الْبَرُّ
Al-Barr: The Most Benign and Kind
All of these Names are close in meaning, and all of them point to describing the Lord with Mercy, Generosity, Kindness, and to the great expanse of His Mercy and Generosity that encompasses all that is in existence, being granted in accordance to what His Wisdom dictates. The believers have been specifically singled out for this, and they are granted a goodly and the best portion of this, as Allaah said,
"My Mercy encompasses all things and I shall decree it for those who have taqwaa." (7:56)
So the blessings and the good are all from the effects of His Mercy, Generosity and Kindness just as all the goodness in this world and in the Hereafter is from the effects of His Mercy.
" 'Verily, we used to invoke Him Alone before. Verily He is the Generous, the Most Merciful.' " (52:28)
"O man! What has made you careless concerning your Lord, the Kind." (82:6)
"And had it not been for the Grace of Allaah and His Mercy on you, (Allaah would have hastened the Punishment). And that Allaah is the Kind, the Most Merciful." (24:20)
"(They say): 'Our Lord, let not our hearts deviate after You have guided us and grant us Mercy from You. Truly you are the Bestower.' " (3:8)
God, the Exalted, said; “Verily, We used to invoke Him (Alone and none else) before.
Verily, He is Al-Barr (the Most Subtle, Kind, Courteous and Generous), the Most Merciful.” (At-Tur: 28).
The Linguistic Meaning:
Al-Barr: the high act of benevolence and charity, and it is called on the truthful, the merciful, the courteous, and the kind.
God, the Exalted, is the Benevolent: Compassionate to His followers, Kind to them, His Kindness encompasses all His creatures. He rewards the philanthropist by doubling the credit to him, and He is Kind enough to forgive the sinner. He is Benevolent to His followers by giving them His Guardianship and choosing them for His Worship, for He is, the Exalted, the Truthful in His Promise and in His Saying.
The Grandeur of Al-Barr
In spite of His Self-Sufficiency and in spite of the slaves’ need to Him, He is Benevolent to the them by His Concealment of their sins, for He is Able to disclose the slave’s misdeeds; therefore, we have to be wary of Him Almighty. He even provides the slave with His Gifts and Graces, for there is no higher than this perfection and sublimity.
This name occurs in 1 verse of 1 surah.
إِنَّا كُنَّا مِن قَبْلُ نَدْعُوهُ إِنَّهُۥ هُوَ ٱلْبَرُّ ٱلرَّحِيمُ ٢٨
Indeed, we used to supplicate Him before. Indeed, it is He who is the Beneficent, the Merciful."
We used to worship Him in our worldly life and we used to pray to Him to protect us from the fire of hell. He is Beneficent to His servants and Merciful to them. Part of His beneficence and mercy upon us is that He guided us to faith, entered us into Paradise and distanced us from the fire.”
