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	Allah…the Divine
	Cat’s Eye Nebula AL-MUSAWWIR: The Designer or The Fashioner "The perfect artist who gives everything the most unique, beautiful and perfect form and shape. When He creates He just says "BE" and a whole universe becomes........." AL-KHALIQ: The Creator "He is the one who creates from nothing, and creating at the same time, the states, conditions and sustenance of all that He has created. He establishes how, when and where creation will take place. He created everything in goodness and wisdom. He doesn't need the creation, nor does He receive any benefit from it. Nothing was lacking or missing before He created the creation, and after the creation nothing was added or diminished. He created everything for man and man for Himself." Water crystal for Love AL-LATIF: The Fine, Subtle One "He is the most delicate, fine, gentle, beautiful one. He is the maker of a delicate beauty hidden in the secrets of the beauties of the soul, the mind, wisdom, the divine light." AL-KABIR: The Most Great "His greatness stretches from before the beginning............. until after the end............There is no difference for Him between the creation of an atom and the infinite-seeming universe. The fear of Allah is a fear that is an outcome of loving Him----wishing to be loved by Him and fearing to lose His love, to face His disappointment in you or His anger." AL-MUHYI: The Giver of Life "He makes that which does not exist come to be. He can give life to the one without life, He can kill a thing and restore its life." AL-MUHSI: The Counter "He is the possessor of all quantitative knowledge. He sees and knows everything in its reality. He calculates and counts and knows the number of all existences in universe, He counts and weights our good deeds and our sins." AL-MUBDI: The Originator "He is the Originator of all......creating without model or material; He existed before time or space." AL-MU'ID: The Restorer "He restores things which He has created and destroyed to previous form." AL-MUHYI: The Giver of Life "He makes that which does not exist come to be. He can give life to the one without life, He can kill a thing and restore its life." AL-MUMIT: The Giver of Death "He has destined for everyone a time to leave. The body is visible and temporal, the soul hidden and eternal. It continues to exist without the body, but has no physical perception. In life the soul is like a merchant, buying and selling, profiting and loosing. In death the soul cannot gain any more. Therefore the believer prepares for death, trying to profit from the world by perfecting his faith, aquiring wisdom." AL-HAYY: The Ever-Living One "He is perfectly alive, cognizant and active, and He is ever-living. The life of His creation is held within the limits of its action and its realization. The value of each life is judged by the extent of the knowledge and activity of the living one. So the life of vegetation is inferior to the life of the animal, which is inferior to the life of man." AL-QAYYUM: The Ever Self-Existing One "His existence depends on Himself only, and all creation depends on Him. All exists because of Him. The soul governs the whole being of man. When the soul leaves the body, it doesn't breath, move, see, hear etc., the soul is responsible for life, existence, order and harmony within the whole being." AL-WAJID: The Finder "He finds and obtains whatever He wishes whenever He wishes. He is ever-present within and without His servants, and the servant is ever in His presence." AL-MA'JID: The Glorious "He is the Most Glorious who shows infinite generosity and munificence to those close to Him" AL-WAHID: The Unique "He is one, without equal nor partner. His essence, attributes, actions, orders and names are unique. He is the only one worthy of worship, indivisible, whole..... without parts." AL-AHAD: The One (no translation was given for this one) AS-SAMAD: The Satisfier of all needs "He is ever-present, knowing your needs before you do and satisfying them in the way they should be satisfied." AL-QADIR: The All-Powerful, the Able One "He has infinite ability and power to do what He wills the way He wills." AL-MUQTADIR: The All-Powerful "He creates all power and controls all power, because He has total power. The power He bestows on creation is limited and controlled by Him." AL-MUQADDIM: The Expediter "He brings forward whomever He wills. He advances the chosen among His creatures. The measure of true advancement is the degree of one's closeness to Allah." AL-MU'AKHKHIR: The Delayer "He leaves whomever He wills behind and delays advancement. If a believer is left behind in spite of his efforts, there is always a reason.......maybe there is some wrong, impurity or hypocrisy in his intentions. Or advancement for him necessitates more difficulty and pain so that he will value the