Al-Baari – The Maker of Order

The Messenger of Allah (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) said: "Whoever recites three times in the morning, ‘I seek refuge in Allah, the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing, from shaytaan the accursed,’ and thereafter the last three ayaat of Surah al Hashr once, 70,000 angels are appointed by Allah, who seek forgiveness on behalf of that person till the evening. Should he die during the day, he will die as a shaheed (martyr). Whosoever recites the above du’a in the evening will enjoy the same benefits till the morning.” [Mishkat]

The last three short ayaat of Surah al-Hashr are basically a listing of many of Allah’s names and attributes. The benefit of remembering Allah’s names and attributes is to renew our belief in them and to set the direction of our lives aright. Allah (subhana wa ta’ala) promises fantastic rewards to the reciter of these three ayaat, which is an additional benefit.

One of the names mentioned in these ayaat is Al-Baari which means “the Maker of Order.” This name of Allah’s comes in the Quran three times. Think about the order in the constellations, in the process of embryonic development, in human nervous systems, in ecological cycles, in the patterns on butterflies’ wings, in the petals of a rose, in the symmetry of our bodies… If only a nose were placed anywhere on the human face except where it is, think of how bad it would look!

Once, Imaam Abu Hanifa was asked by some atheists what made him believe in Allah and he replied, "Forget it! At the moment, I am busy thinking about this ship. People tell me there is a big ship. It contains different goods on board. There is no one to steer it, no one maintaining it. Yet, this ship keeps going back and forth; it even traverses big waves in the oceans; it stops at the locations that it is supposed to stop at; it continues in the direction that it is supposed to head. This ship has no captain and no one planning its trips."

The atheist who posed the question interrupted and exclaimed, "What kind of strange and silly thought is this? How can any intelligent person think that some thing like this can occur?"

Imaam Abu Hanifa said, "I feel sorry for your state! You cannot imagine one ship running without some one looking after its affairs. Yet you think that for this whole world, which runs exactly and precisely, there is no one who looks after it, and no one owns it."

Hearing this reply, the atheists were left speechless but found more out about al-Haqq (the Truth) and proclaimed Islam. [Tafseer Ibn Katheer]