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DIVINE
MERCY AND COMPASSION IN BASMALA
I saw one
manifestation of In the Name of God, the Merciful, the
Compassionate in this way:
Three
stamps of Lordship, one within the other and each carrying a
pattern of the others, are impressed upon the face of the
universe, the earth, and man.
First: the
great stamp of Divinity, evident in the co-operation of all
entities in the universe, their general interconnectedness and
reciprocity. And the referent of this is In the Name of God.
Second: the
great stamp of Divine Mercifulness, evident through the likeness
and form, the orderliness and harmony, grace and compassion in the
disposal, raising and administration of plants and animals on the
face of the earth. And the referent of this is the Merciful in In
the Name of God, the Merciful.
Third: The
noble stamp of Divine Compassion evident in the subtleties of
Divine Goodness, the delicate adjustments of Divine Mildness, the
scattering of the light of the Divine Compassion on the face of
man’s comprehensive nature. And the referent of this is the
Compassionate in In the Name of God, the Merciful, the
Compassionate.
The basmala,
then, is the holy expression of the three stamps of Divine
Oneness, which form a luminous line on the page of the universe, a
robust stay, and a golden thread. Revealed from above, the tip of
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate rests upon
man, who is a miniature of the universe and its fruit. And the basmala
links the world to the Divine Throne and is a stairway for man’s
ascent to it.
Divine
Mercy fills and lights up boundless space, an otherwise empty
void, making it rejoice. Divine Mercy appoints eternity for
transient man. And It bestows on man the rank of the beloved
of the One, Eternal before and after eternity.
Divine
Mercy causes the boundless universe to rejoice. It gives the spark
of light and life to the dark entities. Again, Divine Mercy
nurtures and raises creatures struggling in their endless
neediness. It causes the whole universe to be directed toward man,
in the same way as a tree together with all its parts is directed
toward its fruit, and to hasten to man’s assistance. Divine
Mercy fills and lights up boundless space, an otherwise empty
void, making it rejoice. Divine Mercy appoints eternity for
transient man. And It bestows on man the rank of the beloved of
the One, Eternal before and after eternity.
O man!
Since Divine Mercy is so powerful a truth, and so inviting, so
mild, so helpful, so worthy of love, say: In the Name of God, the
Merciful, the Compassionate. Cling to this truth and be rescued
from utter desolation and the hardships of continual neediness.
Draw near to the Sovereign, Eternal before and after eternity, and
become the one addressed, befriended, and beloved of that
Sovereign.
That the
many kinds of entities in the universe are gathered around man
with purpose and foresight, and hasten to provide all his needs
with perfect orderliness and grace-plainly, this situation
requires explanation. Either every kind of entity in the universe
itself recognizes man and so runs to his help obediently-which is
as irrational as it is impossible-or a creature so weak as man
possesses the power of the mightiest, absolute sovereign. A third
possibility is that help to man reaches him through the
recognition of One Absolutely Powerful, behind the veil of the
visible universe. In other words, it is not that the different
entities in the universe recognize man, but that their doing so is
an evidence that One, All-Knowing and Compassionate, is acquainted
with him and recognizes him.
O man! Come
to your senses! The All-Majestic One causes all kinds of entities
to turn toward you, their hands outstretched, offering assistance
and saying “Here we are!” when you are in need. Hoe could it
be that He does not know you, that He does not see you, that He is
not aware of you? He teaches you that He knows you through His
Mercy. Then, know Him also and reverently show that you do. Know
for sure that Divine Mercy, comprising Wisdom, Grace, Knowledge,
and Power, subjects the extensive universe to a creature like
yourself -- slight, transient, feeble, powerless and needy-- and
submits it to your service.
Mercy
requires total and sincere gratitude, an honest and ardent
reverence.
Without
doubt, such Mercy requires total and sincere gratitude, an honest
and ardent reverence. Say, then: In the Name of God, the Merciful,
the Compassionate, which expresses and interprets such sincere
gratitude and honest reverence. Make it the means of an admission
to His Mercy, an intercessor and advocate at the Court of the
All-Merciful.
