First published on: The 99 Names of God: Arrahman [The Entirely Merciful]


Jehad Adel

Arrahman [The Entirely Merciful]

Imagine that one day you met a person you know. He gave you an autobiography of a manager of a famous company to read. Once you began to read his traits and description, you got astonished! How wonderful that manager is! So you asked this person to accompany you to this company to see. When you entered, your astonishment increased! Everything affirmed that what you had already read about the manager was true. Finally, you began to love this manager and to know more about him, although you had not seen him yet. The matter is the same regarding our Creator. He created this accurate and organized universe. He has many Names and Attributes and some of them are mentioned in The Holy Quran and the authentic sayings of Prophet Muhammad.

I saw God!

There is an impact everywhere in this universe guiding you to know Them.

To begin with, knowing those Names and Attributes is of great importance.

Firstly, they help you to have a clear view of this universe; for example, why there is evil on earth. Consequently, you will acquire happiness, tranquility, and inner peace in this life and in the Hereafter.

Secondly, they help you to know the criteria of the manners necessary to be a good person. That means if you know that God is “Just” and that He loves those who are just, you will try to be like that.

Thirdly, They help you to know God, love Him and do the acts of worship easily as a result.

Fourthly, the reward resulted in that is great. Prophet Muhammad says: “Indeed, Allah has ninety-nine Names, whoever counts them shall enter Paradise.”[1] To count something means to know it by heart.

The Entirely Merciful.

Among God’s Names is “The Entirely Merciful.” It comes from mercy which means love, care and consideration.

In Quran, God mentions this Name many times. For example, He says: “And your god is one God. There is no deity [worthy of worship] except Him, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful. Indeed, in the creation of the heavens and earth, and the alternation of the night and the day, and the [great] ships which sail through the sea with that which benefits people, and what Allah has sent down from the heavens of rain, giving life thereby to the earth after its lifelessness and dispersing therein every [kind of] moving creature, and [His] directing of the winds and the clouds controlled between the heaven and the earth are signs for a people who use reason.”[2]

In the first verse, God states that His mercy is one of the things that instigate us to worship Him alone. And in the second verse, God gives us examples of his mercy in this life.

Also, Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) says: “When Allah created the creatures, He wrote in the Book, which is with Him over His Throne: ‘Verily, My Mercy prevailed over My Wrath.’”[3]

The surprise here is that God’s mercy in this life is general. Those who believe in God and even those who do not believe in Him benefit from this mercy in this life.

Prophet Muhammad says: “Allah created mercy in one hundred parts and He retained with Him ninety-nine parts, and He has sent down upon the earth one part, and it is because of this one part that there is mutual love among the creation so much so that the animal lifts up its hoof from its young one, fearing that it might harm it.”[4] So we must be merciful, remember this Name of God and contemplate more to realize the consequences of It.

A dose of Mercy

Moreover, God’s mercy means to give His servants the best for them, and to prevent them from evil, even if they do not realize that. Sometimes money, for example, is bad for some people, as they will use it in unlawful things. So, God prevents them from this grace in order to protect them from the evil of themselves. As a result, those who do not think in that way will go astray. God says: “And whoever is blinded from remembrance of the Most Merciful – We appoint for him a devil, and he is to him a companion.”[5] It is also important to say that in the Hereafter only those who believe in God will benefit from His mercy. It is justice to differentiate between the two groups in the Real Day. God says about that situation: “[From] the Lord of the heavens and the earth and whatever is between them, the Most Merciful. They possess not from Him [authority for] speech.”[6]

To conclude, Prophet Muhammad says: “Allah shows compassion only to those among His slaves who are compassionate.”[7] May God help all of us to be merciful and compassionate.

To be continued … “The 99 Names of God” series.