there are names of Allah like As-Samit that are meant to fill your emptiness but then there are names that are made to deal with your restlessness you've come to figure out that this world is full of a lot of noise
and then suddenly the hereafter doesn't feel that far away anymore and in some ways it's become closer to you than the things you used to cling to you come to realize that you weren't created for a life without storms
but you were given what's needed to find stillness within them the chaos of this world is meant to drive you to the source of peace and meant to make you a source of peace all while you long for the final destination of peace
and there you will have whatever your soul desires and whatever you ask for but that's Jannah where everything is pure and perfect
here you need to find peace in His perfection while being an imperfect being experiencing an imperfect world the scholars say that peace comes from three things from knowing Him in His perfection
from trusting His perfect plan and from remembering His perfect reward waiting for you in the next life but what you don't want to do is find yourself on the other side of that plan
because you're the one spreading corruption or robbing someone else of their peace sometimes your first test is not necessarily to make the world pure but to remain pure within it even though you're never going to be perfect
and that's where three names unfold inseparably As-Subuh the utterly perfect beyond all imperfection Al-Quddus the entirely pure who purifies what he wills As-Salaam
the one who is peace himself and the source of any peace to be found within when Allah announced the Khilafah of Adam, an imperfect being on earth the angels said
Ataj'alu feehaa man yufsidoo feehaa wa yasfiqoon ad-dimaa Ya Rabb, will you put on earth those who spread corruption and spill blood which is the opposite of peace wa nahnu nusabbihoo bihamdika
wa nuqaddisu lak and we on the other hand glorify your praises and sanctify you meaning we don't just declare your perfection but our worship in accordance with that perfection is pure
The scholars explained that when they said nuqaddisu lak they meant we offer to you only the purest of deeds without any shirk or any insincerity now look at the words Tasbih declares him free of any imperfection
Taqdis declares him pure of all contamination and it purifies your own deeds for him so for the angels Tasbih and Taqdis looks like this the Prophet (ﷺ)
said that the heavens above you are creaking because there isn't a hand span except that there is an angel standing bowing or prostrating glorifying Allah without a break and when that angel who did nothing
but worship Allah for his entire existence raises his head on the day of judgment the only thing he will say is Subhanaka, maa abadnaka haqqa ibadatik how perfect are you we did not worship you
as much as you deserve to be worshiped that's the angels but when you bow and prostrate like the angels in every ruku' and sujud what are you doing you're echoing their words aspirationally
Suboohun Quddusun Rabbu al-malaikati wa ar-ruh perfect and pure is the Lord of the angels and the spirit and then at the end of witr when you pray that extra prayer beyond obligation
purely out of love and devotion when no one else can see you and you've chosen your devotion over desire you say Subhana al-maliki al-Quddus Rabbu al-malaikati wa ar-ruh the angels questioned the favor
that Allah was bestowing upon humanity because of what they already did and didn't know what we would be capable of and when we choose devotion like them we join them in their worship of tasbih and taqdis
even though we have what they don't shahwah, desire Tasbih and Taqdis are the acts that honor Subooh Quddus and think of them as clearing the way and then filling the void
Subooh means no flaw can ever be ascribed to him Quddus means no purity exists except from him so between them you have the intense negation of anything unworthy of him
and the intense affirmation of every perfection that belongs to him Sabah means to swim and it also shares the root word because the swimmer is on top of the water so you're declaring Subooh above all
that is attributed to him and what did Yunus (عليه السلام) say when he was drowning at the very bottom of the ocean La ilaha illa anta, Subhanaka, inni kuntu min ad-dhalimin there is no God but you
how perfect are you I was amongst the wrongdoers and Allah says Falawla annahu kana min al-musabbiheen lalabitha fee batnihi ila yawmi yuba'athun
had he not been amongst those who do tasbih then he would have stayed in the belly of that whale drowning until the day of judgment the angel raises his head in the heavens Subhan'Allah
Yunus (عليه السلام) in the bottom of the ocean Subhan'Allah both of them are declaring Allah is above it all think of the whole world as a deep ocean and tasbih as the only way to breathe in it
so that's how you ascend but how do you purify yourself after you stained yourself with sin you come to Al-Quddus the pure who makes pure the holy who makes holy Ibn al-Jawzi (رحمه الله) said
Allah called the holy land of Palestine al-ardh al-muqaddasa because it is al-mutahhara it purifies the one who goes to it from all sin and al-Quds is pure and blessed only by Al-Quddus himself
and just as Al-Quddus sanctifies places he can sanctify people too when Salman al-Farsi (رضي الله عنه) who was settled in Persia his brother in Palestine Abu Darda (رضي الله عنه) sent him a letter and he said
Halumma ila al-ardh al-muqaddasa come to the holy land and join me and Salman responds with a letter that says Inna al-ardh la tuqaddisu ahada wa innama yuqaddisu al-insana amaluhu
The land itself does not make anyone holy rather the only thing that makes a person holy are his deeds you could live in the holiest city on earth and still have a corrupted heart you could be the neighbor of the Haram in Makkah
