of these are a consequence and result of His pleasure, whatthen of
this attribute of His pleasure? It is related in a tradition, 'If I
bless, there is no end to my blessing.' What then of the quality from
where this blessing emanated? Pleasure necessitates love, benevolence,
generosity, kindness, pardon, ṣafḥ, forgiveness and mercy.
Juwayriyyah, the mother ofthe believers, may Allāh pleased with her,
related that the Prophet, may Allāhsend peace and blessings upon him,
left her sitting inher place of prayer one morning after having prayed
Fajr. On his return during the forenoon he found her still sitting as
he had left her, he asked
, 'Are you still in the same state as when I left you?' She replied,
'Yes'. The Prophet said, 'I said after leaving you four sentences
three times - if you were toweigh them against what you have said
today up until now, they would outweigh them: Subḥānallāh wa biḥamdihi
'adada khalqihi wa riḍā nafsihi wa zinata 'arshihi wa midāda
kalimātihi'."[ [1]
Ibn al-Qayyim, may Allah have mercy upon him, provided a commentary
onthese words of remembrance in one of his works, al-Manār al-Munīf
fi'l-Ṣaḥīḥ wa'l-Ḍa'īf [2] He says:
In regards to the multifold excellence of, "How perfect Allāh is and I
praise him by the number of His creation;by the pleasure of His self;
by the weight of His throneand by the ink of His words," over simply
saying,"How perfect Allāh is," a praiser's knowledge of Allāh and the
exaltation and veneration of Him thatoccurs in his heart is far
greater. This is known as intensified remembrance (dhikr muḍā'af) and
is a superior form of praise than simple remembrance (dhikr mufrad),
and as suchthe former is preferred to the latter. This really takes
affect once one has awareness and understanding of these words of
remembrance.
Glorifying Allāh with, 'How perfect Allāh is and I praise him by the
number of His creation' includes both information and instruction. It
comprises of information about the glorification that the Lord
deserves - of the number of each of creation that hasexisted, exists,
and will exist to which there is no end; and it informs of the
exaltation, veneration and sending of praise by this enormous quantity
that cannot be enumerated.
It also embodies an instruction for the slave to glorify One whose
status is of this manner - it does notmean that the glorification the
servant has made is of this level and number but that the servant has
affirmed that the Lord subḥānahu wa ta'ālā is deserving of
glorification that reaches this number, which if could be surpassedby
an even greater numberwould have been mentioned - the continual new
creation that come into existence have no end to their number and
cannot be enumerated by one wishing to put a number to them.
Likewise, the phrase, 'by the pleasure of His self' carries two
considerable points, the first is that the intended meaning is a
glorification that in terms of magnificence and majesty is equivalent
to the pleasure of His own self, similar to the first phrase showing
the glorification equivalent to the number of creation. No doubt that
the pleasure of Allāh's self is a matter that has no end in terms of
magnificence and description. Glorification is a praise of Him
subḥānahu embodying veneration andexaltation. If the descriptions of
his perfection and the qualitiesof his greatness have no end or
limitation but are instead far superior and imposing, praising Him in
this manner would be likewise (superior) as it is follows suit both in
an informative and instructivemanner. This meaning is harmonious to
the first part without any disagreement.
If His benevolence, reward, blessing and goodness has no end when all
of these are a consequence and result of His pleasure, whatthen of
this attribute of His pleasure? It is related in a tradition, 'If I
bless, there is no end to my blessing.' What then of the quality from
where this blessing emanated? Pleasure necessitates love, benevolence,
generosity, kindness, pardon, ṣafḥ, forgiveness and mercy. Creation
necessitates knowledge, ability, intention, life and wisdom. All of
these are encompassed by the pleasure of His self and the quality of
Him being a creator/
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