reward more and better guard his station when he reaches it." AL-AWWAL: The First "He is self-existent, all comes from Him. He is the cause of all that became." AL-AKHIR: The Last "He has no end. He is eternal. When all disappears only He will exist. All existence will return to Him” AN-NUR: The Light "He is the light shed upon the whole creation, making it apparent, bringing existence out of the darkness of non-existence. That light also makes the conceivable known. Light of faith and wisdom shows that perceptible, and the eye of the heart sees. The light of faith shows the right path of salvation, it is like a sun in the heart, bringing one to the light of truth. Devil and ego cannot enter a divine house, a heart illuminated by the light of faith, because they are thieves operating in darkness. The gate to the heart is the mind, the light of the gate is knowledge, blocking out the evil of ignorance, imagination, hypocrisy and arrogance. The light of the soul is consciousness....... its darkness heedlessness." AL-HADI: The Guide "He guides His servants through prophets, books, saints and men of knowledge. Faith is essential in man, all souls have a covenant with Allah made on the Day of Promises." AL-BADI: The Originator of Creation, the Incomparable "He created without model or material. Everything He creates is a wonder, since He originated it from nothing. Like the original creations, all the continuous created things are different from each other." AL-BAQI: The Everlasting One "Time only exists for the changing creation, which is material and temporal." AL-WARITH: The Ultimate Inheritor "We are but temporal keepers. AL-MUQSIT: The Equitable One "He acts and distributes in justice and fairness. He gives what He gives to the right ones, and we do not know what He knows."		So that we may begin to have a glimpse of understanding of Him, Allah has given us names for ninety-nine of His Divine Attributes. Allah Almighty is infinite.....and since we, as humans are limited in understanding, we can only just begin to grasp His All-encompassing, All-pervading, All-powerful nature. These attributes are called Al-asma' al-husna, The Beautiful Names. The explanations of each Divine Name are from the inspirations of Maulana Shaykh Nazim al Haqqani of the Naqshbandi Sufi Order. AR-RAHMAN: The Beneficent "He is the one who wills mercy and good for all creation, at all times. He doesn't distinguish between the good and the bad one, the obedient and the disobedient, believer or unbeliever. Through His Divine Justice He gives a chance to everyone to reach everything through this life. He is Compassionate and Beneficent to all creatures.. Ar-Rahman is mercy upon the nafs, the worldly being, giving sustenance in this world AR-RAHIM: The Merciful "He is the one who rewards the good servants, the obedient ones, the believers. That is also signing His justice, because the ones putting their ego under their feet are not like those dominated by their ego. Ar-Rahim is mercy upon the heart, giving eternal salvation in the Hereafter." AL-MALIK: The Supreme Ruler or The Sovereign Lord "He is the absolute Owner and Ruler of the universe. Absolute greatness for Him. He is not in need of anything or anyone. No one reaches to understand His divine essence." AL-QUDDUS: The Holy "He is absolute pure, devoid of blemish, shortcoming, weakness, heedlessness or error. His essence, attributes, names, words, actions and justice are pure. He is not resembling His creation in anything and free from anything anyone may imagine about Him." AS-SALAM: The Saviour or The Source of Peace "He is absolutely perfect in His essence and attributes and all. His works have sense and wisdom. He is the one who saves believers from dangers and trouble." AL-MU'MIN: The Guardian of Faith "He is Illuminator of the light of faith in hearts, making us believers. He is the Comforter and Protector of the ones who take refuge in Him." AL-MUHAYMIN: The Protector "He is the Protector and the Guardian. He is the one who sees to the evolution and the growth of His creation, leading them where they are destined to go. Nothing escapes His attention for moment." AL-AZIZ: The Mighty, the Victorious "He is the Victorious one whom no force can overwhelm. But He does not hurry to destroy the one who persists in revolt and sin." AL-JABBAR: The Compeller "He is the Repairer of the broken, the Completer of the lacking, the one who can enforce His will without any opposition." AL-MUTAKABBIR: The Majestic, the Greatest "He is the Greatest, and greatness belongs only to Him. He will humiliate the proud, making him lowest of low, and bless the humble one."  