Seeking nearness to Allah the Exalted through a specific attribute.
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The Shaykh : The fourth: Seeking nearness to Allah the Exalted through a specific attribute, a specific attribute, such as saying, “O Allah, by Your mercy I seek aid, by Your mercy I seek aid,” meaning, because You are the Merciful, grant me aid. The meaning is not that the attribute is a distinct, independent entity through which one seeks aid. The attribute is a meaning that resides in the one who possesses it. So if you say, “O Allah, by Your mercy I seek aid,” the meaning is not that you have made mercy an independent thing through which one seeks aid. For this reason, the Shaykh al-Islam (may Allah have mercy on him) said: “Calling upon an attribute is disbelief by consensus”. That is, you say, “O Power of Allah, O Power of Allah, forgive me,” for example, or “O Power of Allah, grant me a child.” This is shirk (associating partners with Allah); you have made the Power a deity to be called upon. So, means, because You are the Merciful, I ask You to grant me aid. Among this is the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in the supplication of istikharah (the prayer for guidance in a decision) which he taught his ummah (the Muslim community), where he said: Sahih al-Bukhari 6382 meaning, I ask You to make easy for me the better of the two matters, by what You know to be better for me. And among this is the famous supplication: Mishkat al-Masabih 2497 Here, what is the means of seeking nearness? A general attribute or a specific one?
The student: ... .
The Shaykh : What are they? Knowledge and Power. “By Your knowledge of the unseen and Your power over creation.” These are four. Note them, everyone.
The student: Four.
The Shaykh : Four: the names, generally and specifically; the attributes, generally and specifically.
By Your mercy I seek aid
برحمتك أستغيثAllahumma inni astakhiruka bi'ilmika, wa astaqdiruka biqudratika
اللهم إني أستخيرك بعلمك وأستقدرك بقدرتكO God, by Thy knowledge of the unseen and Thy power to create, grant me life as long as Thou knowest life to be best for me, and take me when Thou knowest death to be best for me
اللهم بعلمك الغيب وقدرتك على الخلق أحيني إذا علمت الحياة خيرا لي وتوفني إذا علمت الوفاة خيرا ليThe student: ... .
The Shaykh : What are they? Knowledge and Power. “By Your knowledge of the unseen and Your power over creation.” These are four. Note them, everyone.
The student: Four.
The Shaykh : Four: the names, generally and specifically; the attributes, generally and specifically.