الْأَوَّلُ
The First
Al-Awwal
The First
The One who has no beginning, existing before all things came into being.
Hadîd 57:3
Virtue
Al-Awwal declares that Allah existed before everything and that His existence has no beginning. In Surah al-Hadid 57:3 Allah introduces Himself with four names at once: 'He is the First and the Last, the Manifest and the Hidden.' These four names show that Allah is outside every measure of time and place. The servant who reflects on this name accepts Allah's being as without beginning; the question 'What was there before?' has no answer for the believer—Allah was, and there was nothing else (Sahih al-Bukhari #3191).
Related Hadith
The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) used to say before sleep: 'O Allah! You are the First, before whom there is nothing; You are the Last, after whom there is nothing. You are the Manifest, beyond whom there is nothing; You are the Hidden, from whom nothing is concealed.'
[Müslim, Zikr, no. 2713]
