Thus, this noble surah is devoted exclusively to mentioning the attributes of the Most Merciful and the qualities of His perfection and majesty. This Companion—may Allah be pleased with him—therefore loved to recite it frequently. When the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—asked why he recited it so consistently, he replied, “Because it describes the Most Merciful, and I love to recite it.” He then said, “Tell him that Allah loves him.” Another narration reports that the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said, “Your love for it has brought you into Paradise.”

This demonstrates that a servant’s love for the attributes of the Most Merciful, his constant remembrance of them, his keeping in mind the sublime meanings they convey—meanings befitting the Lord’s perfection and majesty—and his deep understanding of them constitute a major means of entering Paradise and attaining the pleasure and love of the Lord—Blessed and Exalted—as illustrated by the story of this noble Companion—may Allah be pleased with him and grant him contentment.

Every Muslim must approach all the attributes mentioned in the Quran and Sunnah with contentment, acceptance, and submission. As Imam al-Zuhrī—may Allah have mercy on him—said, “The message is from Allah, the Messenger’s duty is to convey it, and ours is to submit.”1 No Muslim who esteems Allah as He should be esteemed may respond to any of these attributes with rejection, objection, negation, or anything similar.

Abd al-Razzāq narrated in his Musannaf, from Ma‘mar, from Ibn Tāwūs, from his father, from Ibn Abbās—may Allah be pleased with him and his father—that “he saw a man shudder in objection upon hearing a hadith from the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—concerning the divine attributes. He said, ‘What makes these people afraid? Their hearts soften at its unambiguous passages, yet they perish over its ambiguous ones.’”2