An Explanation of the Names of Allah المعطي الجواد

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

An Explanation of the Names of Allah المعطي الجواد; Al-Mu'tee, Al-Jawaad; The Giver, The Most Generous

The Name of Allah, The Blessed The Exalted, Al-Mu'tee is affirmed in Saheeh Al-Bukhari:

Narrated by Mu'awiyah  (Radia-Allaahu'anhu) that Allah's Messenger (Salla-Allaahu 'alayhi wa sallam) said, 

مَنْ يُرِدِ اللَّهُ بِهِ خَيْرًا يُفَقِّهْهُ فِي الدِّينِ، وَاللَّهُ الْمُعْطِي وَأَنَا الْقَاسِمُ، وَلاَ تَزَالُ هَذِهِ الأُمَّةُ ظَاهِرِينَ عَلَى مَنْ خَالَفَهُمْ حَتَّى يَأْتِيَ أَمْرُ اللَّهِ وَهُمْ ظَاهِرُونَ 

"If Allah wants to do good for somebody, He makes him comprehend the Religion [i.e. Islam, the understanding of the Qur'an and Sunnah (legal ways of the Prophet)], and Allah is Al-Mu'tee (The Giver), and I am Al-Qaasim (i.e. The distributor), and this (Muslim) nation will remain victorious over its opponents, till Allah's Order comes, and they will still be victorious" [Al-Bukhari #3116]

And His Name, Al-Jawaad is mentioned in the following Hadeeths:

Talha ibn Ubaidullah (Radia-Allaahu'anhu) and Ibn Abbas (Radia-Allaahu'anhuma) narrated that Allah's Messenger (Salla-Allaahu 'alayhi wa sallam) said, 

إن الله تعالى جواد يحب الجود ، ويحب معالي الأخلاق ، ويكره سفسافها

"Indeed Allah is Jawaad (Generous) and He loves generosity, and He loves noble (high) morals and hates lowly (bad) character" [Saheeh Al-Jamie' #1744]

In another narration by Sa'd ibn Waqqas (Radia-Allaahu'anhu), the Prophet (Salla-Allaahu 'alayhi wa sallam) said,

إن الله كريم يحب الكرماء جواد يحب الجود يحب معالي الأخلاق ويكره سفسافها

 "Indeed Allah is Kareem (Kind) and loves those who are kind, Jawaad (generous) and loves those who are generous, He loves high noble morals and hates lowly character" [Saheeh Al-Jami'ee #1800]

The Meaning of these Two Noble Names:

Al-Mu'tee is the only Giver in reality; none can give what He withholds nor withhold what He gives. His bestowal is speech and His withholding (prevention) is speech; Verily His command when He intends a thing, is only that He says to it, "Be" - and it is!

All that the servants enjoy of blessings is from His favour and bounty. His bestowal encompasses all His servants in this world; the believers and disbelievers, the good and wicked. However, on the Day of Resurrection, His favour is particularized for His believing slaves. He says in Surat Al-Isra' [17:20-21]: 

“To each these as well as those We bestow from the Bounties of your Lord. And the Bounties of your Lord can never be forbidden.

“See how We prefer one above another (in this world) and verily, the Hereafter will be greater in degrees and greater in preference.”

In Surah Al-A'raf [7:32], Allah says: 

“Say (O Muhammad): "Who has forbidden the adoration with clothes given by Allah, which He has produced for his slaves, and At-Taiyibat [all kinds of Halal (lawful) things] of food?" Say: "They are, in the life of this world, for those who believe, (and) exclusively for them (believers) on the Day of Resurrection (the disbelievers will not share them)." Thus We explain the Ayat (Islamic laws) in detail for people who have knowledge.”

Al-Jawaad is the one who bestows abundantly; whose generosity prevails over all creatures and He fills them with His grace, kindness, and various blessings. There is no creature that is free of His benevolence for a blink of an eye.

The Impact of Allah's Jood (Generosity): 

Ibn Al-Qayyim (Rahimahullah) said: 

1) Allah has informed man that He is the Most Generous of those who show generosity and the Most Kind of those who are kind and the Most Merciful of those who show mercy, and that His Mercy precedes His Anger, His Forbearance precedes His Punishment, and His Pardon precedes His Seizure. He has showered blessings upon His creation, and has prescribed Mercy upon His Noble Self. He loves beneficence, generosity, bestowal, and goodness. All Grace and Bounty is in His Hand, all good is from Him, and all generosity belongs to Him. What is most beloved to Him is to show generosity upon His slaves, to enlarge His bounty on them, to submerge them in His goodness and generosity, and to perfect His favour upon them and multiply it for them. He makes them know Him by His Names and Attributes and endears His self to them through His favours and blessings.. 