AL-BARI: The Inventor or Evolver "He is the one who orders His creation with perfect harmony. Everything is harmonious within itself and in accordance with everything else. He gave to you intelligence and freedom of will and choice." AL-GHAFFAR: The Forgiver "He is the one who accepts repentance and forgives. Repentance is between you and Allah and must be accompanied by the firm intention not to do the sinful act again. The sign of acceptance of your repentance and the accordance of forgiveness by Allah is that he will not let you repeat that sinful act again." AL-QAHHAR: The Subduer "He is the Ever-Dominating one, who has surrounded all His creation from without and within with His irresistible power. Nothing can escape Him." AL-WAHHAB: The Benefactor or The Bestower "He is the donor of all, without conditions, without limits, without asking any benefit or return, giving everything to everyone, everywhere, always. He gives money to the poor, health to the sick, children to those who are barren, freedom to the trapped, knowledge to the ignorant. When He gives to you, no one can prevent that good from coming to you. AL-RAZZAQ: The Sustainer or The Provider "Sustenance is needed to maintain the creation. There is a physical and a spiritual Sustenance." AL-FATTAH: The Opener "He is the Opener and the Solver, the Easer of all that is locked, tied and hardened." AL-ALIM: The Knower or All-Knowing "He is the one who knows all........past, present and future, and there is no limit to His knowledge." AL-QABID and ALL-BASIT: The Constrictor and The Expander "He is the one who constricts and He is the One who releases. At the times of constriction, your nafs or ego and your flesh will suffer, but your essence should balance that state with patience, which is the companion of faith. That time may strengthen your faith and bring you closer to Him. In periods of comfort and ease, when all is going well you should be thankful to Allah. Keep a balanced state with the knowledge that all good and bad comes from Allah and that a fine wisdom is in His judgment." AR-RASHID: The Guide to the Right Path "He is the ultimate teacher who leads one to the straight path and salvation. He does not enforce what He teaches, but leaves it to men's will to act upon what he is taught. Man, as the student, has to be aware and conscious of what is being taught. Then he has to use his intelligence to discipline and educate himself, his ego. With the divine laws he must drive the machine of his material being." AS-SABUR: The Most Patient One "In everything He is in perfect measure and time. He does everything in its proper time and in just the manner it ought to be done. Everything has to run its course. A patient man refuses things that his flesh and ego desire and which are unacceptable to reason and the religion. No success and perfection can be achieved easily and without pain. The pain is the pain of the flesh, which is hasty in things that it wants, lazy in working for it and doesn't know the measure, always asking more than it needs. The meaning of Islam is submission: to forego one's appetites, desires and will in favour of the will of Allah. To be able to submit, one has to be patient, which is a sign of faith." AL-WA'LI: The Governor "He is the sole manager and governor of the whole creation. Prior to your creation, He prepared a program for you ASH-SHAHID: The Witness "He is the one who witnesses all things and events everywhere at all times." AL-HAQQ: The Truth "He is the Truth. His being never changed, His essence is valid in itself and is the cause and necessity for all other existence. Haqq is existent by itself, the only true existence. Everything except Allah begins, changes, disappears, reappears. The truth is that which needs no proof and whose denial is impossible." AL-JAMI: The Gatherer "He gathers whatever He wishes, wherever He wishes. In the universe He gathered spaces, galaxies, stars, earth, seas, plants and animals. He gathered in creatures bodies fire, water, air and earth, eat, cold, dry and wet. He gathered 6 million cells in a drop of blood. He will gather the bodies, lives, minds and souls of men on the Day of Judgment." AL-GHANI: The Self-Sufficient "He is rich and independent, He doesn't need servants, nor to be served. He needs nothing. It is an honor to be chosen by Him to appear as a means of His service to His servants. In reality by that the servant serves only himself, because he obtains the greatest gift, coming closer to Allah, finding Him and being with Him." AL-MUGHNI: The Enricher "He knows what is best for us. Life is a testing ground, where we show our degree of purity.............True riches are knowledge and faith." AL-MANI: The Preventer, Withholder "Though we may not know the reason, we must believe that if we do not receive what we will and wish, it is because that is best for us.........Allah is most compassionate." AD-DARR: The Distressor, or the Creator of Evil "He creates the harmful and evil as (well as) the good and beneficent. Sometimes what is poison to one is medicine to another. He has given us the power of discrimination, will