How Merciful is the Most Merciful? | Allah's Names Ep. 1 | Dr. Omar Suleiman | Ramadan Series 2026

Adam! Where'd

he go? Adam!

شو بتسوي هلقيت؟ لازم نخلي بسرعة، يلا قومي! وين

بدك تخليني؟ في قرنة قريبة لدار خالي لازم نخلي عليها،

يلا بسرعة قومي! ما بديش أثقل عليكم! ثقلك على الأرض يا

أختي، يلا قومي قومي! قومي! يلا!

صحيتي لحالك ولا معك حدا؟

يلا هيه هيه! Adam!

Didn't I tell you to stay in the car?

يلا let's go، قوم! تخلّينيش أظل أعيد الحكي؟

يلا let's go، قوم!

ولك بقول لك... يلا قوم let's go! تغلنيش! Hey!

Take it easy! What are you doing, man?

None of your business, old man! I'm talking to you!

Listen, he's my nephew, he's just a little... stubborn,

that's all. Answer me, boy. Do you know this man?

ولك قله إشي مالك؟ What are you saying?

And where are you from anyway? I'm... we're

from Jerusalem. I'm his uncle, maybe he just didn't

understand the language or something. Jerusalem, huh?

One more time. Do you know this man? Yes!

I actually did

understand the language.

He doesn't like you much, does he?

Well, neither do I.

الرَّحْمَنُ عَلَّمَ الْقُرْآنَ خَلَقَ الْإِنْسَانَ The Most Merciful.

He taught the Qur'an, He created man. You see, before

He even made you, He gave you a very specific

way to know Him. Think about how much first impressions matter.

What are the first few words at the top

of your profile? Because those few words tell the whole

world what you want to be known as and known for.

And 113 surahs in the Qur'an begin with this

header from Allah Himself بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ

الرَّحِيمِ And even before the Qur'an was revealed to us

Suleiman عليه السلام introduces Allah this way to a

pagan queen and nation إِنَّهُ مِنْ سُلَيْمَانِ

وَإِنَّهُ بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ Verily,

it is from Suleiman, and it begins in the name

of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful.

Out of all of His names, He chose Ar-Rahman

and Ar-Rahim because mercy is the first door to get

to know Him. And before even Suleiman wrote it in

his letter, it was written by Allah above the throne

إِنَّ رَحْمَتِي غَلَبَتْ غَضَبِي Verily, My mercy

prevails over My wrath. And you'll notice that the only

name that Allah pairs with His throne is الرَّحْمَٰنِ

الرَّحْمَٰنُ عَلَى الْعَرْشِ اسْتَوَىٰ It's as if to say

that His mercy is the governing principle of everything

beneath His throne, which serves as the roof of all

of creation. So what does that functionally mean? Ibn

al-Qayyim رحمه الله said it means He made forgiveness

more beloved to Him than vengeance. وَالرَّحْمَةُ أَحَبُّ

إِلَيْهِ مِنَ الْعُقُوبَةِ and mercy, more beloved to

Him than punishment; and grace, more beloved to Him than

justice; and giving, more beloved to Him than

withholding. So He framed His entire creation with His

mercy. And then not only that, His mercy frames all

of His other names and attributes.

Ar-Rahman can be added to every other name because He's merciful with His

knowledge. He's merciful with His sight. He's merciful

with His power. So He introduces Himself as Ar-Rahman

before الْعَزِيزُ الْجَبَّارُ الْقَهَّارُ.

Because even when His might shows, He never stops being the Most Merciful.

And after He wrote mercy on Himself and then into the scheme

of the cosmos, He then programmed it into our

very creation. When the soul of Adam عليه السلام entered

his body for the very first time, he sneezed. And

the very first words he heard from his Lord, يَرْحَمُكَ

يَرْحَمُكَ اللَّهُ. "May Allah have mercy on you." So mercy was

humanity's welcome into existence. And then before He

sent us to Earth, Allah سبحانه وتعالى created these

sacred bonds of families from the throne. And He hung

them and He said, "I am the Most Merciful, and I

created the sacred ties of the womb."

Then He placed you in that womb, which He calls الرَّحِم,

because it's derived from His رحمة. It's a sanctuary of

mercy where every single one of your needs is being

met without you having to do anything for yourself.

Your mother gives you everything she's got to sustain you

with nothing in return from you. It's the selfless,

one-sided love that's the closest thing that reflects

Allah's mercy on His creation.

And then you come out of the womb into this world, and Allah immediately and

perpetually surrounds you with a mercy that encompasses

everything. And the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said,

"Verily, Allah created 100 portions of mercy,

And he sent down to this Earth just one of those portions."

Through that 1% of mercy, the entire world is sustained.

And it includes the entirety of mercy that creation is

capable of showing to each other, whether it's human

beings, jinn, or even animals. I want you to imagine

the ocean's depth, 35,000 feet down, which by the way

is the same altitude that your plane flies at.

