Episode 4 | Knowing Allah | Ar Rahman Ar Rahim

It's not about the illness, it's about how you look at the illness. It's not about the debt, it's about how you look at the loan. It's not about the divorce, it's how do you see the divorce. It's not about the death that you experience, it's how do you see the death. You can see everything as a rahma from Allah, if you just wear the right glasses.

Introduction: The Journey of Knowing Allah

Alhamdulillah, over the last few weeks, we have been going through a journey understanding and discovering who is our creator. Today, we are coming to the name of Allah which is perhaps many of you have been waiting for. We are coming to Allah's name, Ar-Rahman and Ar-Rahim.

The Root: Ar-Rahim — The Womb

The word Ar-Rahman and Ar-Rahim — this name, or this pair of names, come from the root Arabic letters, رَحِمَ (Rahima). And Ar-Rahim in the Arabic language refers to the womb — the womb of a mother.

What does the womb of a mother have to do with Rahma? The womb of a mother is a place where a child lives for nine months — from when it's nothing to when it reaches full health and it's ready to come out into the real world. And while it's there in the womb, it's got VIP service. The child doesn't have to chew to eat, doesn't have to drink, doesn't have to go outside to look for halal meat. Everything comes to the child — it doesn't even have to move. It just swims in the amniotic fluid.

This is Ar-Rahim. The womb of a mother — what is the relationship with the name of Allah, Ar-Rahim, or the concept of Rahma? This is where everything begins. Ar-Rahim, the womb, is a place where this child, this fetus, is surrounded by attention, care, love, mercy. All of its needs are fully taken care of.

Number two — what this fetus receives is selfless. The mother gets nothing in return. Instead, she actually gets tired, she gets hungry, she's vomiting, she's exhausted, she might get pain, she might get disturbance. She's carrying this very heavy sack around all the time. So what the child is getting, it's not giving anything back. It's a selfless love, and it's everything provided for.

This is the original meaning of Ar-Rahim, the womb. It's that safe space where you feel you are not in need of anything. You don't have to ask for anything. Before you ask, your needs are provided for. And all of this is done in a seamless manner. And then when you're ready, you're brought out into the harsh, cruel world where you have to go and get things. You have to now go and fight. You have to go and get into conflict. You have to go and try, exhaust yourself. But inside the womb, it is the safest place.

And this is why human beings — according to some biologists — when they want to feel comfortable, why do they curl up? Because the human body naturally feels safe in the position that it was in the womb of the mother. You're never going to find in your life a similar safe, soft, enjoyable place to live than the womb of the mother.

And therefore, Ar-Rahma is a kind of love, a kind of compassion, where you expect nothing in return. It's selfless by definition. Rahma creates an environment where everything is provided for. Ultimate Rahma is an environment where everything is provided for and nothing is returned to the one giving. You're pouring, but you're not receiving. This is ultimately what Rahma means — it is a selfless love, a compassion, a caring that is received. There's a receiver and there's someone giving, and the giver expects nothing in return.

Ar-Rahman vs. Ar-Rahim: What's the Difference?

Now we take this root word of Rahma. In the Arabic language, imagine it like dough. From the same dough, you can make roti, you can make naan, you can make different types and shapes and forms of it, but they all taste different. Similarly, in Arabic, you have a root word, and you can put it in different forms — each form has a slightly different meaning. So from Rahma comes Rahman, and from Rahma comes Rahim. What's the difference?

Ar-Rahman: The Template of Fa'lan — Intense and Extreme

Rahman fits a template in Arabic called Fa'lan. You give a word the template of Fa'lan when it's extreme. Take the example: غَضْبَان (Ghadban). When Musa (peace be upon him) returns to his people, he is ghadban. Ghadban means extreme anger, rage. Why does he get angry? He left them worshipping Allah, and he came back and they were worshipping the golden calf. So he gets angry — but not just angry. Angry is ghadib. Ghadban is rageful. Intense anger.