and freedom to choose. All is a test. The final exam is at the time of the last breath................. Although He created evil, the cause of its coming to you is only yourself." AN-NAFI: The Favourer "He creates the good and pours gifts and treasures continuously. We have to be present with our hearts minds and hand to receive it. Our will though cannot bring anything to us that is due to someone else, nor can it prevent what is destined for us." of what is in our hand. After we are gone everything is left to Him." All existence praises Him with their tongues, by their actions or simply by their very existence, respecting Him and thanking Him. He is the source of all gifts and all perfection." . You are not left on your own." AL-MUTA'ALI: The Supreme, Most Exalted "He is great and gives without limits, without loosing anything by giving." AL-BARR: The Doer of Good "He is the source of all good and bounty and the perfect doer of good. He loves for His servants only good, comfort and ease. He rewards tenfold, but His punishment never exceeds the sin committed. If the servant intends to do good but is unable to actualize it He rewards the intention as if it was actualized. But if His servant intends to sin and is unable to actualize it, He forgives him." AL-TAWWAB: The Acceptor of Repentance "He constantly turns man to repentance, awakening the hearts of believers from the sleep of heedlessness through love of him, with the manifestation of His existence around them, with the words of good advice of those who are close to Him, with promises of rewards and fear of His punishment. The repentance acceptable is the effort of inner cleaning, purification." AL-MUNTAQIM: The Avenger "He punishes those who persist in revolting, egotism, creating disharmony and tyrannizing His creation and servants. The own ego is Allah's enemy." AL-AFUW: The Forgiver, The Pardoner "He forgives and eliminates sins. The forgiving of sins is an encouragement to deniers to change their way............. His doors are always open."			AZ-ZAHIR: The Manifest One "Everything is a proof of His existence. Allah is manifest in His attributes. He is hidden from those who seek to see by means of their senses or their imagination. The apparent and the hidden are also in man. His form, words, actions and works are manifest, His feelings and thoughts hidden. His identity becomes manifest through his actions." AL-BATIN: The Hidden One "His existence is both manifest and hidden. His essence is hidden, and a limited knowledge, mind and understanding like ours cannot truly know Him. Only Allah knows His own essence." AS-SAMI: The All Hearing "He is the one who hears all... that which comes from the lips, passes through minds, is felt by the hearts......... the rustling of leaves in the wind, the footsteps of the ants and the atom's moving through the 'void'. It is an attribute of perfection, absolute perfection, which does not depend on means, conditions, or limitations. He hears and registers, understands, satisfies, answers, responds and corrects." AL-BASIR: The All Seeing "He is the one who is all-Seeing. He sees the past, the present and the future. We cannot see Him, but He is seeing our outside and what is in our minds and hearts." AL-ADL: The Just "He is the absolute justice. Both good and bad are necessary, Allah shows one with the other, the right against the wrong, and shows us the consequences of each, then He leaves us free to use our own judgment. One often needs to experience and to know the opposite of a thing in order to understand it. We must be thankful for the good and accept, without personal judgment or complaint, that which doesn't seem to be good." AL-KHABIR: The Aware "He is aware of the hidden inner occurrences in everything....nothing can escape His attention. He knows your most secret needs and wishes, your thoughts and actions." AL-HALIM: The Forbearer, or The Forbearing One "He is forbearing in the punishment of the guilty. He waits...giving time to the sinner to realize his guilt, to regret, change, repent.....and compensate for the harm they have done, so that he may forgive them and transform them into good servants rather than destroy them." AL-AZIM: The Great One "HE is absolutely and perfectly great. He is in need of nothing. We cannot understand His greatness nor imagine it." AL-GHAFUR: The Forgiving one "He is the most forgiving one, hiding our faults and treating them as if they had never existed. If He didn't hide our faults, adverse opinions, ugly thoughts and hateful feelings, everyone would run away from everyone else." ASH-SHAKUR: The Thankful, The Benefactor, The Appreciative "He is the one who repays a good deed with a much greater reward. Thankfulness is to return good with good. The thankful one knows thatall he is and all he has is from Allah." AL-ALI: The Highest One "His being high cannot be measured by the