Al-Musawwir

The Fashioner, who gives every thing its form and shape. Allah Almighty says: "He is Allah, the Creator, the Inventor, the Fashioner; to Him belong the best names. Whatever is in the heavens and earth is exalting Him. And He is the Exalted in Might, the Wise." (Al-Hashr, 24) Hundreds of thousands of different species live upon the earth. Each of these species has an appearance and extraordinary qualities entirely different from the others. Consider, for example, the flawless symmetry of a butterfly's wings. The upper surface of each wing is adorned with varied patterns and striking colours. However intricate these patterns and colours may be, the unique symmetry of the wings is never broken. Every butterfly forms a beauty that delights the eye, as though it had come from a painter's brush. It is clear that the intelligence manifest in such beauty has a source. Even a simply drawn picture has a painter, and it is impossible for a picture to come about by itself. No one, then, can say that a creature so flawlessly made and as aesthetically refined as a work of art came into being by chance. The One who creates, designs and brings all of these into being is Allah, the Lord of the entire universe. Allah, who created the human being and designed with utmost perfection every system within and without the body, displays His supreme creation and might at every point of this complex structure. The skeleton that forms the framework of the human body, for instance, is an engineering marvel in itself. It is the body's structural support system: it protects vital organs such as the brain, heart and lungs, and supports the internal organs. It grants the human body a superior capacity for movement that no artificial machine can imitate. What is more, bone tissue is not lifeless as most people assume. According to the body's needs it stores minerals such as calcium and phosphate, or releases what it has previously stored. Alongside all this, the production of red blood cells is also carried out by the bones. And this multi-functional system is only one of dozens of perfect systems in the human body. Allah, who created all of these with an incomparable design and continues to create, constantly shows us the manifestations of His power. Al-Musawwir: when He wills a thing, He says to it only "Be," and it comes into being in whatever form and shape He wills. Allah Most High says: "In whatever form He willed has He assembled you." (Al-Infitar, 8) Thus Al-Musawwir is the One who creates what He wishes to create in whatever form and shape He wishes. Al-Musawwir also means the One who creates the limbs in harmony with one another and gives them the form He wills. Allah informs us that He created the human being in the finest form: "We have certainly created man in the best of stature." (At-Tin, 4)

This noble name is recited 336 times as "Ya Musawwir, jalla jalaluhu" by those who wish to succeed in their affairs and to rise to high stations materially and spiritually, and by women who suffer miscarriages. If a woman who has no child fasts for seven days and at the time of breaking her fast recites the names "Ya Musawwir, Ya Bari, Ya Khaliq" 21 times over water and blows upon it, and breaks her fast with that water, Almighty Allah grants her a righteous child out of regard for these names.