22 / The Names and Attributes Necessitate Their Corresponding Expressions of Servitude to Allah
Our discussion continues concerning the importance of remembering Allah by mentioning His names and attributes revealed in the Book and the sunnah of His Messenger, peace and blessings be upon him. We have already considered a valuable set of benefits arising from this. Another such benefit is that knowledge of Allah’s Most Beautiful Names and sublime attributes necessarily gives rise to corresponding expressions of servitude, such as submission, humility, reverence, turning to Him in repentance, awe, fear, love, reliance, and other outward and inward acts of worship. Indeed, every attribute of the Lord, Majestic and Exalted is He, has a particular form of worship associated with it, entailed by that attribute and necessitated by knowing and fully comprehending it. This principle applies consistently to every form of worship performed by the heart and limbs1.
To explain: when the servant knows that the Lord Most High alone has power to cause harm and bring benefit, to give and withhold, to create and provide, and to give life and cause death, this knowledge gives rise inwardly to the worship of relying upon Allah, and outwardly to the necessary consequences and fruits of that reliance.
Allah Most High says: “Put your trust in the Ever-Living, Who never dies” 2; He also says: “Put your trust in the Almighty, the Most Merciful” 3; He also says: “Lord of the east and the west—none has the right to be worshiped but Him—so entrust your affairs to Him” 4; and He also says: “Put your trust in Allah, for Allah is sufficient as a Trustee of Affairs” 5.