Now the interesting thing about Ghadban, about this template Fa'lan — any word you put in this form, it means it's an extreme version, intense. But also that it's temporary. It suddenly came. Because a few verses later, his anger evaporates, it goes away. So Ghadban means he's enraged now, but a short while later he could calm down. It's intense, but it's temporary.

Rahman, therefore, is the mercy, the selfless compassion — that is so intense, so extreme, it is unlimited. Every human being, animal, plant, bee, bacteria, microscopic being — everything on this earth, from the wall to the trees — receives the Rahman of Allah. And not just any Rahman; they receive it in an intense manner. There are so many things that Allah gives them that shows His mercy to them.

Ar-Rahim: The Template of Fa'eel — Consistent and Constant

Then you have the second word, Ar-Rahim. This word, this frame, this template in Arabic is Fa'eel. Yusuf (peace be upon him), when he goes to the king to offer his services, he says:

"Hire me — I am hafidh, always trustworthy, and alim, always knowledgeable." This is basically his CV. Hafidh, from the word hifdh, to protect, to maintain, to look after — someone who's always, you can trust him to look after your things. Another example: faqih. From the word fiqh, deep knowledge. A faqih is somebody who is consistently knowledgeable all the time in most things — they have mastered the subject.

So the difference between Rahman and Rahim is that Rahim is a trait that is consistent all the time, whereas Rahman is intense but could be for a moment. Allah, when He says Rahman, He shows you how extreme and how unlimited His mercy can be — that even the person who disbelieves in Him, and curses Him, and burns the Quran, and insults His prophet, Allah gives him oxygen, and food, and clothing, and accommodation, gives him everything while he is abusing Allah.

Allah provides for them everything while they disbelieve in Ar-Rahman. He uses His name Ar-Rahman. You may reject — kufr is to hide and to reject something — they may reject and bury Allah, but He still is Rahman for them too. That's Ar-Rahman, Allah's extreme mercy. The animals experience it. The birds experience it. The bacteria in your stomach experience it. They all receive the mercy of Allah.

Then you have Ar-Rahim. If you say ghadban, you might think he was angry for five minutes. But if you say hafidh, you know he's always trustworthy. So when you say Rahim, you know Allah is always merciful. Rahim is Allah's mercy that is always consistently there. Rahman is Allah's mercy that is extreme, sudden, unlimited — you cannot even compute. Your mind cannot even realize how much of Allah's mercy you receive.

The second difference: some scholars mention that Ar-Rahman is Allah's general mercy which every being experiences — human, bird, bacteria, moving, unmoving — everybody experiences the mercy of Allah. But Ar-Rahim is a special mercy only for the believers. Allah says elsewhere in the Quran:

Allah says: especially with the believers, He is Rahim — consistently and especially merciful. So you can say Ar-Rahman: extremely merciful. Ar-Rahim: especially merciful. Ar-Rahman: unlimited mercy. Ar-Rahim: consistent mercy. This is the way Allah began to introduce Himself to us in the Quran.

Why Is the Name Ar-Rahman So Important?

Interestingly, the scholars of tafsir differed — is this name an Arabic name, or is it a Hebrew name? Because there is the same name in Hebrew, Rahim and Rahman, with a Kha instead of a Ha. That being aside, whether it's Hebrew or Arabic, it is the name of Allah. But interesting point: the Arabs that the Prophet was sent to did not know this name Rahman. It was unfamiliar to them.

How do we know that? When they are commanded to prostrate to Ar-Rahman, they say: "Who is Rahman?" There is another thing that happened: in the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah, when the Prophet makes an agreement with the disbelievers in Mecca, and Ali ibn Abi Talib begins to write — the Meccans said: "We don't know what Ar-Rahman is. This is a name we don't know." So it was a name that was strange to them.

Now what effect did this have? We know that the Quran was revealed over 23 years — bits of it in Mecca, in the Meccan period before hijrah, before migration, and bits of it in Medina. In the Meccan period, Allah emphasizes this name Ar-Rahman so much. I'll give you one very surprising example. There's a verse revealed in Mecca, and a verse with very similar wording in Medina, but Allah swaps the name. Carefully listen to this.

