Lesson Seven
Fortress of Sincerity
(Al-Ikhlas Surah )
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
1- "Say: He is Al’lah, the Unique One."
2- "Al’lah is the eternally Omni Provider (Who provides all but is never provided with anything. He supplies all; He is not supplied by any; He does not need anything or anyone)."
3- "He begot none nor was He begotten."
4- "And there is none comparable to Him."
After our Provider has ordered us to resort to Him in the two previous Fortresses, and after we have come to know that continuous resorting to Him is a way to save us from anything unpleasant and to protect us from any evil that may afflict us, the Almighty wanted to move us to a higher degree of knowledge with this Fortress. To do so, He spoke verses that acquaint us with His supreme Self and His Attributes. This is a sort of acquaintance that makes us stick to Him in a spiritual sense. Therefore He says:
Verse no. 1
24. "Say: He is Al’lah, the Unique One."
"Say" means– as mentioned before in the two exorcisms – you, human! Say to yourself and let yourself know that the One to Whom you have been ordered to resort, and the One in Whom you are to keep seeking strength, is Al’lah.
The word "Al’lah" is the Name of the supreme Self whose pronunciation guides you to the Named One (loftiness to His Majesty). It reveals to you that, if you know Him, you will love Him passionately and your spirit will take flight, in adoration and love for His Honoring and His Favor that it witnesses.
The Provider of oblivious humankind and oblivious jinn-kind and of all that is divisible is Al’lah, and those spirits that enter into His Presence will be infatuated with Him, and when looking at Him, the mind will become fascinated through witnessing His Perfection. He (glory to Him) is the Omniscient, the Wise, the Most kind, the Cognizant, the Clement, and the Merciful. He (glory to Him) is the Owner of endless perfection which you can perceive by His Supreme Attributes.
The Almighty God, as reported in the noble saying, has ninety-nine Names: "God has ninety-nine Names, and he who attains a true knowledge about every Name of them and witnesses a side of the meanings indicated by each will enter Paradise." [ Sahih Al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim.]
The word "Al’lah" is inclusive of them all. When you mention the word "Al’lah" , you mention the Greatest Name of God, which includes all the Names and indicates the attributes of perfection.
Thus the meaning of saying "Say: He is Al’lah, the Unique One" is: say to your spirit that Al’lah is the Provider, the Owner of perfection, and your spirit will adore Him if it witnesses His Bounty and draws nearer to Him.
"The Unique One" : is meant to be the one for Whom there is no other; and in this verse it explains the word ―Al’lah." It denotes that the Owner of perfection – Who is the Almighty God – is the Unique One in terms of His Knowledge and Wisdom, His Might and Potency, and His Clemency and Mercy. He is the Unique One concerning Himself, and is singular in each of His Attributes.
Verse no. 2
25. Al’lah is the eternally Omni Provider Who provides all but is never provided with anything. He supplies all; He is not supplied by any; He does not need anything or anyone."
"The eternally Omni Provider" is the supreme Everlasting Who is not supplied by anyone; nor does He need anyone.
For their existence, creatures need a creator who creates and provides them to live, they need someone to blow life into them and keep them constantly alive. Also, in order to obtain their power, they need Him Who is mighty to supply them with power and send it into them.
If this sustenance ceases for a single moment, their power will vanish, their life will stop, and their being will be wiped out. They will lose each endowment and each characteristic or property they have.
On the contrary, Al’lah (glory to Him) is not supplied by anyone; nor does He need anyone to supply Him. He is the Omni Provider concerning Himself and each of His Attributes. He is of Self-Existence and is the Omni Provider concerning His Own Existence; that is, He has not been supplied with His Being by any other, nor does the continuance of His Being depend on any other. He is a Self-Power and is the Omni Provider concerning His Power; that is, He needs no supplier to supply Him with power. On the contrary, all power is obtained from Him. He is the Source of every power and is the Sustainer with power. He is also of Self-Life, and is the Omni Provider concerning His Life. His Life has not been obtained from others. He is the origin of life, which He sends into all the universes and into each of their atoms – i.e. the atoms of this universe and the other universes.
Thus, the Almighty is a Self-Attributes; that is, He has not got these Attributes from others. He is, as previously mentioned, the Omni Provider concerning His Life and His Attributes.
The Almighty wanted to detail that to you, and so He says:
Verse no. 3
26. "He begot none nor was He begotten."
"Begot" means had a son. Since the son is equal to his father and similar to him concerning his properties, therefore Al’lah (glory to Him) begot nobody; that is, He had no need for a son who would have a self or qualities equal to those of Al’lah. How would He have a son, when the Omni Provider – as aforementioned –is of Self-Existence and Self-Attributes, while the son is certainly begotten from another? Accordingly, He did not need to have a son with attributes similar to His. He needs none.
"…Nor was He begotten" : Since the father is the origin and the means of his son’s existence, so God (glory to Him) was not begotten, and it is unbelievable that He would have a father, because the Omni Provider – as we saw – is a Self-Existence and Self- Attributes.
Verse no. 4
27. "And there is none comparable to Him."
Since the "comparable" is the ‘peer’ and the ‘match’, it is impossible to find a peer or comparable to Al’lah, the Omni Provider. This is because He has neither father nor son, and none can have His Qualities. He is Peerless in Himself and is One in all of His Attributes that have been revealed in this Fortress.
He is the Source of all perfection, and perfection comes out of Him. By entering into His Presence, the spirit is colored with a stain of perfection, as it derives perfection from Him. In all of this, He is the Unique One. He has no beginning and there is no end to His Existence (glory to Him).