The Complementarity of the Beautiful Names at the End of Surat al-Hashr

Occasion: Transcription of a Fajr khatira delivered on August 4, 2026 Source: A transcription of a video khatira by Dr. Ahmed Abouseif — Watch the original video on YouTube

What draws attention is the complementarity of the sacred names of the Lord of Might, glory be to Him and exalted, in the Noble Qur'an, when Allah speaks of Himself. In the verses at the end of Sūrat al-Ḥashr you hear the saying of Him, blessed and exalted: ﴿هُوَ اللَّهُ الَّذِي لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ الْمَلِكُ الْقُدُّوسُ السَّلَامُ الْمُؤْمِنُ الْمُهَيْمِنُ الْعَزِيزُ الْجَبَّارُ الْمُتَكَبِّرُ سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ عَمَّا يُشْرِكُونَ﴾ ("He is Allah, other than whom there is no deity, the Sovereign, the Pure, the Source of Peace, the Granter of Security, the Overseer, the Almighty, the Compeller, the Supreme. Exalted is Allah above whatever they associate with Him.").

Names Mentioned Singly, Their Combination Not Considered

Preachers and speakers always speak of each of the Most Beautiful Names of Allah on its own, and we have not noticed anyone speaking of the complementarity of the Most High Names in a single place. And the matter is important; for the complementarity that occurs among the names of Allah in each place in the Qur'an has its own distinctiveness. So come, let us look at this place in Sūrat al-Ḥashr.

What Does the Word "al-Ḥashr" Mean?

What does this word mean to us, and what should I prepare myself psychologically for as I deal with this blessed sūrah?

You came out of your grave, and I came out of mine, then man was driven to the place of the gathering, then you stood before Allah, blessed and exalted, with nothing on this body. The sun is close to the heads of creation, and sweat engulfs them in varying degrees; among them are those whom the sweat bridles, and among them are those whom it covers. And the angels surround the scene from every side. Then the Lord of Might issues a command to cast the books to these creatures, and the people are in a state of anticipation and terror together, which drive each one to try to flee to any place, but he cannot. Then the divine call is heard that this is the time of reckoning, and each one of us is turning the pages of his book which he received in his right hand or in his left or from behind his back. Then we begin to think about how to get out of this situation: where do we walk and how do we set off? And we find ourselves before shocking answers we did not expect; even the tongues that want to lie are silenced at that casting, and things speak that we never knew to speak: the hands, the feet, the hearing, and the sight, and the mouth is bound to compulsory silence. There is no escape before the Lord of Might, glory be to Him, majestic in His height.

A Place That Does Not Recur

Here, in the scene of the gathering, the system of divine attributes comes to us with which the blessed sūrah concludes. And the Most High Names, in this combined series, are in a unique place; I do not recall that they or anything like them recurred in another place. Consider: ﴿هُوَ اللَّهُ الَّذِي لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ عَالِمُ الْغَيْبِ وَالشَّهَادَةِ هُوَ الرَّحْمَٰنُ الرَّحِيمُ﴾ ("He is Allah, other than whom there is no deity, Knower of the unseen and the witnessed; He is the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful"), then in the verse after it: the Sovereign, the Pure, the Source of Peace, the Granter of Security, the Overseer, the Almighty, the Compeller, the Supreme, then ﴿هُوَ اللَّهُ الْخَالِقُ الْبَارِئُ الْمُصَوِّرُ لَهُ الْأَسْمَاءُ الْحُسْنَىٰ﴾ ("He is Allah, the Creator, the Inventor, the Fashioner; to Him belong the best names"). The speaker counted these names as fourteen names,^[1] and said that he does not recall in the Qur'an a place that presented fourteen names of Allah in one position, and he asked Allah that his memory not fail him. So what is the secret of all of them coming together here?

The Believer's Heart Is Firmer Than the Mountains

The Lord of the worlds, glory be to Him, says: ﴿لَوْ أَنزَلْنَا هَٰذَا الْقُرْآنَ عَلَىٰ جَبَلٍ لَّرَأَيْتَهُ خَاشِعًا مُّتَصَدِّعًا مِّنْ خَشْيَةِ اللَّهِ﴾ ("If We had sent down this Qur'an upon a mountain, you would have seen it humbled and rent asunder from fear of Allah"). So upon what did the Qur'an descend? It descended upon the heart of the believer. And Imam al-Qurṭubī, may Allah the Exalted have mercy on him, says, and I repeat this often, that the heart of the believer is firmer than the mountains; for if the Qur'an were sent down upon a mountain you would see it humbled and rent asunder, but the heart of the believer, the Qur'an descends upon it and nothing issues from it but humility; it is not rent asunder but remains steadfast, and grows in steadfastness with more of the Qur'an descending upon it.

It is as though the Lord of the worlds is speaking to me about a special category of people, holders of a certain level, who are the ones able to understand what comes in the verses after that. This stratum alone can take in this speech.

Whoever Has Not Experienced Does Not Know the Word

Imagine you are sitting with a tyrannical, unjust ruler and speaking to him about fairness among people, justice, and equality. And an example is related about this: that a broadcaster spoke to a man in a country where the electric current never goes off, and asked him: What do you know about power outages? He said: And what does an outage mean? What does it mean for the electricity to go off? He cannot even imagine that there is in the world something called an electricity outage.

So if you took this simple example, for all its simplicity, and applied it to my speaking with the people of immorality and I wanted to tell them about the feeling of humility, he would say: And what does humility mean? And if we came to the people of taqwā and I spoke about the pleasure of disobedience, he would ask me: And what does disobedience mean? This one does not know the meaning of the word "humility," and that one does not know the meaning of the word "disobedience," because he has not experienced it.

