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Whoever establishes the commands of Allah, Allah will support him and whoever uses whatever is in his power for the sake of Allah, Allah will subject to him what is in His Hand. Indeed, the entire universe is in the Hand of Allah Almighty for He is the Able and the Omnipotent.
The Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) said: “While a man was walking through a barren land, he heard a voice coming out of a cloud saying: ‘Irrigate the garden of so-and-so.’ Thereupon, the cloud drifted in a certain direction and discharged its water over a rocky plain. The streamlets flowed into a channel. This man followed the channel until it reached a garden and he saw the owner of the garden standing in its center, working with his spade spreading the water. He asked him: ‘O servant of Allah, what is your name?’ He told him his name, which was the same that he heard from the cloud.
The owner of the garden then asked him: ‘O servant of Allah, why did you ask about my name?’ He replied: ‘I heard a voice from the cloud which poured down this water saying: “Irrigate the garden of so-and-so.” I would like to know what you do with it.’
He said: ‘Now since you have asked me, I will tell you. I estimate the produce of the garden and give one-third of it in charity, spend one-third on myself and my family, and invest one-third back into the garden.’” [Narrated by Muslim]
{...Allah is not such that something can escape Him in the heavens or on earth. He is indeed All-Knowing, Most Capable.} [Surat Fātir: 44] {Do you not know that the dominion of the heavens and earth belongs to Allah? He punishes whom He wills and forgives whom He wills, and Allah is Most Capable of all things.} [Surat al-Mā’idah: 40]
Our Lord, Exalted be He, is competent over all things, and nothing can escape His power or will. Unlike His creation, He, Exalted be He, never experiences inability or slackness.
Our Lord possesses complete power. With His power, He brought everything into existence, and with His power, He proportioned and perfected their creation, gives life and causes death, and then resurrects His servants for the recompense, rewarding those who do good and punishing the wrongdoers.
Our Lord is the One Who {...When He intends a thing, He says to it: “Be”, and it is.} [Surat Yasīn: 82]
He is the Omnipotent and nothing can ever escape His power or will.
Part of His ability is that: {...He punishes whom He wills and forgives whom He wills, and Allah is Most Capable of all things.} [Surat al-Mā’idah: 40] Allah Almighty says: {...“He is Capable to send a punishment from above you or from beneath your feet, or split you into factions, and make you suffer at the hands of one another.”...} [Surat al-An‘ām: 65]
Another aspect of His ability is that He is able to bring and gather us together wherever we may be. {...Wherever you are, Allah will bring you all together, for Allah is Most Capable of all things..} [Surat al-Baqarah: 148]
Another aspect of Allah’s perfect ability, of which He informs us, is that He will grasp the earth in His Hand on the Day of Judgment and fold the heavens with His right Hand. Allah Almighty says: {They did not revere Allah His true reverence. On the Day of Resurrection, the whole earth will be in His Grip, and the heavens will be rolled up in His Right Hand. Glorified and exalted is He above all what they associate with Him!} [Surat az-Zumar: 67]
Our Lord, Exalted be He, predestined all determinations. He knew the measures and times of all things before creating them and then brought them into existence according to His foreknowledge. {...That is the determination of the All-Mighty, the All-Knowing.} [Surat Yasīn: 38]
Allah Almighty decreed the destinies of His creatures thousands of years before He actually created them. The Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) is authentically reported to have said: “Allah decreed the destinies of the creatures fifty thousand years before He created the heavens and the earth, when His Throne was upon the water.” [Narrated by Muslim]
Hence, this is part of faith. When Jibrīl (Gabriel) (peace be upon him) asked the Messenger of Allah (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) about faith, he replied: “To believe in Allah, His angels, His books, His messengers, the Last Day, and to believe in destiny, the pleasant and unpleasant aspects thereof.” [Narrated by Al-Bukhāri and Muslim - this is the wording of Muslim -]
Our Lord points out His ability in the Noble Qur’an, as He says: {...Allah is not such that something can escape Him in the heavens or on earth. He is indeed All-Knowing, Most Capable.} [Surat Fātir: 44]
If Allah wants to support you, He can command something, which is normally not a means of support, and make it one of the best means of support for you.
