“Be More & Achieve More!”

Hi Dear Reader,

As we are in the season for sharing gifts and kind words, especially with ones who are near and dear to us, I thought what would be better than us knowing more about some of the names, virtues and characteristics of our amazing and beloved Creator? After all, anytime we refer our issues to Him, the Wisest and most Merciful that He is, then our issues automatically dissipate into a vast nothingness when we truly rely on Him to resolve them for us. So, we cared to pick Al-Ghazali’s translation and interpretation on the meaning of some these Glorious Names, so that we can appreciate them even more, from his rendering “The Ninety Nine Beautiful Names of God“, and typed here by Shanaz Ali:-

Al-Hasib [41] - The Reckoner- is the one who suffices, for He is all one needs who belongs to Him. God- may He be praised and exalted-is the measurer of every single thing and the one who suffices for it. And it is inconceivable that this attribute, in its essential reality, be said of anything else, since for anything to be sufficient it must itself be all that it needs, for its existence, the permanence of its existence, and the perfection of its existence. And there is nothing in existence which by itself suffices for anything, except God-great and glorious, for He alone suffices for everything, not for some things only. He alone suffices, that is, in that things attain existence from Him and their existence perdures and is made perfect by Him.

Do not imagine that when you need food, drink, earth, sky, sun, or the like, that you need something other than Him, or that He is not all you need. He is the one who supplies all you need by creating food and drink, heaven and earth, so He is all you need. Nor should you think that God is not the one who protects and suffices in the case of an infant who needs his mother to nurse him and care for him. Indeed God-great and glorious-suffices for him, since He created his mother and the milk in her breasts, as well as the guidance needed for him to swallow it. He also created the tenderness and love in the heart of the mother, so that she [will] enable him to devour her milk, calling him to it and prompting him to do so. Now sufficiency is only attained by these means, and God the most High alone possesses the ability to create it for the infant. Should it be said to you that the mother alone is sufficient for the infant and that she is all he needs, you would believe that and not say: but she is hardly sufficient for him since he needs milk and how can a mother suffice for him when there is no milk? Rather you would say: indeed, he needs milk, but milk also comes from the mother, so he needs no-one else except the mother. But you should know that milk does not come from the mother, but together with the mother comes from God-may He be praised and exalted, and from His graciousness and generosity. For He alone is all that each thing needs; nothing [except He] exists which alone suffices for anything at all. Rather things depend on each other, while everything depends on the power of God-may He be praised and exalted.

Counsel: There is no access to this attribute for men except by way of a remote metaphor, or as part of a prevalent popular opinion which does not think twice about it. Metaphorically, it is like this: even if one were sufficient for his infant in sustaining his care, or sufficient for his student in educating him to the point where he is no longer in need of assistance from someone else, he would be but a means to sufficiency and not himself sufficient.  For it is God-may He be praised and exalted-who suffices, and since man neither subsists by his own power nor is sufficient unto himself, how can he suffice for another?

As part of a prevalent opinion, it is like this: even if one be deemed to be sufficient in himself and not as a means, nevertheless he is not alone sufficient since he needs, a place to receive his action and sufficiency. Moreover, this is the least of the things at issue, for the heart, which is the locus of knowledge, is clearly necessary in the first place so that he maybe sufficient in giving instruction. And the stomach which is the receptacle for food is needed to enable him to be sufficient in conveying food to his body. All this alone, along with many other things one needs, are beyond one’s reckoning, nor do any of them fall under his free choice. For the lowest rank of actions requires an agent and a recipient, and the agent will not suffice at all without a recipient. This is only fulfilled in God-great and glorious, since He creates actions as well as creating the place to receive it, the conditions pertaining to its reception and whatever surrounds it. Nevertheless, it maybe that one would turn spontaneously and unreflectively to the agent, without considering the situation surrounding it, and deem the agent alone to be sufficient to the task, but such is not the case.

Indeed, the religious (of faith) fruit from this for a man is that God alone suffices for him, in connection with his intentions and his will, so that he wants only God-great and glorious. He should not want paradise nor should his heart be preoccupied with hell, trying to be on guard against it, but his intentions should be absorbed by God alone, the most high. And if God reveals Himself in His majesty, he should say:

“This is sufficient for me, for I do not want anything other than Him, nor do I care whether something escapes me or not.”

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