An Essence That Is Inconceivable for Us

Then, to get a better understanding of Allah (swt): because the subject here is an entity, an essence, that is inconceivable for us, the only way we can actually understand Allah (swt) is by whatever He has revealed about Himself. We have the few limited verses, texts from the sources of sharīʿah, from the Qur'an and from the Sunnah of the Messenger (peace be upon him), to go on. That gives us a picture sufficient for us to believe in Him, to recognise Him, to love Him, to take up the path to Him, and to get closer to Him; so that in the Hereafter we will be from among the blessed ones: not the doomed, the wretched ones, the ashqiyāʾ, but rather the suʿadāʾ. And may Allah (swt) make us from among those.

That is the purpose of this study. The purpose of this study is not dialectics. The purpose of this study is not just the discussion of intricacies, or of the subtle points of the sharīʿah. The idea of it is to further refine our understanding of Allah (swt), of our purpose in this world, of what is required of us, of where we came from and where we are going to; and then to make our ultimate abode the pleasure of Allah (swt). Our ultimate goal is the pleasure of Allah (swt); and the ultimate abode is paradise, Jannat al-Firdaws.

May Allah grant us the tawfīq, the divine guidance, to realise that goal. And may Allah make this study, taken up away from everything else, a means of our being blessed in this world and in the Hereafter, and of our getting tawfīq to do good works in our life.