The Mercy of Ar-Rahman

Sura Rahman , Chapter 55 , known as the 'Bride of the Quran' begins thus :


1. The Most Beneficent (Allah)!
2. Has taught (you mankind) the Qur'an (by His Mercy).
3. He created man.
4. He taught him eloquent speech.


Verse 1 says : 'Ar-Rahman'

There are 99 names of Allah , which includes 'Ar-Rahman' , i.e the one who is merciful or has mercy.
Our connection is only with Allah's attributes ( eg. Ar-Rahman - The Most Gracious , Ar-Raheem - The Most Merciful , Al-Wadood - The loving , Al-Ghafoor - The forgiving ) and not with the knowledge of how His 'form' is.

His name is Allah.

From the names of His attributes , the name at the highest level , the peak of his attributes is - 'Ar-Rahman' .

The Sura starts as : 'Ar - Rahman'......( I am Rahman...)

Why is this particular Sura , starting with this specific attribute ?

Because it is this attribute , 'Rahman' ( the one with mercy ) that we need the most.

In trouble , we say : 'O Allah , have mercy on me !'

In anxiety , our lips pray : 'My Lord! Be merciful to me !'

In this life as well as the life after Death , we are constantly in need of His 'mercy' , 'Ar-Rahma'.

Even Jannah we will get only through His mercy.

We must not rely on our good deeds , but on His mercy ( for what good and how much have we done anyway ?? ).

A believer must maintain a path between fear of Allah and hope from His mercy.

The Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) has said :
' I am also in need of Allah's mercy. '
And he (saws) is the best in all respects among mankind !

A Hadeeth says :

"Allah has divided mercy into one hundred parts; and He retained with Him ninety-nine parts, and sent down to earth one part. Through this one part creatures deal with one another with compassion. "

A mother loves her child so much , due to that one part of Rahma that Allah bestowed.
Then think , how much Allah loves his creatures ; Allah who has 99 times the mercy of all the mothers in the world ?

Allah says that He is Rich (Gani , Rich , free of all wants) and you (human beings) are poor....

If all mankind becomes kafir , it causes no change , no want for Allah.
If everyone becomes Salih (good , pious) , even that makes no change in Allah's Richness.

He doesn't need our prayers , fasts , zikr , good character , anything. It is we who are in absolute need of Him. In want of His MERCY.

There is a Ka'ba for the dwellers of earth , and a similar house ( called Bait-ul-Ma'mur ) directly above the Ka'ba of the earth , in the seventh Heaven. Everyday 70,000 angels perform 'Tawaf' around it and the angels who have done it once , will not get their turn again till the Day of Qiyamah.

Think then , how many angels are there ???

Allah has created angels who worship Him completely. He doesn't need our half-hearted , weak acts of worship.

But yet Allah is Merciful , Rahman.....

When we are hungry , He shows us hospitality , provides us with food...
When we are sleeping , He places guard over us...
When we are sinning , He is Merciful....

He lets us loose , allows us freedom , doesn't catch us so quickly upon our sins ; Sin upon sin , we pile up ; yet He gives us time to turn back , to repent.

But man himself makes this Mercy into Azab (punishment).

Moosa (alayhis salam) had a habit , that when he used to sit for eating , he liked to eat with some guest. One day , nobody was there to eat with him ; so he went out and found an old man and requested him to come and eat with him (Moosa (as)).

Moosa(as) : 'First , you must say 'Bismillah hir rahma nir raheem' before you eat.'

Old man : 'I don't know this.I won't say it. I will take the name of my God.'

Moosa (as) gets angry and says : 'If you won't take Allah's name , then go away.'

So the man went.

Allah sent Jibreel (alayhis salam) to convey to Moosa (as) that He did not like the way Moosa (as) behaved with the old man.

Allah said , ' Since 80 years , this man is disobeying me , doing shirk with me , but still I am feeding him and you could not give him food for one day ? '


The attributes , Rahman and Raheem both pertain to 'mercy' but :
Ar-Rahman is a name that encompasses every type of mercy that Allah has. It has more meanings of mercy than Raheem.

Allah forgives on the basis of small , small deeds also for some people.

Once , a man died , and his near , dear one saw him in dreams and asked , ' What did Allah decide with you ? '

The dead man : 'He forgave me.'

'On what deed did He forgive ?'

" I did not know , but once Allah Himself called me and asked , ' Do you know why I forgave you ? ' "

Allah continued :
'One day you were sitting in the company of people who had gathered to remember Me. You were advising and telling people about Me.In that company was a man who never had any fear of me. On hearing you , his heart was filled with fear of Me and he started to cry. His crying made me love him. Earlier , he never used to fear me. It was on his crying that I forgave the entire assembly of people.'