Allah says: "Why do they not look at the birds above them? Nothing holds them up in the air except Ar-Rahman" — that was revealed in Mecca. Now there's another verse in the Quran about the same thing: "Why do they not look at the birds in the sky above them? Nothing holds them up except Allah" — that was revealed in Medina. In the first ayah, He says Ar-Rahman; in the second, He says Allah. The surahs revealed in Mecca — Allah constantly mentions Ar-Rahman, again and again.

For example, the surah in the Quran with the most mentions of Ar-Rahman is Surah Maryam. Surah Maryam begins with Allah's rahma and it ends with Allah's rahma. Maryam mentions Allah's Ar-Rahman. Ibrahim, when he's debating with his father — Surah Maryam was revealed in Mecca. And Allah's name Ar-Rahman is mentioned in this surah over 11 times. Why? Because the Arabs did not know this name. So Allah keeps mentioning this name again and again until they get it: Allah is Ar-Rahman, Allah's mercy is unlimited, it is unimaginable.

And this is an observation — not from me, but from Al-Imam At-Tahir Ibn Ashur, the Tunisian scholar of tafsir. And so the believers in Mecca — they didn't have to pray Salah, they didn't have to fast Ramadan, they didn't have to give Zakah, no Hajj, no obligations, or very few laws. The focus in Mecca was them learning about who is Allah. And the focus of who is Allah was on this name Ar-Rahman. Why? Because if you understand Allah is Ar-Rahman, that will change how you treat other people. That will change how you see Allah.

The First Hadith Every Seeker of Knowledge Must Learn

There is a tradition — a tradition which has been going on for 14 centuries — which is that whenever a student comes to learn hadith, the statements of the Prophet, the sheikh is supposed to teach his student the very first hadith they hear. It's a tradition from the time of the Tabi'een till today.

(Sunan Abu Dawud, Hadith 4941; also reported in Jami' at-Tirmidhi, Hadith 1924)

"Be merciful to those on the earth, and the One in the heavens will have mercy on you." Why is this the first hadith we should know? Because sometimes, people learn Islamic knowledge and it makes them angry, it makes them divisive, it makes them attack others. But if this is the first hadith you learned in your whole life — the first thing you heard your teacher say:

(Sunan Abu Dawud, Hadith 4941; Jami' at-Tirmidhi, Hadith 1924)

"People who are merciful to others, Allah will have mercy on them." The way you take knowledge, and the way you express your knowledge, and the way you act on your knowledge will be completely different. You'll be focused: how can I make this mercy of Allah fill this earth, until it reaches the fish in the sea?

And that is why in the hadith about seeking knowledge, the Prophet says:

(Jami' at-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2682)

"Even the fish in the sea make du'a for forgiveness for the seeker of knowledge." Because your mercy reaches the fish in the sea. Even the environment — you look after the environment, you don't throw trash on the road, because you know this plastic is going to reach the sea. And because of that, the fish make du'a for you.

Knowledge is supposed to fill you with rahmah for other people. If it fills you with hatred, and division, and bigotry, and attacking — you didn't take knowledge, you took shahawat, you took desires. You took something which filled you with worse. If the knowledge is not filling you with mercy, this is not the knowledge of Allah. This is some other knowledge. You have to go and find the right knowledge.

هَذَا عِلْمٌ لَا يَنْفَعُ — This is knowledge that doesn't benefit you.

If Allah Is Most Merciful, Why Is There Pain?

Going back to the main point — Ar-Rahman Ar-Rahim. Allah calls Himself Ar-Rahman, the one of unlimited mercy. And this is where a question may arise: if Allah is the most merciful, what about all the pain that I have in my life? What about all the difficulty that I have in my life? Is Allah still Ar-Rahman in that moment? Is this still part of His mercy?

Let us look at how the prophets deal with their trials and the name Ar-Rahman specifically.

