“The Creator, the Originator, the Fashioner”: He created all beings, brought them into existence, and formed them in accordance with His wisdom. He fashioned them in a manner worthy of praise and in accordance with His wisdom. He has always possessed—and will always possess—this magnificent attribute.
“The Affirmer of Truth”: He has extolled Himself with attributes of perfection and with perfect majesty and beauty. He sent His messengers and revealed His Books with signs and proofs, confirming His messengers through every sign and proof attesting to their truthfulness and to the soundness of what they brought.
“The Overseer”: He is fully aware of hidden affairs and the secrets concealed within hearts, and His knowledge encompasses all things.
“The All-Powerful”: His power is perfect. By His power He brought all beings into existence; by His power He governs them; by His power He formed and perfected them; and by His power He gives life and causes death. He will resurrect His servants for recompense, rewarding those who do good for their goodness and requiting evildoers for their evil. When He wills something, He merely says to it, “Be!” and it is. By His power He turns hearts and directs them however He wills and desires.
“The Subtle and Kind”: His knowledge encompasses all secrets and hidden matters, and He knows concealed, inward, and subtle things. He is kind to His believing servants, graciously conveying to them what benefits them through ways they do not perceive. Thus, this name bears the sense of “the All-Aware” and of “the Tenderly Compassionate.”
“The Reckoner”: He knows His servants, suffices those who place their trust in Him, and recompenses His servants for good and evil in accordance with His wisdom and His knowledge of all their deeds, great and small.
“The Ever-Watchful”: He knows what hearts conceal and watches over every soul and what it has earned. He preserves all creatures and directs them according to the finest order and most perfect governance.
“The Preserver”: He preserves what He created, and His knowledge encompasses all that He brought into existence. He protects His devoted servants from falling into sins and ruin and graciously watches over them in every movement and moment of stillness. He also keeps a precise account of His servants’ deeds and their recompense.
“The All-Encompassing”: He encompasses all things in knowledge, power, mercy, and irresistible dominion.
“The Subduer”: He subdues all things. All creatures submit to Him and humble themselves before His might, strength, and perfect power.
“The Sustainer”: He provides every creature with that by which it is sustained, conveys its provision to it, and apportions it however He wills, in accordance with His wisdom and in a manner worthy of praise.
“The Disposer of Affairs”: He undertakes the governance of His creation through His knowledge, perfect power, and all-encompassing wisdom. He takes His devoted servants into His care, makes the path of ease easy for them, spares them hardship, and suffices them in all matters. Whoever entrusts his affairs to Him will find Him sufficient: “Allah is the Protector of those who believe; He brings them out of darkness into light.”
“The Possessor of Majesty and Honor”: that is, the Possessor of greatness and supreme grandeur, and the Possessor of mercy, generosity, and beneficence both universal and particular. He honors His devoted servants and chosen ones, who revere, exalt, and love Him.
“The Most Loving”: He loves His prophets, His messengers, and their followers, and they love Him. He is dearer to them than anything else. Their hearts are filled with love for Him, their tongues constantly praise Him, and their hearts are drawn to Him in love, sincerity, and repentance in every respect.
“The Opener”: He judges among His servants through His revealed rulings, His providential decrees, and His judgments of recompense. Through His kindness, He opens the insight of the truthful and opens their hearts to knowing and loving Him and turning to Him in repentance. He opens for His servants the gates of mercy and every kind of provision, and provides them with the means by which they attain the good of this world and the Hereafter: “Whatever mercy Allah opens up for people, none can withhold; and whatever He withholds, none can release thereafter.”
“The Provider” of all His servants: there is no creature on earth whose provision is not incumbent upon Allah. His provision for His servants is of two kinds:
Universal provision, which encompasses the righteous and the wicked, as well as earlier and later generations; this is the provision of the body.
Particular provision, which is the provision of hearts and their nourishment with knowledge and faith,