Al Witr – The One and The Unique

Allah is the One who each and every one of us depends on and, He is the one and only Deity that we believe in. Allah swt is One in His being, meaning there is no other like Him. He is unique in His essence, in all His attributes and there is nothing equal to Him in any way.

Linguistically the word ‘Witr’ means that which is odd-numbered, uneven or not equable. Allah’s name Al-Witr is related in meaning to His beautiful names Al-Ahad and Al-Waahid.

Al-Waahid shows that He is One and that he has always been One. There was never a time where there were multiple Gods, and there never will be. Al-Ahad conveys the meaning that there is no one similar in His uniqueness. Allah swt is absolutely unique in His attributes and characteristics. His listening and His hearing are not like anyone else’s listening and hearing. This is supported by the ending of Surah Ikhlaas – ‘nor is there to Him any equivalent’.

And Al-Witr is the One, the Odd, and an entity that cannot be divided. Allah swt has no match, He is unparalleled and unequalled. He cannot be divided and there is no one that can become equal to Him or that can become His counterpart.
Allah says, “All praise be to Allah Who has neither taken to Himself a son, nor has He any partner in His Kingdom, nor does He need anyone, out of weakness, to protect Him.” (Al Isra 17:111) Similarly, when the polytheists came to the Prophet SAW and said to him “tell us about the lineage of your Lord”, Allah swt revealed Surah Ikhlaas to highlight there is no lineage for Allah swt. You do not talk about Allah the way you talk about the creation. You do not liken Allah to the creation – when you look at the creation you wonder; where is its origin? Where did it come from? But Allah swt is the Creator, He always was and always will be One.

Allah swt has created the entire creation in pairs, as he says, “And of everything We have created two pairs” (Adh-Dhariyat 51:49) such that they have an opposite or counterpart. It is only then it is complete, i.e., the is no concept of light if there is no darkness. Things are known by their opposites, if not their existence would be incomplete. However, Allah swt is independent of ALL. He is perfect and complete in and of Himself. He alone is the Creator and there is no Owner besides Him. He has absolute authority and power over the creation.

Therefore, all of these names are teaching us that Allah azza wa jall is One and Unique in His essence, all His powers, knowledge and abilities. He is One in His Uloohiyya, no one has a share, He is the only One that deserves worship. All attributes of divinity are solely confined to Allah and this is why we believe in the concept of Tawheed.

So how can we live by this name?
Study the meaning and increase your understanding of the Oneness of Allah (Tahweed). It is important to live with the understanding of the Oneness of Allah swt. If you don’t know about the oneness of Allah, then you are missing out – you are missing out on life and on your true purpose of existence. Tawheed is liberating, it is a beautiful wholesome concept which satisfies our minds and hearts and brings us clarity. Tawheed is the greatest reality because it is the reality of our Creator.

In this life, when you believe that it is Allah swt who is the giver and disposer of all affairs, He is the one who has all power. You ONLY need to strive to please Allah. Allah is Al-Witr, the One who your complete focus should be on. Give Allah swt importance over everything else. Remind yourself each day Allah swt is the only one who can give you Paradise, so put Him first and not what people think or want of you or even what your nafs whispers to you. Once you are able to do this, everything else falls into place. This is when your heart will truly be at peace; you will have found your purpose in life.

Lastly mention and declare His Oneness when making Dua.
‘O Allah, Al-Witr, we bear witness that there is no God but You, we know that You are One and Unique. Help us to remind ourselves of Your oneness and turn to You only for all our needs and us of those who consistently pray the Witr Prayer.’ Allahumma Ameen♥️

Each year, when Ramadan comes around, it’s very easy for us to feel overwhelmed – there is so much we would like to get done in a day, but we’re often limited by the hours we have. We may begin Ramadan with ambitious goals, only to reach the end of the month realising that we came nowhere close to achieving them. Being students, we sometimes feel frustrated that we’re not spending as much time in Ibadah as we’d like, due to university and other commitments, but it really shouldn’t have to be like that.

Ramadan is a blessed month in which the rewards of our actions are increased many times over, and we should take full advantage of this. It is a time in which we can move closer to Allah, free ourselves from the whispers of Shaytaan and our own nafs, and continue on the path to attain taqwa. By beginning to incorporate some of the simple acts mentioned below into our day, we hope this Ramadan will encourage us all to take a step towards maximising our time and therefore our reward, insha’Allah.

Through a series of blog posts, we hope to give you tips on how best to make the most of your Ramadan, insha’Allah!

Everything begins with our intention:

Before lifting a finger, we must firstly decide what we intend by our actions.

After all, the Prophet ﷺ said ‘Actions are but by intentions and every person shall have only that which he intended’ [Sahih al-Bukhari – 1] – and this is something we can use to our advantage. Of course, when we fast, pray, or recite dhikr we may intend it as worship, but what if we could apply this concept to even the most mundane, everyday tasks? What if we could turn sleeping, eating, and even bathing into an opportunity to earn ajr?

The key to this is our intentions and being mindful of them. So often we are on autopilot and we catch ourselves doing certain acts purely out of habit. To avoid this, we must pause before we pick up the Quran, or raise our hands to begin salah and ask ourselves why am I doing this?

Similarly, when we do things we wouldn’t necessarily think of as obvious acts of worship we should pause to think, is there some way I can make what I am about to do a form of Ibadah?

For example, when we would like to sleep, we can set our intention as fulfilling our body’s rights over us and gaining strength with the intention of waking up to pray tahajjud, or fajr, or do some other good with it.

When we break our fast, we can begin with eating an odd number of dates with the intention of following the sunnah of our beloved Prophet ﷺ. When we eat, we can intend it so that we are nourishing our bodies so we can stand to pray taraweeh.

If we adopt this mindset and seek a means to make everything we do an act of worship, we will bi’ithnillah begin to understand what Allah means when He says:

“I did not create jinn or man except to worship me” [51:56].

At-Tayyib. The Good, The Pure.

Allah (swt) is utterly good whereas his creation is not. He is unconditionally pure and good and no creation has that attribute associated with it. He is The Good, The Kind and The Pure in His Essence, Names, Attributes, Actions and Words. He does not accept any deed or saying from us, except that which is good.

Allah (swt) is free from all imperfections and is pure in his being. Its narrated in Sahih Muslim “Allah the Almighty is Good and accepts only that which is good. And verily Allah has commanded the believers to do that which He has commanded the Messengers”. He makes what he wills good and pure to accept it. Allah (swt) destined good people to good deeds, He guides them to everything good in life because of their goodness. He chooses the best of His creation for Himself such as His Messengers and the righteous. He blesses His obedient servants with good provision, just as He did for His Messengers, peace be upon them.

So how can we use this name? Well we as muslims must ensure our hearts and bodies are good and pure, void of any bad desires or doubts. We must adopt the attributes which agree with some of the Divine attributes, i.e. we have to be good and pure in our manners and character, we should distance ourselves from the filth of sins, and the harming of people, we should race to good deeds, for ourselves and for the people. We should be good in our relationship with our Lord, worship him sincerely and good in treating people. We as the slaves of Allah (swt) should not praise ourselves and describe ourselves as good. The worst kinds of praising is to describe ourselves with a quality that is not in us, or another person with a quality that is not in him.

One of my favourite duas which we should all make in order to become purer and to become from those that strive for goodness is:

‘O Allah! Assist me in remembering You, in thanking You, and in worshipping You in the best of manners’
Allahumma Ameen.