The Example of Prophet Ayyub (peace be upon him)

Ayyub (peace be upon him) has a horrible illness. It paralyzes him for years — one of the worst illnesses possible. And when he makes du'a to Allah, he says:

"Oh Allah, illness has struck me, and You are the most merciful." How? In his illness, in his cancer, in his leprosy, in his paralysis — he can't move, he can't breathe, there are boils all over his skin — how does he see Allah as أَرْحَمُ الرَّاحِمِينَ?

It's not about the illness, it's about how you look at the illness. It's not about the debt, it's about how you look at the loan. It's not about the divorce, it's how do you see the divorce. It's not about the death that you experience, it's how do you see the death. You can see everything as a rahma from Allah, if you just wear the right glasses. You know somebody wearing sunglasses — everything is dark in this room, even if it's red, green, yellow, everything is black. There is rahma glasses that we have to wear, so we can see everything as rahma from Allah.

Ayyub (peace be upon him) — he doesn't say, "Allah, You struck me with this illness, why did You give me this?" He says: مَسَّنِيَ الضُّرُّ — harm has touched me. Not "You." Harm has touched me. He never attributes the harm to Allah. And then: وَأَنتَ أَرْحَمُ الرَّاحِمِينَ. How is Allah merciful? Allah's mercy is not just in healing him. Allah's mercy was also in making him ill — because when Allah made him ill, he realized the value of his health.

Isn't it true? So when Allah takes something away, it doesn't mean He's being harsh. It doesn't mean He's punishing you. It means He's having mercy on you. This is one way to see it.

The Example of Urwa ibn al-Zubayr

Another way to see it: Allah never gave it to you in the first place. I'll give you an example of how to think in this way. Urwa ibn al-Zubayr — son of Zubayr ibn al-Awwam, from the Tabi'een, from the generation after the Prophet's companions. And Urwa ibn al-Zubayr is one of the greatest scholars of Islam. He was a close student of Aisha, his aunt. In Sahih al-Bukhari and the hadith collections, you'll always see: 'an Urwa, 'an Aisha — Urwa narrates from Aisha all the time.

Now Urwa ibn al-Zubayr, one day, the Caliph calls him to Damascus. On his way to Damascus, his leg gets poisoned and it gets amputated — cut off. So now he has one leg. And he has seven sons. He takes his sons with him. And one of his sons gets injured by a horse and dies. He loses a son.

He reaches the Caliph. The Caliph says to him: "I'm so sorry for calling you — you lost your limb, you lost your leg, and you lost your son just to meet me." He says: "No, this is not how I think. Allah gave me four limbs and He only took away one. Allah gave me seven sons and He only took away one."

They call this type of thinking "the glass half full." When you have a cup of water and it's half full, there are two ways to see it. You say, "Look, my glass is half empty" — a negative way. Or you say, "The glass is half full, alhamdulillah."

Today someone messaged me. He said: "I don't know why Allah is doing this to me. I used to have a net worth, properties worth three million pounds. And this happened, this happened, this happened. Now my property is only worth one million pounds. Why has Allah punished me?" I thought: if only he realized how many people would love to have a million pounds. He's complaining about his million pounds worth of property. Because we compare to yesterday. We don't compare to zero.

When you lose an eye, we say, "SubhanAllah, I had two eyes, now I lost one." But the positive way of looking at it is: "SubhanAllah, Allah could have given me no eyes, but He still gave me one." The glass is half full. I said to him: "Habibi, imagine this — imagine today you woke up, you had no money in your bank account, and Allah put one million pounds in there. How do you feel now?" He said: "Wow, I feel very rich." I said: "Yes, you are very rich."

Imagine you have nothing, and Allah gave you everything you have. You feel rich. This attitude is in the Hadith of the Prophet:

(Jami' at-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2346)

"Whoever wakes up in the morning safe in his shelter, healthy in his body, and has food for his day — it is as if the whole world has been granted to him." You wake up in the morning, you rub your eyes — you're safe. You have a roof. You have health. You have food for today. The Prophet says: if these things happen, you are the king of the world. It is like the whole world has been given to you. You have everything. What more do you need? Why are you worrying about tomorrow? The food for tomorrow is written from Allah — it will come.

