The need to know Allah’s Attributes

According to the Holy Quran (51:57), the purpose of our creation is to worship Allah, our Creator. The philosophy of Islamic worship is to establish a relationship of love between Allah and His creatures, which is not possible unless one knows and understands the attributes of Allah. By knowing the attributes of Allah, one would be able to derive abundant spiritual pleasure from one’s worship of Allah, the Exalted.

Allah says in the Holy Quran

“And to Allah alone belong all perfect attributes. So call on Him by these attributes.” (7:181)

There is a relationship between the attributes of Allah and the acceptance of one’s prayers. When praying to Allah for something, one should invoke the appropriate attribute. For instance, to seek His forgiveness one should invoke His attribute

اَلْغَفَّارُ

and to seek the protection of Allah we should invoke His attribute,

الْحَفِیْظُ

etc.

The Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) has said, “Follow the attributes of Allah.” There are some attributes of Allah (like Merciful, Pardoner, etc.) that one can adopt in a limited fashion. By following these attributes, one may hope that they will operate in one’s favour.