And in the darkness of that ocean, there's a fish

that's cleaning the parasites off of another fish while

Allah is adjusting the temperature of the water itself.

And then in the height of the open sky, a bird

is signaling danger to another bird while all along

مَا يُمْسِكُهُنَّ إِلَّا الرَّحْمَٰنُ No one is holding

them up except for the Most Merciful. Then think about

your own life and every interaction of mercy that

ever known, whether it was your mother's embrace or

maybe a friend's forgiveness or even the random act of

kindness from a stranger. All of that is from one

drop of Allah's mercy. But then someone says, "Well, why

is there still so much cruelty on Earth?" And it's

for the same reason that hunger exists in a world

that's overflowing with food, not because we have a

shortage, but because we fail to share. We're not short

of Allah's mercy. We're short of the mirrors to reflect

that mercy. Allah sent 1% of mercy to this Earth,

and we're supposed to be the trustees of that mercy.

And where the trustees fail, Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى stores

the debt for the day where He saved the remaining

99 portions of His mercy to be dispersed. And still,

look around, even in the midst of the worst human

cruelty that we see, His mercy keeps manifesting. What

more powerful imagery than the famous story of a mother

who runs between swords to pick up her child after

battle? Then she holds that baby tight and she starts

to nurse him. And the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم

captured the moment and he says to the companions,

See that mom with her baby? Allah is more merciful to you

than she is to that child." You know why

Because the one who created the mother's mercy is

certainly more merciful than her. Her love is just a

tiny drop of His mercy. And that's why Hammad ibn

Salama said to Sufyan al-Thawri, "Wallahi, if I had to

choose between my parents or Allah judging me on the Day

of Judgment, I would choose Allah because He is

even more merciful to me than my parents." Then someone

says, "Wait a minute, then how come that merciful Lord

does throw people into Hell?" Because Allah is not

limited in His mercy or by His mercy. Even that mother

on the Day of Judgment would flee from her

child at some point out of fear for herself. And His

mercy doesn't cancel His justice. Think about

it. Wouldn't it be cruel to the victims in

Gaza and Sudan and elsewhere if the oppressor and the

oppressed were treated the exact same way? So no, Allah

is not going to treat them the same, not because His

mercy is limited, but because it's perfect. So when

someone says, "How can a merciful God throw people into

hell?" respond and say, "Why would people choose hell

over a merciful God?" As Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz

رحمه الله said, لَقَدْ خَابَ وَخَسِرَ مَنْ خَرَجَ عَنْ

رَحْمَةِ اللَّهِ الَّتِي وَسِعَتْ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ

Verily, only a loser misses out on the mercy of Allah

that encompasses all things. Like, how bad do you have

to be to be punished by Ar-Rahman? And that's why

Ibrahim عليه السلام said to his father, يَا أَبَتِي

إِنِّي أَخَافُ أَنْ يَمَسَّكَ عَذَابٌ مِنَ الرَّحْمَٰنِ

I'm afraid you're going to be punished by Ar-Rahman.

He didn't say Al-Jabbar. He used the name Ar-Rahman to

say to get to a point where you're punished even

by Ar-Rahman is a scary spiritual place. And you know

who's in that place? إِنَّ الشَّيْطَانَ كَانَ

لِلرَّحْمَٰنِ عَصِيًّا Verily, the Shaytan was

disobedient to Ar-Rahman, a Lord so merciful to him.

And SubhanAllah, Al-Harith ibn Suwayd, he says that at

some point on the Day of Judgment, even that Shaytan

himself will prop his neck up and look up, hoping

that the mercy of Allah will reach him despite all

the evil that he's done. But he's disqualified himself.

So if that's how much mercy Allah has to where

even the worst disbeliever would still think he has a

chance, then how do you think Allah will treat His

believers on the Day of Judgment? And that's when you

get to encounter another layer of mercy, but this time

from الرَّحِيمِ, where the 99% of His mercy is

reserved for you. You see, الرَّحْمَٰنِ is the entirely

merciful. الرَّحِيمِ is the especially merciful.

الرَّحْمَٰنِ pours His mercy all over creation in this

dunya. Then الرَّحِيمِ personalizes that mercy for the

believers in the hereafter. While الرَّحْمَٰنِ is for

the deserving and the undeserving, الرَّحِيمِ is

exclusively for the righteous. وَكَانَ بِالْمُؤْمِنِينَ

رَحِيمًا And He is Rahim to the believers. الرَّحْمَٰنِ

is mentioned in the Qur'an 57 times. الرَّحِيمِ

114 times, exactly twice that, as if to say الرَّحْمَٰنِ

is for all creation. الرَّحِيمِ doubles the mercy for

those who believe. And He does so when they want

and need it most in the hereafter, where they can

enjoy it forever. But someone might say, "Is there a

special exclusive mercy for the believer in this life as

well?" And the answer is yes. And that is the meaning

of His name, الرَّؤُوفِ, the tenderly merciful.