And likewise, you bring one of the sons of the upper class, who live in five-star hotels, and you speak to him about the fūl cart in the street and about two fūl sandwiches from the fūl seller in the morning; he looks and says: How disgusting! And he is dealing with names and terms foreign to him. Why do I mention this example? Because the levels of taqwā and refinement require of a person mind, inner feeling, soul, ease, tranquility, and humility; levels that have their terms that do not recur with the rest of the people.

So if I tell you: ﴿هُوَ اللَّهُ الَّذِي لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ عَالِمُ الْغَيْبِ وَالشَّهَادَةِ﴾ ("He is Allah, other than whom there is no deity, Knower of the unseen and the witnessed"), this speech is illogical in the ears of those who believe in what they touch before what they imagine. He says: The knowledge of the witnessed I understand, so He knows what is before me; and if my tongue goes beyond that, that He knows the unseen as well... But the believer believes in Allah who is unseen, so if it is said that his Lord knows the unseen, this is logical to him. And speak to a non-Muslim with this term, and he will say to you: This is empty talk. This is not straight in the human mind. And from here came the problems of atheism.

The Order of the Names: the Sovereign, the Pure, the Source of Peace, the Granter of Security

﴿الْمَلِكُ﴾ ("the Sovereign"): and not every king is free of flaws; he may be a king of great standing yet panting after a beautiful slave girl who seizes his heart. So after the King came ﴿الْقُدُّوسُ﴾ ("the Pure"), free of every deficiency. And this is what I sense: that the King, the Pure, free of every deficiency, is not driven by his kingship to wrong anyone or to transgress. So He is ﴿السَّلَامُ﴾ ("the Source of Peace"), and peace with the Lord of Might, glory be to Him, is not a mere slogan practiced in words, but is practiced as a promise and a covenant. So the word ﴿الْمُؤْمِنُ﴾ ("the Granter of Security") came. And since every believer imagined by people is subject to what befalls creatures of rising and falling, the Lord of the worlds says: ﴿الْمُهَيْمِنُ﴾ ("the Overseer").

And what does dominion dictate to the soul? Then ﴿الْعَزِيزُ﴾ ("the Almighty"), with which He deals, glory be to Him, with the middle of the road. As if I have a road that has brought the believers to the stage of the summit of faith, except that the names and attributes with the Lord of the worlds address both ends. So in the other part: ﴿الْجَبَّارُ﴾ ("the Compeller"), ﴿الْمُتَكَبِّرُ﴾ ("the Supreme"), the One too exalted for anyone to be associated with Him, glory be to Him and exalted. In the loftiness of His attributes and names He is above attempts to conceive and attempts at transgression. And can anyone transgress against the majesty of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, and His names?

And we have a close example: the Jews said: ﴿يَدُ اللَّهِ مَغْلُولَةٌ غُلَّتْ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَلُعِنُوا بِمَا قَالُوا بَلْ يَدَاهُ مَبْسُوطَتَانِ يُنفِقُ كَيْفَ يَشَاءُ﴾ ("The hand of Allah is chained. Chained are their hands, and they are cursed for what they say. Rather, both His hands are extended; He spends however He wills"). And about this group Allah, Mighty and Majestic, said: ﴿لَّقَدْ سَمِعَ اللَّهُ قَوْلَ الَّذِينَ قَالُوا إِنَّ اللَّهَ فَقِيرٌ وَنَحْنُ…﴾ ("Allah has certainly heard the statement of those who said, 'Indeed, Allah is poor, while we are…'"). Reflect on this speech, and look at these people! And on the other side they said: ﴿إِنَّ اللَّهَ ثَالِثُ ثَلَاثَةٍ﴾ ("Indeed, Allah is the third of three"); their minds and souls cannot conceive the system of divinity, and that there is a deity who is not divisible as they know from the reality of their lives and affairs. So our Lord, glory be to Him and exalted, said: ﴿الْمُتَكَبِّرُ سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ عَمَّا يُشْرِكُونَ﴾ ("the Supreme. Exalted is Allah above whatever they associate with Him").

The Creator, the Inventor, the Fashioner

And if there is a beginning for the starting points of faith in me, then remember with me that He is ﴿الْخَالِقُ الْبَارِئُ الْمُصَوِّرُ﴾ ("the Creator, the Inventor, the Fashioner"). Each of these three names alone needs a detailed explanation, but the Creator is the One who begins the matter of creation in itself, and the Inventor is the One with whom the manner of His creating this creation takes shape, and the Fashioner is the final design, in the position of the finishing touches. Glory be to the All-Powerful! His ability to create and His ability to bring into being we see among these three names.

And since the mind reaches this stage and cannot go beyond it, our Lord said: ﴿لَهُ الْأَسْمَاءُ الْحُسْنَىٰ﴾ ("to Him belong the best names"). Even if you are not able to glorify Allah by way of your regard for these names and your conceptions, then walk at least with the rest of the cosmic system: ﴿يُسَبِّحُ لَهُ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَهُوَ الْعَزِيزُ الْحَكِيمُ﴾ ("Whatever is in the heavens and earth is exalting Him, and He is the Almighty, the Wise").

I ask Allah, blessed and exalted, to give us insight into what is before us.

--- ^[1]: Editor's documentation: The verses are from Sūrat al-Ḥashr [22–24] and Sūrat al-Ḥashr [21] (the verse of the mountain), al-Māʾida [64] (the hand of Allah is chained), Āl ʿImrān [181] (Allah is poor), and al-Māʾida [73] (third of three). The number of names (fourteen) is from the speaker's count and his own reservation, and was not checked.