Al-Awwal

The First of all things. Allah Almighty says: "He is the First and the Last, the Ascendant and the Intimate." (Al-Hadid, 3) Allah Almighty is the One who begins creation and continues it. He is the One who brought all existence into being and who originated and brought forth all objects and events. He is before all things. He has no "before," no antecedent. He has no beginning and is the first of all things, for He is the beginning of all beings and the One who brought them all forth. And at the end, after all of them have perished, He remains. According to the meaning of the verses "Everything will be destroyed except His Face..." (Al-Qasas, 88) and "Everyone upon the earth will perish, and there will remain the Face of your Lord, Owner of Majesty and Honour" (Ar-Rahman, 26-27), all beings go and can go to destruction and annihilation — only He remains. When the causes of their existence are removed, all creatures are in essence destroyed and pass away. Then all affairs are returned to Him. Therefore, just as He is before all of them, He is also the aim of all and the end of existence. So one should not judge Him to be only the First or only the Last, but should say "the First and the Last." Allah Most High is the First without beginning and the Last without end. He is the First before all things and the Last after all things. He is First in bringing into being and creating, and Last in granting guidance and success. He is First in knowing what is in hearts and Last in concealing faults and failings. The beginning began first with Allah, and the return at the end is again to Him. The benefit of knowing this name: Knowing that Allah is the First saves us from looking only at secondary causes and dwelling upon them, and enables us to think more broadly. It helps us look to His pure grace, beneficence and mercy. It leads us to consider that He gave us countless blessings without any contribution from any being. In a setting of absolute nothingness He created all existence. When all beings did not exist and their very names were not mentioned, He prepared everything for us. He gave us strength and power and established the law of cause and effect for beings. His existence depends on no means whatsoever. Whoever understands Allah's name Al-Awwal in this way knows that he is absolutely in need of Him and understands better that he must worship Him with complete sincerity. What is created by "the First" and "the Last" has a beginning and an end. We live as long as our lifespan, and the One who first brought us here takes us away at the last. That is, we came from Him and to Him we return. So let us do deeds worthy of Him and be the first to sign our names to beneficial service.