بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate
Assalaamu alaykum
When Allah first introduces Himself in the Quran, He calls Himself “Rabbul aalameen”— The Master of the Universe. The Master is the one who owns us, nourishes us, and cherishes us, and He does so for the rest of the universe as well. But who is this Master? The first description given of Allah by Allah Himself is Ar-Rahman ar-Raheem.
Both these names of Allah center on the Arabic quality of rahmah: (a) al-Raḥmān, the One who is defined by complete and universal rahmah and (b) al-Raḥīm, the One who continuously shows much rahmah. It is thus by His rahmah that Allah introduces Himself repeatedly throughout the Quran, so much so that after His tawhid (Oneness), the Quran uses no other quality to describe Allah more than rahmah. This only underscores how central rahmah is to Islamic theology and our relationship with Allah.
In the Prophet's many sayings about rahmah on earth, the central theme of nurturing, parental love clearly stands out. Allah's rahmah, according to the Messenger (Allah bless him and grant him peace), is the sole source of all earthly rahmah, such that all creatures show “love and kindness to one another, and even a beast treats her young with affection.” Rahmah thus finds its most natural expression in the love of a mother.
And no one can match a mother's love... except, of course, Allah. Imagine the emotions of a mother desperately searching for a lost child – and how much joy she must feel finding her child again.
'Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) relates once being with Allah's Messenger (Allah bless him and grant him peace) with a group of women and children detained after battle. One woman among them was searching for her child. Whenever she saw any child, she took the child to her bosom and began breastfeeding it. The Messenger asked his companions, “Do you think this woman would throw her child into fire?” They said, “No, by Allah, unless she has no power otherwise.” He replied, “Allah has more rahmah (arham) for His servants than this woman for her child.” (Muslim, who deemed it sound, and others)
Once again, the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) saw rahmah as an emotion we have all experienced – not the modern English “mercy” but a mother's natural love.
Of course, this connection of rahmah and motherly love is linguistically unsurprising, for rahmah is related to the Arabic word rahm, which means “uterus,” “womb,” and figuratively “family ties."
This close linguistic connection is so eloquently expressed in Allah's statement as transmitted in a hadith qudsi, “I am ar-Raḥmān and created the rahm (womb) – And I named it after Me.”
Related by the Messenger (Allah bless him and grant him peace) through 'Abdur Raḥmān ibn 'Auf. The hadeeth qudsi continues, “I have drawn close one who has drawn it (the raḩm) close (maintaining family ties) and have cut off one who has cut it off (breaking family ties).” (Ahmad, who deemed its chain sound, and others)
Therefore, if we are to grasp the rahmah that is core to Allah's very nature, we must look to what the womb symbolizes – the nurturing emotions we find in mothers and the bonds that tie families together.
The Messenger's mission was that we might truly know Allah, ar-Raḥmān, in the very language of personal experience. To help us comprehend Allah's rahmah, he did not speak of the earthly “mercy” of kings and judges – today's modern English understanding of “mercy.” Rather, his demonstrations of rahmah directed us again and again to parental love, especially motherly love.
This should give us a moment to reflect. Remember, with regards to the hereafter, the Messenger warned us, “He who shows no rahmah will be shown no rahmah,” and taught us, “Allah will show rahmah to His servants who show rahmah.” If rahmah is the means to our salvation, having rahmah towards one another is an obligation upon each of us. We must take the Prophet's commandment to heart:
"Ar-Raḥmān has rahmah for those who show rahmah. Show rahmah to those on earth – the One in heaven will show you rahmah."
If one wants to learn how to show rahmah to those on earth, look to someone who shows compassion to others the way our mothers love and nurture us – someone who lets his or her tears flow in empathy, feeling the pain of the poor, hungry, and oppressed. Rahmah does not simply mean showing people “mercy” – restraining from harming while having the capacity to hurt. This “mercy” only scrapes the surface of rahmah, which must come from the heart. Neither does rahmah exclusively mean showing hubb to those who commit evil and oppression, “loving” what they do and “liking” to please them.
Instead, rahmah is to let one's heart ache for those people, caring about their eternal well-being, so that we may all enter Allah's rahmah, His salvation, in the hereafter. Rahmah is to embody the way of the Messenger (Allah bless him and grant him peace), who said, “I was not sent to curse, but I was sent as a rahmah.”
Allah has tied rahmah specifically to the womb. To attain His rahmah, let us turn back to our “rahm.” The best door we have to His Rahmah is in the service of our mother. Truly, Allah is ar-Rahman ar-Raheem.
May Allah enable us to serve our mothers with excellence and shower us with His Mercy. Ameen.
Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa 'ala aalihi wa sahbihi wasallam.
And Allah knows best and is Most Wise, and He alone grants success, and to Him is the final return of all.
Wassalaam
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