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by Raiiq Ridwan

Among the most interesting Surahs of the Quran is Surah al-Hadeed, the 57th Surah of the Quran. What I find very interesting about it is how Allah talks about Himself, His names, and His attributes as if He is introducing Himself.

That is understandable if it was a Surah that was aimed at a non-Muslim audience, like many of the shorter surahs are. However, this Surah was revealed later in the Prophet’s life, peace be upon him, when he was already in Madinah, and there were many Muslims.

This Surah shows us that even believers at times need reminders. It’s a reminder that even believers go through times when their faith dips, and thus Allah sent down this Surah to remind the believers of who it is they are worshipping, and who it is that they should turn their focus towards.

In the journey of life, it is sometimes easy to forget about Allah, to lose sight of our ultimate purpose in life and to forget that Allah is our main destination. This surah brings it all back. This Surah renews our faith in Allah! We will have a look at the first 6 verses of this Surah in this short article in sha Allah

1 Everything in the heavens and earth glorifies God––He is the Almighty, the Wise

Allah starts off the Surah giving us an accout of how the cosmos, how the animals, how the birds, how all of creation worship Allah. Whatever is in the heavens and the earth glorifies Allah. Glorification is a declaration that Allah is free of imperfection.

Allah is reminding us first off that He is free of any imperfection, and that all of the creation in the heavens and the earth are testifying to that. All of creation is in a state of worship, because that is their purpose.

Are we fulfilling our purpose of worshipping Allah? He reminds us more of who He is, the Almighty, the Wise. He is Full of Might and He is Wise in His decision-making. He is the Almighty who is Full of Honour, and He is Wise in His decision-making and decree. Whatever is happening is part of His wisdom.

2 Control of the heavens and earth belongs to Him; He gives life and death; He has power over all things.

He goes on to remind the believers of who He is. As human beings we seem to lose sight of who Allah is. And thus after mentioning that He is glorified by all of creation, that He is the Almighty, that He is the Wise, He reminds us that He is in control of the heavens and the earth. Whatever it is that we have lost our way with, whatever it is that has kept us away from Allah, that has made us have our dip in imaan is actually in His hands.

He gives life and death. He has given us life, and He has the power of taking it away. He gives life to the dead earth. He can give life to our dead hearts too. Death is one of the most powerful reminders for action, and Allah reminds us that He it is who gives death, and that this life is not permanent. And after all, He has power over everything. Whatever He wills will happen. What will our state be if Allah is not on our side?

3 He is the First and the Last; the Manifest and the Hidden; He has knowledge of all things.

He is the First before anything existed and He is the Last, who will exist when all of creation is destroyed. Likewise in our lives, He should be the First before we do anything, so that when we die, He will be the Last on our mind, on our lips. It is our duty to put Allah first in all of our actions, then the One who is Last will ensure that our last is paradise!

He is Manifest because we can see all of His signs, and all of creation remind us of His existence and Majesty. Yet, He is Hidden from us and we cannot see Him. But because He is Hidden doesn’t mean we can do whatever we please, because, He has knowledge of all things!

4 It was He who created the heavens and earth in six Days and then established Himself on the throne. He knows what enters the earth and what comes out of it; what descends from the sky and what ascends to it. He is with you wherever you are; He sees all that you do;

He created everything. All that we see, all that we do not see is in His Hands, and He has established Himself on the Throne. The Might, the Dominion, the Kingdom all belong to Allah. He knows what goes into the earth, and He knows what deeds we put in, and He knows what comes out of it.

He knows what is happening to us as well. He is with us wherever we are and sees all that we do. It is both an empowering and a frightening statement. It is frightening because He knows all of the sins we do, all our imperfections. But it is empowering in that He is there to support us in all our endeavours. He knows what effort we put in even if no one else is seeing it.

5 Control of the heavens and earth belongs to Him. Everything is H back to God.

He reminds again that He is in control of everything. And that at the end of the day everything is brought back to Him. We will go back to Him as well. What will we take on our journey?

6 He makes night merge into day and day into night. He knows what is in every heart.

He alternates the night and day. No matter what mess we might have been in, we can change it. We may have done a lot of wrong, but we can change it in sha Allah. He can change night into day, He can change the state of our heart. Because He knows what is exactly in each heart.

And thus after this beautiful introduction, He gives us an instruction. And with that we will end our article today

“Believe in God and His Messenger, and give out of what He has made pass down to you: those of you who believe and give will have a great reward. “

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