2) Allah is Al-Jawaad (The Most Generous) by His Essence. The generosity of every generous person is created by Him, yet their generosity is less than an atom in weight in comparison to His Generosity. There is no Absolute Jawaad except Him, and the generosity of every generous is from His Generosity. 

3) His love for generosity, giving, beneficence, kindness, bestowal, and graciousness is beyond what the creation can imagine or perceive with their minds. 

He is Jawaad in His Essence, just as He is All-Living in His Essence, All-Knower in His Essence, All-Hearer All-Seer in His Essence. His imminent Generosity is necessitated by His Essence. Pardon is more beloved to Him than Vengeance, Mercy is more beloved to Him than Punishment, and the bestowal of Grace is more beloved to Him than Justice, and bestowal is more beloved to him than prevention" [Madaarij As-Salikeen] 

Impact of Belief in the Two Names: 

1) Allah loves for His slaves to have hope in Him and ask Him of His bounty. This is because He is the True King who is Jawaad; The Most Generous. He is the Most Generous of those who are asked, and the Most Vast of those who give. It is quoted in a Hadeeth that the Prophet (Salla-Allaahu 'alayhi wa sallam) said, "Indeed, he who does not ask Allah, He gets angry with him" [Authenticated by Al-Albaani in Al-Silsilah As-Saheeha #2654]

2) The Slave should Love Allah; Al-Mu'tee (The Giver) 

Ibn Al-Qayyim (Rahimahullah) said, "If it was not for His love for His creation, endearing Himself to His slaves, and showing kindness and beneficence to them except that He had created for them all that which is in the heavens and earth, all that is in this world and Hereafter, then He honoured them and prepared them, sent Messengers to them, and sent down books to them, legislated laws for them, permitted them to counsel Him every time they wish. He has written for them for every good deed they do ten good deeds to seven hundred to manifold and has written for them for every evil deed one evil deed, and if they repent He wipes it out for them, and puts a good deed in its place. If the amount of the sins of one of them reaches the clouds of the sky, and then he asks Allah for forgiveness, He will forgive him. And if one of them meets Him with an earthful of sins, whilst he is a monotheist (believing in Allah Alone with associating anything in worship with Him), Allah will meet him with an earthful of forgiveness. He legislated repentance for them, which abolishes sins, and He guides them to it and then accepts it from them. And He ordained upon them Hajj, which atones whatever comes before it, and He guided them to perform it and expiated for them their sins by it. Similarly, of what He has prescribed for them of acts of obedience and nearness; He is the One who commanded them with it, created them for it, granted it to them, and gives them reward as a consequence of it. So from Him is the means and from Him is the recompense and from Him is the guidance and from Him is the gift, beginning to end. They are all the place of His Ihsan (beneficence and kindness) from the beginning to end; He gave his slave wealth and said to him, "Seek nearness to me by it and I will accept it from you" The slave belongs to Him, the wealth belongs to Him, and the reward is from Him. He is Al-Mu'tee in the beginning and in the end. 

Then how is He not loved, whose affair is this? And how does the slave not feel shame to direct some of his love for Him to other than Him? And who deserves praise and love more than Him? Who deserves to be attributed with generosity, kindness, and benevolence more than Him? Glorified be His praises, La Ilaha Illa Huwa, none deserves to be worshipped by He, the Almighty, the All-Wise" [Tareeq Al-Hijratain]

3) It is incumbent on the slave who indeed knows the grace of Allah, His Generosity and gifts, and who knows that Giving is more beloved to Him than prevention, and Pardon is more beloved to Him than Vengeance, to not expose Himself to His Anger by committing what is prohibited. For whoever does that has made the Most Generous deal with him contrary to what He is attributed with of generosity and kindness, and has exposed himself to His Anger, Wrath, and Vengeance, and made the Anger of His Lord be put in place of His Pleasure, and His Revenge and Punishment in place of His Kindness and Generosity. By committing sins, one makes Him deal with him with Actions which are other than what is most beloved to Him, and contrary to what His Essence necessitates of Generosity and Kindness." [Madaarij As-Salikeen]

4) It is hoped for the Jawaad, the Most Generous, to bestow upon us all, by taking the means that lead to attaining His Jood (Generosity) and Kindness, and to protect us from the means that lead to His Anger, Wrath, Punishment, and Vengeance, for Generosity belongs to Him, and favour is bestowed from Him, and the matter returns to Him from before and after, and there is no partner with Him. 

Source:

-         Fiqh Al-Asma' Al-Husna by Shaikh Abdur-Razzaq Al-Badr.