Tafsir Asma Allah al-Husna li-al-Sadi - Abd al-Rahman al-Sadi’ - (183)

Tafsir Asma Allah al-Husna li-al-SadiAbd al-Rahman al-Sadi’

First: He has kept a record of His servants’ deeds, whether good or evil, acts of obedience or disobedience. His knowledge encompasses all their deeds, outward and inward. He has recorded them in the Preserved Tablet and appointed over His servants noble recording angels who know what they do. This aspect of His preservation entails that Allah’s knowledge encompasses all His servants’ circumstances, outward and inward; that these are recorded in the Preserved Tablet and in the records held by the angels; and that He knows the extent of their deeds, their completeness and deficiencies, and the measure of their recompense in reward and punishment. He then recompenses them for those deeds with His grace and justice.

The second meaning of the Preserver is that He, Most High, protects His servants from everything they dislike. His protection of His creation is of two kinds: general and special.

His general protection extends to all creatures: He makes available to them what sustains them and preserves their constitution. They follow His guidance and pursue what benefits them through His direction and His general guidance, of which He says:

“He gave each thing its form, then guided it.” 1

That is, He guides every creature towards the necessities and needs He has decreed and ordained for it, such as food, drink, mating, and the pursuit of the means to obtain these. He also wards off various kinds of adversity and harm from them. The righteous and the wicked alike share in this protection, as do animals and other creatures. He is the One who keeps the heavens and the earth from passing away and preserves His creatures through His blessings. He has appointed noble guardian angels over the human being, who guard him by Allah’s command—that is, they ward off whatever would otherwise harm him were it not for Allah’s protection.

The second kind is His special protection of His devoted servants, in addition to what has already been mentioned. He protects them from doubts, trials, and desires that would harm their faith or shake their certainty. He shields them from these and brings them through safely, protected and unharmed. He also protects them from their enemies among the jinn and humankind, granting them victory

(1) Tā Hā (50).

أحدهما: أنه قد حفظ على عباده ما عملوه من خير، وشر، وطاعة، ومعصية، فإن علمه محيط بجميع أعمالهم ظاهرها، وباطنها وقد كتب ذلك في اللوح المحفوظ، ووكل بالعباد ملائكة كراماً كاتبين يعلمون ما تفعلون، فهذا المعنى من حفظه يقتضي إحاطة علم الله بأحوال العباد كلها ظاهرها، وباطنها، وكتابتها في اللوح المحفوظ، وفي الصحف التي في أيدي الملائكة، وعلمه بمقاديرها، وكمالها، ونقصها، ومقادير جزائها في الثواب والعقاب ثم مجازاته عليها بفضله، وعدله. والمعني الثاني: من معنيي الحفيظ: أنه تعالى الحافظ لعباده من جميع ما يكرهون وحفظه لخلقه نوعان عام وخاص: حفظه لجميع المخلوقات بتيسيره لها ما يقيتها ويحفظ بنيتها، وتمشي إلى هدايته، وإلى مصالحها بإرشاده، وهدايته العامة التي قال عنها: ﴿أَعْطَى كُلَّ شَيْءٍ خَلْقَهُ ثُمَّ هَدَى﴾ ١ أي هدى كل مخلوق إلى ما قدر له وقضى له من ضروراته وحاجاته، كالهداية للمأكل، والمشرب، والمنكح، والسعي في أسباب ذلك، وكدفعه عنهم أصناف المكاره، والمضار، وهذا يشترك فيه البر، والفاجر بل الحيوانات، وغيرها، فهو الذي يحفظ السماوات، والأرض أن تزولا، ويحفظ الخلائق بنعمه، وقد وكل بالآدمي حفظة من الملائكة الكرام يحفظونه من أمر الله، أي يدفعون عنه كل ما يضره مما هو بصدد أن يضره لولا حفظ الله. والنوع الثاني: حفظه الخاص لأوليائه سوى ما تقدم، بحفظهم عما يضر إيمانهم أو يزلزل إيقانهم من الشبه، والفتن، والشهوات فيعافيهم منها ويخرجهم منها بسلامة وحفظ وعافية، ويحفظهم من أعدائهم من الجن والإنس فينصرهم

١ طه (٥٠).