We have become subject to such a different attitude of looking at the Rahmah of Allah. We become overthinkers. We want everything planned, everything sorted — the kids, college, university, education, saved for, everything hoarded, investments, everything. The Prophet teaches: think as though you have nothing, and Allah made you rich.

Surah Ar-Rahman: Which Blessings Will You Deny?

"Which of the blessings of your Lord will you both deny?" — "you both" referring to humankind and jinn-kind. Now, a beautiful situation: when this surah is revealed, the Prophet goes to his companions and recites the whole surah to them:

And he recites till the end of the surah. He sees the companions — they are quiet. He says: "What is this reaction? I recited this surah to the jinn and their reaction was better than yours." This is an authentic hadith in Jami' at-Tirmidhi. "I recited Surah Ar-Rahman to the jinn, and their reaction was better than yours. Every time I said فَبِأَيِّ آلَاءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ, they said, 'O Allah, we will never reject Your blessings. اللَّهُمَّ لَكَ الْحَمْدُ' — every time I said it. They couldn't help themselves."

But human beings —

Human beings are argumentative. Human beings are weak. Human beings are foolish. They are petty. They don't appreciate Allah's blessings.

Allah says: "How few of My slaves are grateful."

Seeing Ar-Rahman's Effects in the World Around You

Part of understanding Allah as Ar-Rahman is to look at the world around you and to see Allah's mercy everywhere. Allah says in the Quran:

"Go and look and search for the effects, the traces of Allah's mercy — look at how Allah revives the dead earth and gives it life."

Someone who understands the name Ar-Rahman doesn't look at the world like anybody else. Number one, when they have tests, they look at the glass half full: "SubhanAllah, I woke up this morning, I had no clothes. Now Allah gave me one thawb and an overcoat. I am blessed." They don't think about the rest of the wardrobe. They don't compare themselves to others. They imagine: I have nothing — Allah enriched me. This is Ar-Rahman.

The second thing — they look carefully at the world that Allah created: nature, plants, animals. They look for the mercy of Allah in all of these. Because in a hadith in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim, the Prophet said: when Allah created the heavens and the earth, Allah ordained the pen to write that He is going to give a portion of His mercy. He divided this mercy into 100 parts — 99 of them He keeps with Him, and one He gives in this dunya. And this 1% of Allah's mercy — this one portion — is all the mercy in the world. Every mother, how much mercy she has for her child. Every animal, how much mercy it has for its young. Every plant — all the mercy we see in the world is just 1% of the mercy Allah created. And the other 99% is saved for the afterlife.

Imagine — all the mercy in this world is just one part, and there are 99 saved for the afterlife.

How does a believer see Ar-Rahman's effects in the world around them? When you watch nature documentaries, and you see how so many animals are born inside an eggshell — why weren't they born into the open? Who protected them in the eggshell? Rahma from Allah. They have to crack the eggshell when they're ready. When you look at the earth — the soil is dead, it doesn't move, it doesn't operate. But from it comes living plants, providing fruit of different colors. Rahma from Allah.

Allah could have given us all the food with the same taste. Even the tea we enjoy — nearby you'll find some very nice Somali tea. In some parts, you'll find Karak tea, an Indian tea. In other parts, you'll find Adani tea. Just in tea, you have so many flavors. Why didn't Allah make all the tea taste the same? Rahma from Allah. When you look at people — so many different shapes and sizes. Rahma from Allah. If you don't get along with one, you can get along with the other. Rahma from Allah.

And from Allah's Rahma, He gave Rahma within us for each other. Allah describes His Rahma in nature very often in the Quran. And from His Rahma, He made for you the night and the day — so that you may rest in it and seek His bounty — and perhaps you will be grateful. Allah asks this question in Surah Al-Qasas:

Imagine Allah gave you night time forever — no daytime, always dark. Who's going to give you light for you to do your daily activities? Then He says: imagine Allah gave you daytime all the time — permanently, always sunny. I know the British will be very happy — we need a bit of sun. But Allah says: imagine it was always sunny, no night time ever for you to rest and relax. Who would give you night? From Allah's mercy, you get day and you get night. Every element of this world is a form of Rahma from Allah.