And if the Omnipotent wants to honor you, He can make those from whom you expect no good the very cause of blessings and abundance for you.
And if the Able Lord wants to remove harm from you, He can make you see no harm or cause it to fail to reach you.
Also, if the Almighty Lord wants to protect you from sin, He can make you hate it, make it hard for you to commit, or let you proceed towards it and then something occurs that prevents you from it.
So, it behooves us to knock on the door of Allah, the Omnipotent.
Prophet Abraham (peace be upon him) left his family alone, entrusting them to Allah, and said: {...So make hearts of the people incline toward them...} [Surat Ibrāhim: 37] As a result, Makkah has become a place for which the hearts yearn over the ages.
Prophet Sulaymān (Solomon) (peace be upon him) supplicated: {My Lord, grant me authority and join me with the righteous.} [Surat ash-Shu‘arā’: 83] In response, Allah Almighty subjected the jinn to his authority.
While Yūnus (Jonah) (peace be upon him) was in the darkness of the night, the sea, and the belly of the whale, he supplicated: {...There is no god except You; Glorified are You. Indeed, I have been of the wrongdoers.} [Surat al-Anbiyā’: 87] Consequently, the belly of the whale became like a container for him.
And Prophet Muhammad (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) used to supplicate Allah saying: “Allāhumma inni astakhīruka bi‘ilmika wa astaqdiruka biqudratika wa as’aluka min fadlika fa’innaka taqdiru wa la aqdir (O Allah, I consult You through Your knowledge, and I seek strength through Your power, and ask of Your great bounty; for You are Able, whereas I am not).” [Narrated by Al-Bukhāri]
We should seek refuge in the ability of Allah Almighty from all evils and harms, like in the supplication which the Prophet (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) taught us to make during illness: “A‘ūdhu bi‘izzatillāhi wa qudratihi min sharri ma ajidu wa uhādhir (I seek refuge in the might and ability of Allah from the evil of what I experience) seven times.” [Narrated by Muslim]
And Allah Almighty says: {...And Allah is Omnipotent, and Allah is All-Forgiving, Most Merciful.} [Surat al-Mumtahanah: 7] This clearly indicates that Allah’s forgiveness and mercy towards His servants stem from perfect power and ability. No sin is too great for Him to forgive or conceal, and no mercy is too much for Him to bestow upon His servants.
Not all those who possess power and ability do forgive and show mercy.
And not all those who forgive and show mercy possess power and ability. Indeed, it is Allah Almighty Who has complete ability, yet He is All-Forgiving, Most-Merciful.
Allah Almighty says: {...Whoever puts his trust in Allah, He is sufficient for him. Indeed, Allah will surely accomplish His purpose, for Allah has set a destiny for everything.} [Surat at-Talāq: 3] Whoever fears Allah and relies upon Him will find His support coming without delay and will not despair of His mercy and help. Relief is sure to come to him, for Allah Almighty is competent over all things.
However, Allah Almighty set a certain measure for everything. It has a specific time, which it cannot miss. So, when something is predestined to happen, none can delay it or bring it forward even for a single hour.
A person may sleep in despair with regard to some distress and then he wakes up to find relief. {...Allah has full power over all things.} [Surat al-Kahf: 45]
Distress lasts for a specific time and then goes away. Indeed, Allah Almighty set a measure for everything.
A tree will not bear fruit unless its specific time comes; the sun does not rise before its time; a pregnant woman only gives birth according to a specified term. {...Allah has set a destiny for everything.} [Surat at-Talāq: 3]
O Allah, forgive us and show mercy to us; indeed, You are competent over all things.