The scholars say that رَأْفَة is the highest form of

mercy in the Arabic language. And الرَّؤُوفِ has a

special care for the believers even while they're still

here. The scholors say رحمه الله تعالى explained that رَأْفَة

is when Allah protects you before you even know you

needed protection. Like a parent who places a coat on

a child before the cold sets in. It's Allah averting

something from hitting you or maybe making you miss a

turn so that you don't turn into something that would

have hurt you. It's the small things that are happening

inside your body or maybe in the environment around you

to make things pleasant for you with processes you have

no idea are even happening. It's the highest intensity

of mercy, but it operates silently in the background out

of Allah's love for the believer. الرؤوف has a

different layer of mercy in the hereafter for you.

الرؤوف has a deeper layer of mercy for you even

while you're still here. He is رؤوف with His decree

in this life and رحيم with His reward in the next.

There's the mercy that guards before and the mercy

that heals after. And that's why almost every time the

name الرؤوف is mentioned in the Qur'an, it's paired

with الرحيم. Now, how much you're going to receive

of any of these names depends on how much you're

going to reflect of those names. الراحمون

يرحمهم الرحمن. The merciful will be shown

mercy by الرحمن. And if you want more mercy, then

Ibn al-Qayyim رحمه الله says that the nearest to Allah

are those who combine the traits of رؤوف and

رحيم. So look at the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم,

رحمة للعالمين. He was sent as a mercy to the

worlds, but then he was described as

بِالْمُؤْمِنِينَ رَؤُوفٌ رَحِيمٌ, uniquely tender and

merciful to the believers. Reflect of Allah's

mercy what you want of it. Mercy surrounded

you before you could even speak. So speak with

mercy and act with mercy and beg for His mercy.

Thank الرَّؤُوفِ for the mercies you never even

noticed and ask الرَّحِيمِ for the mercies you can't

even yet imagine. And then when all that fails, resort

back to الرَّحْمَٰنِ. There's this beautiful story of a

man that was appealing to Allah's mercy after feeling so

unworthy and so beautiful. He makes this du'a and he

says, يَا رَبَّ, O my Lord, You say, فَمَنْ تَابَ

مِنْ بَعْدِ ظُلْمِهِ وَأَصْلَحَ فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ يَتُوبُ

عَلَيْهِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ, that whoever

repents after his wrongdoing, Allah accepts his

repentance and Allah is forgiving and merciful. And here

I am repenting for my wrongdoing. So Ya Allah,

ارْحَمْنِي. So, O my Lord, ارْحَمْنِي, have mercy on me.

And if you don't find me worthy of that category,

well, You say, Ya Allah, وَكَانَ بِالْمُؤْمِنِينَ

رَحِيمًا, that You are especially merciful to the

believers. And Ya Rabb, أَنَا مُؤْمِنٌ, I am a believer,

ارْحَمْنِي, so have mercy on me. And if you don't

find me to fit in that category either, well, You

say, Ya Allah, وَرَحْمَتِي وَسِعَتْ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ, and my

mercy encompasses all things. وَأَنَا شَيْءٌ, and I am

something. فَرْحَمْنِي, so have mercy on me. And if I

fail to even achieve that, meaning I'm a nobody, I'm

nothing, then what a tragedy it is. But Ya Allah,

You said, الَّذِينَ إِذَا أَصَابَتْهُمْ مُصِيبَةٌ

قَالُوا إِنَّا لِلَّهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَۖ

أُولَٰئِكَ عَلَيْهِمْ صَلَوَاتٌ مِنْ رَبِّهِمْ

وَرَحْمَةٌ, those who when afflicted with a tragedy say,

"We belong to Allah and to Him we return. We

send upon them the blessings of their Lord and His

mercy." So here I am saying, إِنَّا لِلَّهِ وَإِنَّا

إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ, فَرْحَمْنِي, so have mercy on me. You

see, dear brothers and sisters, mercy is not Allah's

mood. It's His constant nature. And wherever you are right

now, it's not out of your reach because you are

something and His mercy encompasses

everything.

Yah Rahman, Your throne You wrote mercy upon Yourself.

You were merciful before there was anyone to receive

mercy. Embrace every part of me with that mercy,

my past with its scars, my present with its needs,

my future with its uncertainty.

Ya Rahim, let me taste the mercy

You keep for those who return.

Reward me with the mercy I have yet to know

and raise me to the highest place in Paradise despite

my lows. Ya Ra'uf, cover me from storms

I don't see coming. Mend me

before I break.

Spare me from trials of every kind. Let Your mercy

reach me in ways I'll only understand when

I finally meet

You.