Allah is looking for excuses to forgive us!

Who knows whose sitting , talking , walking may serve to save many others from punishment ?


When Rahman's Rahmat (mercy) burst with full force ...
When the ocean of His mercy boiled over.....
He gave His slaves a gift.

It was the attribute of Ar-Rahman due to which , Allah has given us , The Quran , the gift.

Verses say :

1. The Most Beneficent (Allah)!
2. Has taught (you mankind) the Qur'an (by His Mercy).

Allah has given many types of knowledge in the world. Be it farming , science , engineering. Every kind of Ilm (knowledge) is found. Moreover , Ilm keeps increasing over time.

But , the peak , the highest place of all knowledge , is the knowledge of Al-Quran.

(1) Ar-Rahman - the peak of Allah's attributes
(2) Has taught the Qur'an - the peak of all knowledge

But man has put that behind him.

Most knowledge we seek today is from schools , tuitions , colleges for our wordly needs ; no effort is spared to attain it. We do not value the peak of knowledge : The Quran.


What does it mean by ‘value’ the Quran ? Read on….


Verse 3 says :
3. " He created man."

Allah says that amongst all His creation , be it angels , Jinns , animals , plants , human beings ; the best (Ashraf ul Makhluqat) of His creation is mankind.

It is the ‘peak of His creation’.

Man’s outer appearance , his inner faculties ; It is the peak of Allah's perfection in creation.

It is we , who say :

‘This person’s nose is small.’
‘That fellow’s eyes are very big.’
‘The girl does not have good features.’

We are criticising Allah , not the person we chose as an object for ridicule.

Listen again then to what Allah says :
“ Verily, We created man of the best stature (mould) "

" Humne insaan ko bada khubsoorat banaya "

(Sura Tin , Verse 4 )

Allah has also told us that He has created man with His own Hands and then blown the soul into him (man). What Allah makes is perfect ; but it is man’s own bad deeds that debase him to the point where he becomes worse than animals.

“ Then We reduced him to the lowest of the low, "

(Sura Tin , Verse 5)


Today we are namesake Muslims , we are ‘called’ Muslims .
Our bad deeds ; not practising Islam in its entirety according to the Quran and the Sunnah has resulted in our present world problems.

Allah has made us the ‘best of His creation’ – are we grateful ?
Further , He has made our birth into Muslim homes – are we thankful ?

We could have been born in a Kafir’s home and spent life without knowing Islam , without being guided to be a MUSLIM.

Morever , He has made us the Best Prophet’s (saws) Ummati. His Ummah is the best among all the Ummah’s of previous Prophets!


Verse 4 of Sura Rahman says :

" He taught him eloquent speech."

Allah has given us the power of hearing , seeing , feeling but He has mentioned here only about the faculty of ‘speech’.


Now if we consider all 4 verses of Sura Rahman and compare it to a Hadith in which the Prophet (saws) has said that this best faculty (of speech) , use it to learn the best of knowledge (Al-Quran) , sent by the Best , Ar-Rahman .

Another Hadith says :
" The best among you are those who learn and teach the Quran. "

And we say :

‘This man’s house is the best.’
‘That person has the best of such and such (worldly)thing.’

We can’t teach maybe , no problem. Include yourself ‘among the best’ by seeking to learn Quran in some way ; be it the proper way to recite (with Tajweed) , its translation and so on.

The above mentioned Hadith was referred to his (saws) Companions (Radi Allah Anhum) as much as to us today.

The Sahaba (Companions) , who were , still ARE the BEST , the elite of Muslims ; to them he (saws) has said that ‘the best among you (Sahaba) are those who learn or teach the Quran’ .

The best are further classified into yet higher levels!

We cannot even compare ourselves to the soles of their (Sahabas) footwear !

The Rights of the Quran on you are :

(1) Reading it. ( Isko pado )
(2) Understanding it. ( Isko samjho )
(3) Believing / accepting it. ( Isko mano )
(4) Practising it. ( Is par amal karo )
(5) Spreading / conveying its message to people. ( Isko logo tak pohchao )


These are the rights of the Quran upon EVERY MUSLIM.


In a Hadith , we get to know that :

If you fulfill all 5 rights then on the Day of Judgement it (the Quran) will stand as a witness on your behalf.

If you have fulfilled its rights , it will argue for you with Allah.
If you have disregarded it , it shall speak against you……

And in both situations it is a very strong fighter!


We argue that Arabic is not our language , it is difficult to understand and so on ; even for our own mother tongue we need a tutor to help us ; similarly for the Quran , how can you expect its knowledge to come to us , sitting at home ?