Before Everything

الْأَوَّلُ

Al-Awwal — The First

هُوَ الْأَوَّلُ وَالْآخِرُ وَالظَّاهِرُ وَالْبَاطِنُ ۖ

He is the First and the Last, and the Outward and the Inward; and He is Knower of all things

Surah Al-Ḥadīd (57:3)

Intention

Today, I will begin my day with His name before anything else. Before the phone. Before the news. Before the world.

Reflection

Al-Awwal is The First — before time, before space, before creation, before anything. There was nothing, and then there was He. His existence is not contingent on a starting point. He is the starting point. When your mind races backward looking for origins, for causes, for reasons — it arrives at Al-Awwal. He is where the chain begins.

On this verse

Four Names in one verse: First, Last, Manifest, Hidden. He occupies every dimension of reality. There is no direction you can look where He is absent.

Du'a

The Prophet (peace be upon him) said this before sleep. A nightly reminder that before everything — before your problems, your history, your pain — there was Him.

Hadith

The Prophet (peace be upon him) used to say before sleeping: “O Allah, You are the First and there is nothing before You; You are the Last and there is nothing after You; You are the Manifest and there is nothing above You; You are the Hidden and there is nothing beyond You.”

— Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 2713