The
Gracious All-Merciful One submits to the service of life the sun
and moon, elements and minerals, and plants and animals like the
warp and weft of a vast tapestry woven from the light of His
thousand and one Names. He demonstrates His Compassion in the
self-sacrifice, the extraordinary sweetness of compassion, of
motherhood in plants and animals. Also He subjects all animate
life to man and thereby shows man’s importance, his being the
finest, loveliest weave from the Divine Lordship. And, thus, He
makes evident the brilliance of His Mercy. In the light of His own
absolute lack of need, God made His Mercy the acceptable
intercessor for His sentient creatures and man.
As the Seal
of Mercy and Divine Oneness is impressed upon the face of the
earth, so also is it impressed upon the face of man’s nature.
And the Mercy stamped upon him is not less than that Compassion
and Mercy stamped upon the face of the whole, vast universe.
Plainly, man does possess a comprehensive nature as the center of
the weave, the focal point of a thousand and one Divine Names.
The way to
ascend to the throne of the Divine Mercy
O man! Know
that there is a way to ascend to the throne of the Divine Mercy,
and that way is In the Name of God, the Merciful, the
Compassionate. Grasp the measure of its importance by looking at
the beginning of the chapters of the Quran, which is a miracle
of exposition, at the beginning of all worthwhile books, at the
beginning of all good actions. A clear argument, too, for the
greatness of In the Name of God, a greatness determined by Him, is
the comment of Imam Shafi’i, one of the very foremost Islamic
scholars, may God be pleased with him. He said, “Although In the
Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate is a single verse, it
was revealed one hundred and fourteen times in the Quran.”
O unhappy
man, laboring within a limitless impotence and unending neediness!
Understand how valuable a means and how acceptable an intercessor
Divine Mercy is. It is the means to a Glorious Sovereign in Whose
army vast galaxies and minute particles serve together in perfect
obedience and harmony. And He, that Glorious Sovereign, the One,
Eternal before and after eternity, is the
Eternally-Besought-everything needs Him Who is wholly without
need.
He is rich
without measure, in no way needy of the universe or the entities
within it. The whole of it is under His authority and direction,
wholly obedient before His Majesty and Greatness, awed and
prostrate before His Sublimity. Such is Divine Mercy, O man, and
it is for you. It uplifts you to the Presence of One, absolutely
without need, the Eternal Sovereign, Who befriends you, Who
addresses you as His well-loved servant. The sun is at a great
distance from you so you cannot reach it nor draw close to it even
though its light is reflected and made manifest to you by your
mirror. In the same way, you are at an infinite remove from the
Light of the Pure and Holy One, the Eternal before and after
eternity. You cannot draw yourself closer to Him but that the
Light of His Mercy makes Him closer to you.
Whoever
finds Mercy finds an eternal treasure of unfailing light
Therefore,
O man, whoever finds this Mercy finds an eternal treasure of
unfailing light. And the way to it is through the sunna of the
most noble Prophet (pbuh) who is the most brilliant exemplar and
representative of Mercy, its most eloquent voice and herald, and
who is hailed in the Quran as “a mercy for all the worlds.”
And the way
to reach this embodiment of Mercy who is “a mercy to all the
worlds” is to utter the prayer calling the blessings of God upon
him. Surely, the intent of this prayer is mercy. As a prayer of
mercy for the one who was a living embodiment of Divine Mercy, it
is the means of reaching the “mercy to all the worlds.”
Therefore, make this prayer the means to the “mercy to all the
worlds,” for yourself, and thereby make him your means to the
Mercy of the Most Merciful of the Merciful.
The whole
body of Muslims in their vast numbers worldwide utter this prayer
for the “mercy to all the worlds” which is synonymous with
Mercy. And that is a dazzling demonstration of how precious a gift
Divine Mercy is and how broad its sphere.
To
conclude: The most precious jewel in the treasure-house of Mercy
is the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and he is also its door-keeper. The
first key to that treasure-house of Mercy is In the Name of God,
the Merciful, the Compassionate. And the most easy key is the
prayer for the Prophet.
O God!
For the sake of the mysteries of In the Name of God, the
Merciful, the Compassionate, bestow blessings and peace on the
one whom You sent as a mercy to all the worlds in accordance
with Your Mercy and the honor due to him, and on all his
family and his Companions. Grant us mercy so that we are free
of need for the mercy of any other than You. Amen.
Glory
be to You! We have no knowledge save what You have taught us.
Truly, You are the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.
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