Al-Akhir
The Last
Exalted and Glorious
He is the First (nothing is before Him) and the Last (nothing is after Him), the Most High (nothing is above Him), and the Most Near (nothing is nearer than Him), and He is the All-Knower of every thing. (57:3)
This attribute of Allah reveals that He will remain forever even after everything is annihilated.
There will be an end to all thoughts, intentions, and knowledge, but He is Final and Perfect in every respect. This name is always accompanied by the previous one (Al-Awwal, The First), and he who repeats this name 600 times frequently will not only lead a happy life in this world, but will also have a happy ending.
Al-Akhir, the Last is the One Who subsists in everlasting subsistence after the annihilation of His creation in His everlasting subsistence. He is the Enricher of all subsistence, both present and in all time because nothing is after Him. You should know that your belief is in bearing witness that Allah is the Eternal Subsister Who is the basis of all surrendered belief.
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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Allah is the Last. We cannot say that He is after the after, because He cannot be compared to that which would then precede Him. As He has no beginning, He also has no end. He is eternal. All existence has two ends: a beginning when it is created, born; and an end when it dies and disappears. Allah is the First because He has created the first existence from nothing. He is the Last because when all disappears, only He will exist.
Everyone upon it passes away and there endures forever the face of thy Lord, the Lord of Glory and Honor (Surah Rahman 26-27)
All existence will return to Allah. The circle of being begins and ends with Him. There is nothing before Him and there is nothing after Him.
The faithful know that all they have, material and spiritual, belongs to Allah and will return to Him. We ourselves will return to Him and will have to give an accounting of how we used and cared for that which was lent to us temporarily. Therefore the actions of the good servant from beginning to end are performed for Allah’s sake, for his good pleasure, and in the name of good servantship.
It is proper to read, recite, and consider the attributes “The First” and “The Last” together, because the meaning is like a circle where the first and the last are one.
‘Abd al-Akhir is the servant who knows that everything has an end except Allah Most High, who is the only Eternal One. Such a person works to lose the temporal self in the eternity of the Lord.
Believers who recite this Name 100 times a day will eventually stop fooling themselves and see the Truth, the real Reality. If one is being attacked by an enemy and one recites ya Akhir 800 times, the aggressor will withdraw. One who recites it 1000 times will have his heart filled with the love of God. Recitation of this Name 1000 times on Fridays will help to increase one’s sustenance.
From: The Name & the Named by Shaykh Tosun Bayrak al-Jerrahi al-Halveti
