(1/3/16) - Class 2 - اسم الله الواسع

بِسْم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Introduction

Allah is the مدبر الأمر. No one knows what's in our hearts and what we need; but Allah knows and takes care of us. He is the only One who plans and decrees and makes us learn topics at the time we need them. We need to make تفكر; ponder and reflect over what happens to us.

"Tafakkur is like a mirror in which you see yourself and your reality" - Sheikh Fudhayl bin Iyad

Another scholar said that if you made Tafakkur over the greatness of Allah, it'd prevent you from disobeying Allah. 

Another one was sitting and contemplating silently. The people asked him where he'd reached in his thoughts. He said, "The Siraat" 

He was thinking about the stages; The Dunya, the Grave, the Day of Judgement, etc.

And the more you reflect, the more Allah will open for you. Even the quality of your worship will be different.

If a human being doesn't reflect over and act upon this name, his life will be narrow and difficult. He'll completely rely on himself, his ability, and experience, so his life will be full of limitations. Memorizing the entire Qur'an, for example, would be an impossible feat for him, because there's a limit to his ability. But the one who knows Allah by His name الواسع, relies on Him.

If you think about it, there are even limits to our feelings. We love and love and we get tired of loving. There is an end to our mercy. But Allah's knowledge and mercy and attributes are unlimited.

Allah shows you He is الواسع, even with our phones. We have unlimited applications on our phones. There are apps which can make you look older or younger. And yet you deny the resurrection, and Allah's ability to do that? We believe in our phones and technology, and disbelieve in Allah.

We need to feel Allah's name الواسع, and that's through reflecting over the آيات of Allah in the Qur'an and the universe.

واسع في عفوه و مغفرته - Allah is Vast in His Pardoning and Forgiveness 

In [55:32]: 

Every single human being makes mistakes, whether small or big. So what do we need? واسع المغفرة. 

The Prophet ﷺ said:

عَنْ أَنَسٍ قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ كُلُّ بَنِي آدَمَ خَطَّاءٌ وَخَيْرُ الْخَطَّائِينَ التَّوَّابُونَ

Anas ibn Malik reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “All of the children of Adam are sinners, and the best of sinners are those who repent.” [Ibn Majah]

Allah made making mistakes a quality in human beings. And we learn from our mistakes more than from our success. The moment you fall, it humbles you.

Human beings won't forgive again and again and again. You make a mistake once at work, and it might be overlooked, but by the fifth or sixth time you'll be fired.

If you have a helper at home who makes the same mistake everyday, you lose patience. But it's greater for a slave to commit a sin against the Creator, than a slave to a fellow slave, - and yet Allah is more forgiving to us than we are to each other.

Those who avoid the big sins, except اللمم (small, everyday sins); Allah will forgive them even without them repenting. 

But you need to ask Allah to forgive your major sins.

Who is واسع المغفرة?   

ربك. Your Rabb.

The One who nurtures you; makes you better and better, has vast mercy. 

And the One who nurtures you and has vast mercy "هو أعلم". He knows about you better than you know about yourself. He knows our original creation. 

So don't praise and ascribe purity to yourself. "فلا تزكوا أنفسكم"

Don't say I'm good and the people are bad.

Allah knows who has Taqwa and who doesn't. He knows your mistakes.

If you don't make mistakes, you won't feel اسم الله غفور, you won't feel واسع المغفرة. You feel it when you make mistakes. Although, this isn't an excuse to make a mistake, you have to try your best to avoid sins. 

In [39:53]:

This is the verse which contains the most hope in the Qur'an. Allah's calling these people, "يا عبادي" and they aren't even righteous. These are sinners who amounted billions and trillions of sins. And yet Allah calls them "عبادي". He didn't even call them "عبيد" which is used for humiliation. "عباد" is used for honour. Allah's reminding them that they're His slaves, that He created them to worship Him, that they can still come back. And that's a stark contrast to how we act when people wrong us - We cut them out of our lives completely. 

We learn from this, that when someone's doing wrong, don't call them with insulting names. Call them what you want them to be. 

If people don't have mercy with you, then Allah is the Most Merciful. He is واسع المغفرة.

عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ قَالَ دَخَلَ أَعْرَابِيٌّ الْمَسْجِدَ وَالنَّبِيُّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ جَالِسٌ فَصَلَّى فَلَمَّا فَرَغَ قَالَ اللَّهُمَّ ارْحَمْنِي وَمُحَمَّدًا وَلَا تَرْحَمْ مَعَنَا أَحَدًا فَالْتَفَتَ إِلَيْهِ النَّبِيُّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ فَقَالَ لَقَدْ تَحَجَّرْتَ وَاسِعًا فَلَمْ يَلْبَثْ أَنْ بَالَ فِي الْمَسْجِدِ فَأَسْرَعَ إِلَيْهِ النَّاسُ فَقَالَ النَّبِيُّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ أَهْرِيقُوا عَلَيْهِ سَجْلًا مِنْ مَاءٍ أَوْ دَلْوًا مِنْ مَاءٍ ثُمَّ قَالَ إِنَّمَا بُعِثْتُمْ مُيَسِّرِينَ وَلَمْ تُبْعَثُوا مُعَسِّرِينَ

Abu Huraira reported: A bedouin entered the mosque of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, while the Prophet was sitting. The man prayed and when finished he said, “O Allah, have mercy on me and Muhammad and no one else.” The Prophet turned to him and said, “You have restricted something that is vast.” It was not long before he was urinating in the mosque, so the people rushed to him, but the Prophet said, “Pour a bucket or a tumbler of water over it.” Then the Prophet said, “You have been sent to make things easy, and you were not sent to make things difficult.” [Tirmithi] 

In another narration: 

Anas Ibn Malik, may Allah be pleased with him, said: "Whilst we were in the Mosque with the Messenger of Allah  a Bedouin came and stood urinating in the Mosque. The Companions of the Messenger of Allah  said, 'Stop it! Stop it!' and were about to attack him. But the Messenger of Allah   said, 'Do not interrupt him; leave him alone.' So they left him until he had finished urinating, then the Messenger of Allah  called him and said to him, 'In these Mosques it is not right to do anything like urinating or defecating; they are only for remembering Allah, praying and reading Qur'aan,' or words to that effect. Then he commanded a man who was there to bring a bucket of water and throw it over the (urine), and he did so." (Muslim)

Just don't despair of the mercy of Allah. We're not free of mistakes, but we need to back to Allah. Not persist in sin and think that Allah will forgive you.

واسع في خلقه - Allah is Vast in His Creation

An example of this are the heavens.

In [51:47]:

Allah created the heavens with power, and He is expanding it. Don't think that any of His creations can't be expanded. He's able to give you more and more provision. He's able to enlarge things for you. But we make it smaller and smaller on ourselves. We say tomorrow will be worse than today. We say  that when you get married and have more and more children, your life will get tighter and more difficult. But we need to believe in Allah's name الواسع. We need to believe in [93:4]:

واسع في ملكه - Allah is Vast in His Dominion

Allah is the King; the entire dominion belongs to Him.

In [2:115]:

The East and West and all what is between it belongs to Allah. 

Allah has the dominion and the authority.

We think we own plots of land on earth, but everything is Allah's. We feel like we're in charge and control, but we're not really. 

E.g. We own a house. This is your ملك. But you don't have سلطان (Authority). Allah's showing you that He is the real King, with authority. A seed doesn't sprout from the earth without Allah's permission. And yet people go in and out of our house without permission sometimes, unwanted insects walk in, there are so many things which happen in it which we don't know about, etc.

واسع في روابه - Allah is Vast in His rewards

There's no limitation to the reward of Allah.

In [2:261]:

This is a Parable about the vastness of Allah's reward. 

One seed multiples into 700. And we see this in front of us. This is the similitude of spending. You may give one dirham, but you'll get 700 reward. This is an investment. 

This multiplication depends on your intention. The more sincere you are, the more reward you'll get.

Don't think that when Allah gives you more rewards, it decreases the vastness of Allah. Don't think it's difficult for Allah.

We feel embarrassed when people spend on us because it decreases from their accounts. But it's not difficult from Allah, and doesn't decrease anything from Allah at all. His reward is واسع, and He gives and gives and gives and it never decreases. And Allah feels shy to not fill your hands when you raise your hand asking Him