Al-'Aliyy

Al-'Aliyy is a name which is derived from "Ulu" which means height, greatness and supremacy. Allah Ta'ala is called Al-'Aliyy because true greatness belongs to Him alone. It is Allah Ta'ala Himself who is the most Exalted and the Supreme. He is incomparable because there is neither something like Him nor resembling Him. Allah Ta'ala is noble and He loves and appreciates nobility.

The more a person meditates on this attribute, the more humble he becomes. It becomes easy to fight the arrogance and pride which is in him. In the same way, he knows which door to knock in difficult moments. And at the same time he stops exhausting himself and wasting his time behind those who can never be useful to him. He comes to know that there is no greatness in being proud. On the contrary, there is no greater misfortune than to boast. It renders a person disgusting and detestable in Dunya and it deprives him of Jannah in the Aakhirah. True nobility is found in Taqwa. The more a person has Taqwa, the more he is noble and the more he becomes appreciable in the eyes of Allah Ta'ala.

When we invoke Allah Ta'ala by this attribute and we say "Ya 'Aliyy", we should differentiate between Al-'Aliyy and Hazrat Ali (Radiyallaahu Anhu). Because some people mean Hazrat Ali (Radiyallaahu Anhu) when they say "Ya 'Aliyy". And this is a form of  Shirk which is the gravest sin among all the sins.

[English version of "Al-‘Aliyy" – Al Jamiat – Vol.7 No.9]