Al-Muqaddim (the One Who Brings Forward), al-Muqīt (the Sustainer), al-Malik (the King), al-Muhaymin (the Guardian), al-Mu’akhkhir (the One Who Puts Back), al-Mu’min (the Granter of Security)
91 – Al-Muqaddim: (al-Muqaddim–al-Mu’akhkhir2)
The author, may Allah Most High have mercy on him, said: “Al-Muqaddim and al-Mu’akhkhir are among His most beautiful names that form complementary, contrasting pairs. Neither is applied to Allah on its own, but only together with the other, for perfection lies in their combination. He, Most High, brings forward whomever He wills and puts back whomever He wills, according to His wisdom.
This bringing forward may pertain to His ordering of creation, as when He places some creatures before others and others after them, or places causes before their effects and conditions before that which depends upon them.
The forms of bringing forward and putting back in creation and divine decree are an ocean without a shore. They may also pertain to religious merit: He has favoured the prophets above the rest of creation, favoured some prophets above others, and favoured some of His servants above others. He has given them precedence in knowledge, faith, deeds, character, and all other qualities, while placing others behind them in one or another of these respects. All of this accords with His wisdom.
These two attributes, and others like them, are attributes of His essence, because they subsist in Allah and He possesses them. They are also attributes of action, because bringing forward and putting back relate to created beings—their very beings, actions, meanings, and qualities—and arise from Allah’s will and power. This, then, is the classification