Reciting the Most Beautiful Names of Allah
Shaykh Jamir Meah is asked the proper way to make remembrance or dhikr of the Name of Allah, Al Latif, and the benefits thereof.
Question:
Assalam alaykum wa rahmat Allah wa barakatuh.
I was wondering about the difference in reciting the names of Allah Most High using the different forms. For example is there a difference if I recite “Al Wadood” or “Ya Wadood.”
The reason I ask this is that I have read that reciting the Name “Al Latif” wards off bad things, but reciting “Ya Latif” brings good things. I wondered whether this is specially for the name of Allah, Al Latif, or if something like this is applicable for other names too.
Jazakum Allah khayran.
Answer:
Wa alaykum assalam wa rahmat Allah wa barakatuh.
I could not find any reference to the difference between calling upon Allah Most High through any of the Divine Names, with the preceding “Ya” or “Al” such as in your examples “Ya Wudud” and “Al Wudud.”
Nor could I find any specific reference to the different outcomes mentioned between the specific formulas of “Al Latif” and “Ya Latif,” though spiritual masters have stated that the recitation of “Ya Latif” protects the people and the place that this Divine Name is recited in from hardships and afflictions. (The Shadhili Tariqa)
Al Latif
The Divine Name ‘Al Latif’ carries the meaning of the ‘One who is most subtle, gracious, kind and gentle’. It also denotes a Being that is so sublime that He is beyond human comprehension. Because He is the Sublime, the Most Subtle, He (alone) encompasses and reveals the subtleties of all things.
Al Latif is the Divine Name. When one calls out Ya Latif, O Subtle, Gentle Gracious One, in accordance to rules of Arabic grammar, the definite article “al” (meaning “The”) drops from the noun when the “calling” prefix (al munada) “Ya” is employed. Thus, essentially one is still saying “Ya al Latif,” but to say it as such is grammatically incorrect.
This applies to all the Divine Names.
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And Allah knows best.
Warmest salams,
Jamir
Checked and approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani.