limited human intellect or imagined. Nothing is like Him." AL-HAFIZ: The Preserver "He is aware of, remembers and keeps in His memory all that you do, or say, and think at all times. He preserves all.........nothing is lost. In His preservation, there is also protection. As a blessing He sent His prophets and books to teach wisdom, intelligence, the divine law to protect man from material and spiritual harm." AL-MUQIT: The Nourisher, The Maintainer "He creates the nourishment of all creatures. The sustenance due to one will not run out until death overtakes him. He gives nourishment without being asked to the ones who cannot ask and work for their own nourishment. For the ones who can, He created means of sustenance." AL-HASIB: The Accountant, The Reckoner "He is the one who takes account of all and everything that His creation does or is subjected to. On Judgment Day we will have to give the accounting of all we have received and how we spent it. Know therefore the value of your life and every single breath, which should be for Allah." AL-JALIL: The Majestic, The Mighty, The Sublime One "He is the Lord of Majesty and Might. His knowledge, power, mercy, generosity, wisdom and compassion is great; He is source and owner of all attributes of greatness." AL-KARIM: The Generous "In His generosity He gives help, satisfying your needs before you ask. His greatest generosity is in His mercy, through which he forgives when He could punish." AL-RAQIB: The Observer, The Watchful One "He is the one who watches everything, always. In addition to Him, the loving merciful watcher, there are two other watchers.......deadly enemies....... who ask to harm you and watch you to find a weak spot: the accursed Devil and the insatiable egoist, the nafs. You must be well aware of these enemies and watch their moves." AL-MUJIB: The Acceptor of Prayer, or The Responsive "He responds to all the prayers or needs of His servants. He is closer to His creatures than they are to themselves." AL-WASI: The All-Embracing "His vastness is limitless and all-reaching. His attributes, knowledge, mercy, power, generosity, etc. are infinite." AL-MU'IZZ and AL-MUZILL: The Honorer and the Dishonorer "He is the one who honours and the one who humiliates." AL-KHAFID and AL-RAFI: The Abaser and The Exalter "He is the Abaser and the Exalter. He exalts the good ones and He makes down those who let their egos ride on them." AL-HAKIM: The Wise "He is perfectly wise, in His knowledge and in His deeds and commands. Whoever follows His commands will learn and evolve towards being a perfect man." AL-WADUD: The Loving "He is the one who loves His good servants, and the only one worthy of love. He is the sole Beloved of the soul, because all perfection is in Him." AL-MAJID: The Most Glorious One "No one reaches to Him, therefore He is respected; yet He is closer to us than our own souls. His state is pure perfection, His acts pure wisdom, therefore He is beloved." AL-BA'ITH: The Raiser from the Dead, The Resurrector "He will raise people from their graves and bring out all actions, thoughts and feelings that occurred during their lifetime on this earth. What dies and is revived is only the flesh; the soul is eternal. Whatever you sow here, you will reap in the Hereafter." AL-WAKIL: The Trustee "He is the ultimate and faithful trustee, the Completer of the work left to Him. Nothing can replace Him or stand on its own without being dependent on Him. He does for you what is good for you and that which pleases Him. The true servant does all the best he can, not only for himself, but for others. Then he leaves the outcome for Allah, who controls his life, to do that which is good for him, as he himself admits that he knows not. His peace of mind can be destroyed by excessive ambition, miserliness, competitiveness, fear and imagination. One should be aware of causes and their effects, strive for one's wishes and trust in Allah." AL-QAWI: The Most Strong "He possesses all strength, is inexhaustible." AL-MATIN: The Firm "His strength is all-pervasive, His firmness perfect." AL-WALI: The Protecting Friend "He helps His good servants, eliminates their difficulties and give them guidance, peace and success in their affairs here and hereafter. Allah's friends neither need nor expect anything from anyone except Him." AL-HAMID: The Most Praiseworthy " AR-RAUF: The Lenient "He is clement and merciful, in spite of His ability to see our sins, His being powerful and independent." MALIK AL-MULK: The Eternal Sovereign "He shares neither the ownership of His kingdom nor the power, government or guardianship of the universe with anyone. The purpose and function of the creation is to know, to find, and to be with the Creator." DHUL-JALALI WAL-IKRAM: The Lord of Majesty and Bounty "HIs is the perfection, all honour and blessing comes from Him. Nothing exists by itself, all comes from Him."