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﴿ فَاسْأَلُوا أَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ إِن كُنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ ﴾

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Exegesis of the verse: “Allah, there is no deity except Him, the Ever-Living, the Sustainer.”

Machine translationRead the Arabic original
And his saying:
Allah - there is no deity except Him, the Ever-Living, the Sustainer of [all] existenceالله لا إله إلا هو الحي القيوم
[Al-Baqarah 2:255]
This sentence is composed of a subject and a predicate, so Allah is the subject, and the clause
There is no god but Allah.لا إله إلا الله
is the predicate of the subject, but this clause is also a sentence, though it is called a minor sentence by grammarians, because when the predicate is a clause, it is a minor sentence, and the major sentence is the combination of the subject and the predicate. And his saying:
the Ever-Living, the Self-Subsistingالحي القيوم
two other predicates
the Ever-Livingالحي
is the predicate of
Allahالله
the second, and
the Sustainerالقيوم
is a third predicate, so his saying:
Allahالله
is a name for the Sacred Essence, a name for the Lord, Mighty and Majestic, and its origin is the divine, meaning the one who is worshipped, and the hamzah was deleted for ease, just as the hamzah was deleted from "good" and "evil" in the saying of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him):
the best of the men’s row is the first and the worst of them is the lastخير صفوف الرجال أولها وشرها آخرها
Sunan Abi Dawud 678Sahih (Al-Albani)
meaning the best of them and the worst of them, and just as the hamzah was also deleted from: "al-nas" (people), and its origin is: "anas",
Allahالله
is a name for the Sacred Essence, and it is the most knowledgeable of all knowledge, it is the most knowledgeable of all knowledge, yes? And its meaning is: the one who is worshipped with love and exaltation, so it is a form of active participle meaning passive participle, and it is very common for the active participle form to mean passive participle, like "ghiras" meaning planted, and "bina'" meaning built. And his saying:
There is no god but Heلا إله إلا هو
means there is no true god except He, so "Ilah" is the negating "la" of the genus, and its predicate is omitted, its estimation is: "true", and there are false gods, but they are gods to whom names were assigned without truth, as Allah the Exalted said:
You worship not besides Him except [mere] names you have named themما تعبدون من دونه إلا أسماء سميتموها
[Yusuf 12:40]
And He the Exalted said:
(19) So have you considered al-Lat and al-'Uzza? (20) And Manat, the third - the other one? (21) Is the male for you and for Him the female? (22) That, then, is an unjust division. (23) They are not but [mere] names you have named them - you and your forefathers - for which Allah has sent down no authorityأفرأيتم اللات والعزى ومناة الثالثة الأخرى ألكم الذكر وله الأنثى تلك إذا قسمة ضيزى إن هي إلا أسماء سميتموها أنتم وآبائكم ما أنزل الله بها من سلطان
[An-Najm 53:19-23]
. Now, with this estimation of the predicate in
There is no god but Heلا إله إلا هو
, the problem is resolved, which is how the god is negated in such a sentence and affirmed in such as his saying:
they were not availed at all by their gods which they invoked other than Allahفما أغنت عنهم آلهتهم التي يدعون من دون الله من شيء
[Hud 11:101]
and the reconciliation is: that those gods are what? False, but the god in:
There is no god but Heلا إله إلا هو
is a true god
That is because Allah is the Truth, and that which they call upon other than Him is falsehoodذلك بأن الله هو الحق وأن ما يدعون من دونه هو الباطل
[Al-Hajj 22:62]
And his saying:
He.هو
this is a pronoun and not a name, this is a pronoun and not a name, as evidenced by his saying:
So know, [O Muhammad], that there is no deity except Allah and ask forgiveness for your sinفاعلم أنه لا إله إلا الله واستغفر لذنبك
[Muhammad 47:19]
is this a name or a pronoun? A name, and as evidenced by his saying:
And We sent not before you any messenger except that We revealed to him that, "There is no deity except Me, so worship Me."وما أرسلنا من قبلك من رسول إلا نوحي إليه أنه لا إله إلا أنا فاعبدون
[Al-Anbya 21:25]
and "I" here is a pronoun, and on this basis we say: "I" and "He" in his saying:
There is no deity except Meلا إله إلا أنا
And his saying:
There is no god but Heلا إله إلا هو
both are separate nominative pronouns, so just as the one who remembers does not say: "There is no god except I", or just as the one who remembers does not make "I" a name for Allah, it is not permissible to make "He" a name for Allah, and by this we know the falsity of the Sufis' remembrance, who remember Allah with the phrase: "He, He", and they consider this remembrance the best of remembrances, and it is a false remembrance. And his saying:
the Ever-Livingالحي
the "al" here is for totality, meaning complete life, and the life of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, is complete in its existence and complete in its time, so He is Alive with no beginning for Him, and no end for Him, His life is not preceded by non-existence and not followed by cessation, it is also complete in its existence, no deficiency enters it in any way, so He is complete in His hearing, His knowledge, His power, and all His attributes, if we see the human being, or rather if we see other than Allah, Mighty and Majestic, we find that he is deficient in his life in time and existence, so his life is preceded by what? By non-existence, followed by cessation and perishing, it is also deficient in its existence, is he complete in hearing? The living being is not complete in hearing, nor sight, nor knowledge, nor power, every living being is deficient, so his life is deficient in existence and time, so in time it is preceded by non-existence and followed by cessation, and in existence it is deficient in all attributes. And his saying:
the Sustainerالقيوم
is on the pattern of "fi'ul" and it is derived from standing, and its meaning is: the one who stands by Himself, the one who stands over others, the one who stands by Himself so He does not need anyone, and the one who stands over others so everyone needs Him, and in the combination of the two noble names:
the Ever-Living, the Self-Subsistingالحي القيوم
in the combination of them is the totality of all that Allah is described with, of all the perfections, so in
the Ever-Livingالحي
is the perfection of attributes, and in
the Sustainerالقيوم
is the perfection of actions, and in both together is the perfection of the Essence,
the Ever-Livingالحي
perfection of attributes
the Sustainerالقيوم
perfection of actions, and by their combination is the perfection of the Essence, so He is perfect in attributes, actions, and Essence. Then He said:
He has sent down upon you, [O Muhammad], the Bookنزل عليك الكتاب
[Ali 'Imran 3:3]
Do we continue or do we take the grammar? I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Shaytan, In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Bestower of Mercy,
(2) Allah - there is no deity except Him, the Ever-Living, the Sustainer of existence. (3) He has sent down upon you, [O Muhammad], the Book in truth, confirming what was before it. And He revealed the Torah and the Gospel. (4) Before, as guidance for the people. And He revealed the Qur'an. Indeed, those who disbelieve in the verses of Allah will have a severe punishment, and Allah is exalted in Might, the Owner of Retribution. (5) Indeed, from Allah nothing is hidden in the earth nor in the heaven.ألم الله لا إله إلا هو الحي القيوم نزل عليك الكتاب بالحق وأنزل التوراة والإنجيل من قبل هدى للناس وأنزل الفرقان إن الذين كفروا بآيات الله لهم عذاب شديد والله عزيز ذو انتقام، إن الله لا يخفى عليه شيء في الأرض ولا في السماء
[Ali 'Imran 3:2-5]
.
Source alathar.net

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

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