Fiqh al-Adiyah wa-al-Adhkar - Abd al-Razzaq ibn Abd al-Muhsin al-Badr - (1/243)

Fiqh al-Adiyah wa-al-AdhkarAbd al-Razzaq ibn Abd al-Muhsin al-Badr

44 / The Greatest Ground for Praise: Knowledge of the Lord’s Names and Attributes

There is no doubt that all praise belongs to Allah, Lord of the worlds. He—Glorified is He—is worthy of praise for everything. He is praised for what He has created, what He has commanded, and what He has forbidden. Praise is the broadest of attributes, the most comprehensive of commendations, and the loftiest form of extolment. The paths to knowing it are exceedingly numerous, for all His names—Blessed and Exalted is He—are praise; His attributes are praise; His acts are praise; His rulings are praise; His justice is praise; His vengeance upon His enemies is praise; and His grace and beneficence toward His allies are praise. Creation and command subsist only through His praise; through His praise they came into being, and through His praise they became manifest. Their ultimate purpose is His praise. Thus, His praise—Glorified is He—is their cause, their end, that through which they are manifested, and that which sustains them. His praise is the spirit of everything, and everything subsists through His praise. The permeation of His praise throughout all existent things and the manifestation of its effects are witnessed by both physical sight and inner perception.

He—Glorified is He—has drawn attention to the fact that His praise encompasses His creation and command by praising Himself at the beginning and end of creation and when issuing commands and prescribing laws. He praised Himself for His lordship over the worlds; He praised Himself for His uniqueness in divinity and for His life; and He praised Himself for being far above such unbefitting attributes as having a child or a partner, as well as for the other matters for which Allah praises Himself in His Book.

For this reason, one of the great paths demonstrating the comprehensive meaning of praise and its inclusion of all things is the servant’s knowledge of the names and attributes of the Lord—Blessed and Exalted is He—and his affirmation that the universe has a living God who possesses every attribute of perfection, every beautiful name, every splendid commendation, and every noble act; and that He—Glorified is He—possesses perfect power, a will that unfailingly takes effect, and knowledge

٤٤ / أعظم موجبات الحمد العلم بأسماء الرب وصفاته لا ريب أنَّ الحمدَ كلَّه لله ربِّ العالمين، فإنّه سبحانه المحمود على كلِّ شيء، وهو المحمود على ما خلقه وأمر به ونهى عنه، والحمدُ أوسعُ الصفات وأعمُّ المدائح وأعظم الثناء، والطرقُ إلى العلم به في غاية الكثرة؛ لأنَّ جميعَ أسمائه ﵎ حمدٌ، وصفاته حمدٌ، وأفعاله حمدٌ، وأحكامه حمدٌ، وعدله حمدٌ، وانتقامه من أعدائه حمدٌ، وفضله وإحسانه إلى أوليائه حمدٌ، والخلق والأمر إنّما قام بحمده ووُجد بحمده وظهر بحمده، وكان الغاية منه هي حمده، فحمدُه سبحانه سبب ذلك وغايته ومظهره وحامله، فحمده روح كلِّ شيء، وقيامُ كلّ شيء بحمده، وسريان حمده في الموجودات وظهور آثاره أمرٌ مشهودٌ بالأبصار والبصائر. وقد نبّه سبحانه على شمول حمده لخلقه وأمره بأنْ حَمِدَ نفسَه في أول الخلق وآخره، وعند الأمر والشرع، وحمد نفسه على ربوبيته للعالمين، وحمد نفسه على تفرّده بالإلهية وعلى حياته، وحمد نفسه على امتناع اتصافه بما لا يليق به من اتخاذ الولد والشريك إلى غير ذلك من أنواع ما حمد اللهُ به نفسه في كتابه. ولهذا فإنَّ من الطرق العظيمة الدالة على شمول معنى الحمد وتناوله لجميع الأشياء معرفةَ العبد لأسماء الربِّ ﵎ وصفاته، وإقرارَه بأنَّ للعالَم إلهاً حيًّا جامعاً لكلِّ صفة كمال، واسمٍ حسنٍ وثناء جميل وفعل كريم، وأنّه سبحانه له القدرة التامَّةُ والمشيئةُ النافذة والعلم