(007) Al Muhaimin (The Guardian)

هُوَ اللَّهُ الَّذِي لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ الْمَلِكُ الْقُدُّوسُ السَّلَامُ الْمُؤْمِنُ الْمُهَيْمِنُ الْعَزِيزُ الْجَبَّارُ الْمُتَكَبِّرُ ۚ سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ عَمَّا يُشْرِكُونَ ۝

"He is Allah, besides Whom there is no god; the King, the Holy, the Giver of peace, the Granter of security, Guardian over all, the Mighty, the Supreme, the Possessor of every greatness Glory be to Allah from what they set up (with Him)." (Quran, 59:23).

When applied to the Almighty, "al-Muhaimin" means that He is the One Who oversees His servants' actions, Who provides them with sustenance, and decrees their life-spans.

He does so through His knowledge, control, and protection. Anyone who oversees something is its guardian; so he has full power over it. These Attributes can never be present in their absolute meaning except in Allah.

This Attribute describes in 10:61 the One Who testifies for or against His servants who enter into mutual transactions: "... We are witnesses over you when you enter into it." Allah is al-Muhaimin, the One Who witnesses all what His servants do, be it a speech or an action. The meaning of this verse incorporates the meaning of the word "muhaimin" thus: the One Who knows everything and from Whose knowledge nothing at all can escape, not even the weight of an atom in the earth or in the heavens.

Al-Khalil ibn Ahmed al-Farahidi says that "al-Mu'min" means: the One Who ever watches, Who ever protects. It is common in Arabic to describe someone as "muhaimin" if he protects someone else or is his guardian. Al-Mibrad explains its meaning as: the One Who is most kind and compassionate. Arabs describe the bird that stretches its wings to protect its young as being "muhaimin" over them. Al-Hassan al-Basri says it means the Guardian Who testifies to one's truth. Applied to the Almighty, it may carry one of two meanings: His testimony by word, hence His testimony informing us about His messengers being truthful, and His empowering those messengers to produce miracles, thus testifying to their truthfulness. Al-Muhaimin is the One Who encompasses in His knowledge the management of the affairs of all His creation from the smallest atom to the largest planet in the cosmos. He who recites this Name with full attentiveness, their inner being will be luminous. <۞ᴗᴖ۩ᴖᴗ۞>