When you start to see this, you are fulfilling Allah's command: go and look, with your eyes, and find all the effects of Allah's mercy in the world around you. If you don't appreciate it, you have not appreciated who is Ar-Rahman. Look at Surah Ar-Rahman — most of the verses in it are about Allah's creation.

The Greatest Rahma: The Quran as Guidance for Believers

In the Quran, there is something that is always called Rahma — the greatest form of Allah's mercy. Why is this the greatest Rahma from Allah? Allah says in the Quran: "My mercy has encompassed everything — but I will make it especially for the believers." What is that special mercy? In this world, the special mercy from Allah is that Allah makes this world like a Jannah for you.

You might be tired, you might be hungry, you might be in debt. You might be divorced, you might be alone, you might be in pain. But because of this guidance from the Quran, you feel like you are enjoying this life. This is a Rahma from Allah. Compare yourself to celebrities — they have all the material goods in this world, but they commit suicide. Every day of their life is a miserable, depressing existence. They have everything, but they don't live a life of Rahma.

Allah says: "Whoever turns away from remembering Me, they will live a miserable life." The greatest Rahma of Allah upon us believers is this guidance He sent from the sky. Allah says:

"We reveal from this Quran that which is a healing, a therapy, a medicine, and a mercy — only for the believers." Why is it a mercy only for the believers? Because the believers are the ones who take this Quran and want to follow it. They take this Quran and they understand it. This Quran makes them see the glass half full. They are always happy.

As the Prophet says:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2999)

"How amazing is life for a believer — all of his affairs are good, and this is for no one except the believer. If something good happens to him, he is grateful, and it is good for him. And if something bad happens to him, he is patient, and it is good for him." They see everything as the glass half full. Living this kind of life is like experiencing Jannah in this world.

I'll give you a very real statistic. One in ten people have thought of, or have attempted, suicide. How many people are in this room? Sixty, seventy people? 10% of everybody in the world has thought about killing themselves. Why? Two centuries ago, in Europe and in most of the world, they decided they don't need God anymore. Most of the Christians stopped believing in God. When you live a life like that, without Allah, it is a miserable life. You are empty. You may have everything in this world, but you will feel empty.

For the disbelievers, life is meaningless. If something bad happens to them, they have no explanation — that's why they call it "the problem of evil." Anything bad is a big problem for them. It doesn't make sense. But for us, when something happens, we know that behind this test, there is something good. We see Ar-Rahman.

Musa and Khidr: The Treasure Behind the Wall

Now imagine the story of the two orphans in the story of Musa and Khidr. They have no money, and their father has passed away. How do they see their life? Eventually, Musa and Khidr uncover that underneath a wall there is an inheritance their father left for them. When Khidr is telling this story to Musa, he says:

"As for the wall, it belonged to two orphan boys in the city, and beneath it was a treasure that belonged to them, and their father was a righteous man. So your Lord intended that they reach maturity and extract their treasure — as a mercy from your Lord."

The wall is the test. The wall is the pain. The wall is the struggle. But underneath the wall is always the treasure. This is how you have to look at life — behind the wall, the pain, the difficulty, there is a treasure. Allah wanted them to reach adulthood before they got their treasure. He had a wisdom. And when they reach adulthood and get their treasure — what does Allah call all of that situation? رَحْمَةً مِّن رَّبِّكَ — the whole thing was rahmah. Living years without their father. Living years of loneliness. Having no money. Having a big wall. All of that was rahmah. And even when they found their wealth — that too was rahmah.

If you understand Ar-Rahman, you see everything in this world as a rahmah of Allah. It doesn't make you bitter. It doesn't make you angry. You make peace with it. Many people live a life where they harm others because they don't see the world in this way. They were harmed, so they go and fight with others. They were hurt by their parents, so they hurt others. They were wronged, so they wrong others. If you see all of it as rahmah, then you will have rahmah for others.

And all praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds. May the peace, mercy, and blessings of Allah be upon you.