Knowledge of Allah's Names and Attributes is Life to the Hearts

The heart is void of any life, comfort, happiness, security and tranquility without knowing its Lord, Deity and Creator, and without Allah being more beloved to it than anything else.

One who does not have Iman in Allah cannot obtain knowledge[1] and guidance, and without being guided to his Lord, he will always be miserable and tormented, as is the case with the unbelievers.[2]

Allah created man and assembled him with both body and soul.

He desired that the body be created from the earth. Allah says:

{فَإِنَّا خَلَقْنَاكُم مِّن تُرَ‌ابٍ}

‘Translation’ {...for We have created you all from earth} [3]

Allah made the body's life and livelihood dependent upon this same earth; he eats, drinks and takes his clothing from the land and what is found within it.

Allah placed within this body, the soul. He said:

{فَإِذَا سَوَّيْتُهُ وَنَفَخْتُ فِيهِ مِن رُّ‌وحِي فَقَعُوا لَهُ سَاجِدِينَ}

‘Translation’ {And when I have proportioned him and breathed into him of My [created] soul, then fall down to him in prostration} [4]

Allah willed that the sustenance and livelihood for this soul be knowledge of Himself and worship of Him.

There is therefore nothing more pleasant to the servant, nor anything sweeter, more wholesome and blissful to his heart and life, than love for his Originator and Maker, being in a state of constant remembrance of Him and always seeking to earn His pleasure.

Consequently, whoever possesses in his heart even a minimum amount of life or love for his Lord, a desire for Him, and a yearning to meet Him, then his pursuit for this subject area, his strong desire to know and increase his understanding of it and his query and investigation of it, will be his greatest goal and most glorious objective.

For this is the perfection, without which the servant cannot otherwise attain perfection. It is the reason behind his creation and because of it revelation descended, Messengers were sent, the Heavens and earth stand and Paradise and Hell-Fire exist. For this very reason laws were legislated, the correct path was established, the Qiblah was determined and it is the pivot of creation and order, upon which they centre.

It is by all fights, the finest thing which the hearts can possess, which the souls can attain and which the minds can grasp. Sound and healthy hearts and secure and tranquil souls do not yearn earnestly for any­ thing greater than to know this matter, nor are they more joyful with anything other than succeeding in arriving at the truths contained within this matter.[5]

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[1] i.e. knowledge, which is based upon correct principles pertaining to Iman, whereby they ensure praiseworthy fruits in this world and the Hereafter. It is obvious that if the disbeliever exerts efforts, he will obtain some knowledge, but much of it is false and little of it is true, being limited in benefit and great in harm...

[2] The reality of the state of the disbelievers caused by their alienation to the religion of Allah is something very evident. Just a quick glance at the effects of the spiritual vacuum they experience, may Allah protect us from that, reveals for us a little of this reality; the great numbers of suicides, incurable mental illnesses, submersion into materialism, the inexhaustible amount of laughable and lamentable fashions, the regulation and legislation for sexual deviation, etc.

[3] Surah Al-Hajj (22):5

[4] Surah Al-Hijr (15):29

[5] See Al-Fatwa al-Hamawiyyah al-Kubra, pp. 28-29.

Muhammad Ibn Khalifah al-Tamimi