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﴿ فَاسْأَلُوا أَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ إِن كُنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ ﴾

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Is al-Dahr among the names of Allah, and how is the hadith directed: "The son of Adam harms me by cursing al-Dahr, and I am al-Dahr"?

Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : The honorable Shaykh, a questioner says: It came in the qudsi hadith:
I am the Time لا تسبوا الدهر فإني أنا االدهر
Sahih Muslim 2246c
He saysThe questioner : Is al-Dahr among the names of Allah? And what is the meaning of this hadith?

The Shaykh : The hadith is:
The son of Adam injures me by abusing time, whereas I am time. Authority is in my hand. I alternate the night and the day يؤذيني ابن آدم يسب الدهر وأنا الدهر بيدي الأمر أقلب الليل والنهار
Sunan Abi Dawud 5274Sahih (Al-Albani)
This is a reality among the children of Adam; when they face hardship or distress, they begin to curse al-Dahr, saying, "This year has such and such, and this year has such and such," or perhaps, may Allah protect us, they curse the year, saying, "May Allah curse this year; we have seen no good, no rain, no spring, or the like."
This is a harm to Allah; the son of Adam harms me.
At this point, we ask: Does Allah suffer harm from the disobedience of a human being? If we say yes, a problem arises. How can it be correct to say yes, when Allah the Mighty and Majestic says in the qudsi hadith:
O My servants, you will not reach My harm to harm Me. يا عبادي إنكم لا تبلغوا ضري فتضروني
? And He the Mighty and Majestic says:
Indeed, they will never harm Allah at all إنهم لن يضروا الله شيئا
[Ali 'Imran 3:176]
and similar definitive texts indicating that He is not harmed.
The answer is that harm (adha) is different from damage (darr); harm can occur without damage. Have you seen a man sitting next to you with a foul smell? Are you harmed? Yes, you are harmed. Are you damaged? No. So, harm does not necessarily imply damage. Allah the Exalted said:
Indeed, those who abuse Allah and His Messenger - Allah has cursed them in this world and the Hereafter إن الذين يؤذون الله ورسوله لعنهم الله في الدنيا والآخرة
[Al-Ahzab 33:57]
Thus, harm is established, but damage is one thing and harm is another.
In the qudsi hadith:
The son of Adam injures me by abusing time, whereas I am time. Authority is in my hand. يؤذيني ابن آدم يسب الدهر وأنا الدهر بيدي الأمر
Sunan Abi Dawud 5274Sahih (Al-Albani)
This means He says that what happens to al-Dahr is in My hand, and Allah is not al-Dahr, because we all know that al-Dahr is night and what? Day. Is Allah the night and the day? Never. But the meaning is that I am the Manager of al-Dahr, and for this reason He said:
Authority is in my hand. I alternate the night and the day بيدي الأمر أقلب الليل والنهار
Sunan Abi Dawud 5274Sahih (Al-Albani)
.
The hadith does not indicate that al-Dahr is among the names of Allah. Furthermore, the rule regarding the names of Allah was mentioned by Allah the Mighty and Majestic in His saying:
And to Allah belong the best names ولله الأسماء الحسنى
[Al-A'raf 7:180]
"al-Hasani" means those that have reached the most perfect, complete, and eloquent beauty. Al-Dahr does not have any meaning that could be called beautiful. Al-Dahr is a static, non-derived name, whereas all the names of Allah are derived and indicate great meanings.
So, al-Dahr is not among the names of Allah. Rather, the meaning of His saying, Blessed and Exalted is He, in this qudsi hadith:
I am al-Dahr. أنا الدهر
is that al-Dahr is in My hand.
After the prayer, if Allah wills, briefly.
Source alathar.net

The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.

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