and live your life in haram and have no benefit from being where you are physically because of who you are spiritually the place itself doesn't make you holy the pursuit of the one who made that place holy does
and when Allah talks about the holy places in the Quran it's always in the context of are you worthy? when Musa (عليه السلام) and his people are told Udkhulu al-ardh al-muqaddasa enter the holy land
and then Bani Israel refuses to do so because of their spiritual poisons Allah ends up banning an entire generation from it finding them unworthy of that pure land and then when Musa himself is about to approach
Al-Quddus says to him Inni ana Rabbuka, fakhla' na'layyka innaka bil-wadi al-muqaddasi Tuwa indeed I am your Lord so remove your sandals
for you are about to enter the sacred valley of Tuwa so when you approach Al-Quddus you have to come worthy and you have to come pure physically and spiritually physically you purify yourself
by removing any impurity from your garment and then making wudu and entering into a state of tahara so that you can pray and read Quran and do other acts of worship but spiritually Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) says
Innama al-mushrikun najas that there is a defilement of shirk and other spiritual impurities that keep a person away from Allah and that's why the du'a for spiritual cleansing is this imagery of laundry
Allahumma ghsil khatayaya bil-ma'i wa ath-thalji wa al-barad O Allah, wash away my sins with water, snow and hail just as you purify a white garment from stain
you need a deep cleansing to be purified and just as you wash the body for prayer you wash the heart for presence and that's why you have ar-ruh al-Quddus the Holy Spirit being Jibreel (عليه السلام) who is purified by Allah
and given a rank that no other angel holds his entire being reflects the beauty and purity of Allah's plan Jibreel loves what Allah loves and he's the first to find out what Allah loves
and then he does what Allah commands and he's been given the greatest command of the angels by delivering the revelation without hesitation and what do he and the angels descend with on the night of Laylat al-Qadr upon the believers
when they're standing in their state of worship Salam, Salam, peace, peace but who is that peace from? It's not from them it's from the one who sent them
Huwa Allahu alladhi la ilaha illa hu al-Malik al-Quddus As-Salam As-Salam is the one who is peace who gives peace he gives peace to the believers
and he is unlimited in his supply because faqidu shay'in la yu'tihi the one who doesn't have something can't give it and when we give each other salam we're getting it from him and then extending it to the capacity that we have
and when we say As-salamu alaykum to each other we're not just saying peace be upon you we're saying no harm will come to you from me and when we call upon As-Salam we're asking for peace on the inside and all around us
and when you live with As-Salam peace stops depending on circumstance because the calm within can sustain you notice in your prayer in your ruku' and your sujud you say Suboohun Quddus
and where do you find more peace than those positions in your prayer and then when you close the prayer As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh you're not just greeting angels
you're spreading the peace that you just received to everything right and left of you and then you seal it all with Allahumma anta As-Salam wa minka As-Salam Tabarakta ya dha al-jalali wa al-ikram O Allah, you are peace
and from you is peace blessed are you, O possessor of majesty and honor you return to the source of peace and then you become a source of peace and the Prophet (ﷺ) said Afshu as-salam baynakum
spread peace among you those who know As-Salam don't just rest in peace when they die they reflect it while they're still alive because As-Salam isn't just a greeting it's the state that you carry back from your prayer mat
into a restless world before you return to your eternal home wa Allahu yad'u ila dar As-Salam and all along Allah is calling you to the home of peace and after the believers greet each other with As-Salam in this life
and then the angels come to you and greet you with As-Salam at death the ultimate calm is when you hear As-Salam from As-Salam himself Salamun qawlan min Rabbin Rahim Peace
a word to you from your loving, merciful Lord He greets you with His own names and it's not just angels saying it on His behalf anymore it's Him saying it to you directly and Jannah isn't just a place of reward
it's a reunion with all those whom you love including Him it's where every fracture in your soul is healed every anxiety is erased and every longing is fulfilled but He's not just calling you to a place of peace
He's calling you to become peace to carry it in yourself so that by the time you enter into Dar as-Salam you won't be walking into peace for the very first time you'll be returning to it repeating what the angels who are now all around you
have always said from the beginning Subboohun Quddusun Rabbul Mala'ikati wa ar-Rooh perfect and pure is the Lord of the angels and the spirit but you're not an angel
and you happen to live in a world of demons and imperfect beings just like yourself and the only way to survive this world is through the peace that you find in Him
Ya Subbooh, Subhanak how perfect you are beyond everything I can imagine when the world feels loud and heavy remind me that you are untouched by its chaos
let my glory and praise of you rise above the darkness even if I drown myself in it and pull me out of it by your perfection even after I dragged myself down
Ya Quddus purify me inside and out cleanse my worship of pride my heart of resentment my soul of anything that clouds its way back to you
and make me worthy of the nearness I seek to you Ya Salam send peace into every storm within my chest let your calm settle where fear once lived
your safety surround what the world cannot protect make me a source of peace for others until I meet you in the home of peace and get to hear from you yourself Salam
