compensation or return. Allah gives for the sake of or the joy of giving (Synonyms in the Qur’ān and their Semantic differentiation, (Urdu), p. 513)
The four names of Allah actually comprise three semantic units, as the foregoing discussion has shown. The first name and the third name indicate designations and the second verse highlights the personality and character of God. These three semantic units referring to God in the first chapter of the Qur’ān have a striking resemblance to the three names/designations referring to God in the last chapter of the Qur’ān.
The construct +genitive structure employed in the designations of Allah in the last chapter of the Qur’ān is also employed in the first chapter of the Qur’ān. Two constructs – Rabb and Malik (The Lord/Cherisher and Sustainer of the worlds) and (King) are present in the two chapters under discussion.
However, the genitives are different in the two chapters. In the last chapter only one genitive An-Nas (mankind) is used three times with three constructs – Rabb, Malik, and Ilaha (God).
Rabb is the first construct in both chapters. Malik is the third construct in the first chapter and is the second construct in the last chapter of the Qur’ān. Ilaha is the third and final construct in the last chapter whereas Ar-Rahman and Ar-Raheem are used in the first chapter. It may be presumed that these two attributes of Allah are a substitute for Ilaha. One verse of the Qur’ān reinforces this presumption. Ilaha is used three times in the following verse.
“Your God is one God, there is no other God than Him – the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate.” (2:163)
In the statement, La Ilaha illa Huwa Ar-Rahman ur Raheem, La and illa cancel each other and Ilaha is equated to Huwa and Ar-Rahman and Ar-Raheem. In this verse (2:163) Ilaha and Ar-Rahman and Ar-Raheem are rendered identical. In the first chapter the two attributes are given prominence and in the last chapter of the Qur’ān, the designation, God of mankind, is highlighted.
In the first chapter, Rabb is the construct and Aalameen is the genitive. In the last chapter Rabb is the construct and Nas is the genitive. The Lord of the worlds is the Lord of mankind too. The use of the same constructs in the two chapters of the Qur’ān underpins the amazing consistency of the Qur’ān, revealed piecemeal over a period of twenty-three years in circumstances which varied radically from time to time and from place to place.
Malik is used in the first chapter as well as the last chapter of the Qur’ān as the construct but the genitives are different in both chapters.
Ilaha is used as a construct in the last chapter and two names substitute Ilaha in the first chapter. Another difference is the sequence of these constructs. Ilaha comes as the last construct in the last chapter and its substitutes precede Malik in the first chapter. This difference is due to the radical difference in the thematic contents of the two chapters.
When Allah is presented as Rabb man relates to Him as Insan as the first revelation shows. (96:1-5) When Allah is presented as Malik (King) man relates to Him as a vicegerent or khalifa. “Lo! I am about to place a vicegerent on earth.” (2:30) When Allah is presented as Ilaha (God) man relates to Him as Abd – one whose duty is to worship and serve God. The substitutes to Ilaha are Ar-Rahman and Ar-Raheem, and the Qur’ān talks of Ibadur Rahman.(25:63) According to our beloved Prophet (May Allah bless and greet him), Abdur Rahman is a most lovely name, Allah and Ilaha are inter-related words and so Ibadullah (37:40) is a typical Qur’ānic term. Of the three terms, Rabb, Malik, Ilaha, it is the last term that is a part of our sacred proposition – La Ilaha ill(a) Allah.(47:19)
The status of man is Abd of God is of primary importance as He is the only Ilaha we have got. The act of worshipping and serving God comes too naturally to man. Moreover, man has sold himself to God and in that sense, he is nothing but God’s slave. Saint Paul says, “You are not your own: you were bought at a price. Therefore honour God with your body.”(I Corinthians, 6:19, 20) The Qur’ān states, “Surely, Allah has purchased of the believers their lives and their belongings and in return has promised that they shall have paradise.”(9:111)
The four names of God used in Surah Fatiha are integrated with the Qur’ān with the use of the verb tanzeel which means “brought down or revealed little by little and according to requirement.”
This expression is repeated in the Qur’ān. Vide 26:192, 56:80, 69:43. This expression is repeated with a little addition:
This Book, beyond all doubt, was revealed by the Lord of the universe.(32:2)
Another verse of the Qur’ān suggests that as Rabbul Aalameen Allah knows the secrets of the heavens and the earth.
“Say to them (O Muhammad) the one who knows the secrets of the heavens and the earth has sent down this Book. Indeed he is Most Forgiving, Most Compassionate.” (25:6)
It is one of the functions of Rabbul Aalameen to send Prophets and Scriptures for the sublime duty of training, educating, and regulating the behaviour of mankind. That is why Allah introduces Himself to Moses as Rabbul Aalameen. “O Moses, verily I am Allah, the Lord of all creatures of the universe.(28:30) Prophet Moses introduces himself as an official representative of Rabbul Aalameen. “I am a messenger of the Lord of the universe.”(43:46)
It is in His capacity as Rabbul Aalameen that Allah has revealed the Qur’ān for the benefit of mankind.
The pair of names, Ar-Rahman and Ar-Raheem, is used with the verb tanzeel too. This (Qur’ān) is a revelation from the most Merciful, the Most Compassionate. (41:2)
It is because Allah is Merciful that He wants to transfer mankind from darkness to light.(14:1) Those who reject the Qur’ān and launch a hate campaign against it in various ways may spare a little time to re-examine their attitude towards Allah’s mercy as enshrined in the Qur’ān which says, ‘Do as you wish; He sees all that you do. These are the ones who rejected the Good Counsel when it came to them, although it is certainly a Mighty Book.’ (41:40, 41) “So worship and serve whosoever you wish, apart from Allah. Say: Verily, the real losers shall be those who will have lost their own selves and their kith and kin on the Day of Resurrection. Behold, that is the obvious loss.” (39:15)
The phrase Maliki Yowmiddeen occurs only once in the Qur’ān. Therefore there is no verse connecting tanzeel with this phrase. As Allah will be Rabbul Aalameen on the Day of Judgment too, Tanzeelum mir Rabbil Aalameen will include the meaning that the Qur’ān is from Maliki Yowmiddeen, the Owner of the Day of Judgment.
As every nomenclature for Allah is an umbrella term for various other attributes of Allah, Maliki Yowmiddeen is a nomenclature inclusive of other attributes of Allah. For example, Jesus Christ addresses Allah in these words on the Day of Judgment, ‘If You forgive them, You are the All-Mighty, the All-Wise.’(5:118) Angels use these two names, Al-Azeez and Al-Hakeem, in their mediation with Allah. (40:8) So, when it is stated that this Book is a revelation from the Most Mighty, the Most Wise (45:2), it may be presumed that this statement implies that the Qur’ān is from Maliki YOwmiddeen.
The statement, “Tanzeeulum min Ar-Rahman Ar-Raheem” (41:2) will also mean that the Qur’ān is from the Owner of the Day of Judgment. We have to combine the two verses given below.
“The Lord of the heavens and the earth and of that which is between them, the Most Merciful Lord (Ar-Rahman) before whom none dare utter a word.” (78:37)
“This Qur’ān is a revelation from the Most Mighty (Al-Azeez), the Most Compassionate (Ar-