Al-Hafiz
The Preserver
Exalted and Glorious
Verily proofs have come to you from your Lord, so whosoever sees will do so for the good of his own self, and whosoever blinds himself will do so to his own harm, and I (Muhammad, may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) am not a watcher over you. (6:104)
So if you turn away, still I have conveyed the message with which I was sent to you. My Lord will make another people succeed you, and you will not harm Him in the least. Surely my Lord is Guardian over all things. (11:57)
That which is left by Allah for you is better for you, if you are believers. And I am not a guardian over you. (11:86)
And he (Iblis) had no authority over them – except that We might test him who believes in the Hereafter from him who is in doubt about it. And your Lord is Hafiz, Watchful over everything. (34:21)
And as for those who take protectors other than Him, Allah is Hafizh, Watcher over them, and you, (Oh Muhammad, may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him) are not a Wakil over them. (A guardian or a disposer of their affairs.) (42:6)
This name is an attribute of Allah plainly describing the meaning of guarding, watching, protecting, custody, and preserving. He is Hafizh meaning the Lord Preserver of all the worlds. Only Allah assigns the angels for protecting us from evil, defeats the evil designs of Satan against us, safeguards the chastity of His obedient women folk, and bestows on us the Holy Book, which contains guidance for us.
He who repeats this name 16 times each day, Allah will protect him from calamities.
Al-Hafizh is the One Who protects everything even though it is the size of an atom. He does not disregard anything. There is not an atom’s worth of anything lost from the gaze of His protection. He does not change, and He is not annihilated. Change does not occur to Him from the outside. Nothing from the outside influences Him. He protects His creation. So remember Allah in times of ease and in times of difficulty, and He will protect you with His protection.
From: The Meanings of the Names of Our Lord, by Shaykh Muhammad Sa’id al-Jamal ar-Rifa’i Head of the Higher Sufi Council in Jerusalem and the Holy Land Teacher at the Dome of the Rock (al-Aqsa)
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He is the one who remembers all that was and all that is, keeping in His divine protection all that will be.
He is aware of, remembers, and keeps in His memory all that, you do, say or think at all times. He preserves all: nothing is lost. In His preservation, there is also protection.
He protects His creation from all harm and disharmony. That is how all the heavenly bodies speeding in great haste revolve and travel within their destined orbits, instead of clashing with each other. As a manifestation of His name al-Hafiz, He has placed in each of His creations an instinct for survival. He protects us by teaching that which is bad for us is unlawful. Lawful food, aged and spoiled, becomes unlawful. Lawful bread, burnt and carbonized, becomes unlawful. They have turned into poison.
So the poisons of alcohol, adultery, gambling, and gossip are unlawful, and arrogance, hypocrisy, envy, and ignorance are poisons to one’s spiritual being. As a blessing of al-Hafiz, the Protector, Allah has sent His prophets, His books, and His teachers, to teach wisdom, intelligence, and the divine law to protect humankind from material and spiritual harm. But those who are heedless of Allah, His prophets, and His books, who disbelieve and revolt, they are thankless. With their own small will they turn away from the protection and preservation of Allah. So Allah does not treat them with His attribute of al-Hafiz, but with His attribute of ar-Raqib, the Watcher who responds according to each action.
Use Allah’s means of preservation and protection which He has bestowed upon you. Protect yourself from evil, revolt, and sin; help and protect others; remember and preserve Allah’s words in His Holy Qur’an, His sacred law, and the words of His prophets, and help others to do the same.
‘Abd al-Hafiz is protected in all his states, actions, and words, outwardly and inwardly, by Allah the Protector. The protection of Allah over him is so strong that the ones who are close to him, who are around him, who know or touch him are also protected. It is said that the friends and acquaintances of Hadrat Abu Sulayman Darani (pbuh) who stayed in his company for thirty years never suffered adversity, nor did a bad thought ever come to their minds, nor did a negative feeling come to their hearts during that time.
It is believed that if one wears around one’s neck the written Name ya Hafiz and remembers to recite it at least 10 times a day, one will be safe from any kind of hostility, even from wild animals and jinn.
From: The Name & the Named, by Shaykh Tosun Bayrak al-Jerrahi al-Halveti
