المانع
Allah All-Mighty is the Preventer and With-Holder of whatever Allah Ta’aala wants to prevent. The Prophet (Allah’s Peace and Blessings be upon him), after obligatory salaat (prayer), used to say the followings:
لا إله إلا الله وحده لا شريك له, له الملك وله الحمد و هو على كل شىئ قدير. اللهم لا مانع لما أعطيت ولا معطي لما منعت , ولا ينفع ذا الجد منك الجدُ.
(Saheeh Al-Bukhaari and Muslim)
The meaning of the above du’aa is:
“There is no God except Allah, HE is One (God), there is no partner with HIM, to HIM belongs the kingdom and HIS are the praises, and HE has power over all things”.
“O Allah, what YOU give, no one can prevent it and what YOU withhold, no one can give it, and near YOU no one can be benefited by his wealth.”
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So no matter how much wealth or high status a person has but near Allah it will be of no benefit. He is benefited only by the faith of Islam and righteous deeds.
Allah said in the surah Faatir verse 2:
2. Whatever of mercy (i.e. of good), Allah grants to mankind, none can withhold it, and whatever He withholds, none can grant it thereafter. And He is the All-Mighty, the All-Wise.
Another translation of the same verse is:
(35:2) Whatever Mercy Allah accords to people, none can withhold; and whatever He withholds, no other will be able to release after Him.*4 He is Most Mighty, Most Wise.*5
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Exp. notes *4 and *5:
Exp. note *4:
*4. This is also meant to remove the misunderstanding of the polytheists, who believed that from among the servants of Allah, someone gave them the provision, someone the children and someone health to their patients. All these superstitions of shirk are baseless, and the pure truth is just that whatever of mercy reaches the people, reaches to them only through Allah All-Mighty’s bounty and grace. No one else has the power either to bestow it or to withhold it. This theme has been expressed at many places in the Quran and the Ahadith in different ways so that man may avoid the humiliation of begging at every door and at every shrine and may realize that making or marring of his destiny is in the power of One Allah alone and of none else.
Exp. note *5:
*5. “He is the All-Mighty”: He is dominant and the owner of Sovereignty: none can stop His judgments from being enforced. Also “He is All-Wise”: every act of His is based on wisdom. When He gives somebody something He gives because it is demanded by wisdom, and when He withholds something from somebody, He withholds it because it would be against wisdom to give it.
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Thus nothing can happen without the will of Allah Azza wa Jall. A single leaf in a tree cannot move. The breath of a person will stop if Allah All-Mighty withholds it from happening. A person will not be able to move a single step. So we must be very humble and obedient to Allah as well as very thankful to HIM for our life and actions etc.
Al-Maani’ also means Al-Mudaafi’.
See the verse 251 (translation) of the surah Al-Baqarah:
(2:251) Thereupon by Allah’s leave they put the unbelievers to flight, and David killed Goliath,273 and Allah granted him dominion and wisdom, and imparted to him the knowledge of whatever He willed.And were it not that Allah repelled some people with another, the earth would surely be overlaid with mischief.274 But Allah is Bounteous to the people of the world (and thus extirpates mischief).
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Thus Allah stops / prevents the mischief of the evil people from the good ones. If Allah Azza wa Jall didn’t allow the good people to fight against the mischief makers and repel them then the whole land would be filled up with mischief and killing (like it is happening now because the mischief makers are left free to do whatever they want. This is due to the disobedience of the powerful Muslims to their Lord Allah Ta’aala!!).
Again, all of the heavenly bodies in the universe are held within their orbits only by the All-Mighty Allah. Allah Azza wa Jall is preventing them from collision. So Allah said in the surah Yaseen verse 40:
40. It is not permitted to the Sun to catch up the Moon, nor can the Night outstrip the Day: Each (just) swims along in (its own) orbit (according to Law).
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Thus by the Grace of Allah we all live in comfort because all of the stars and planets etc. rotate in their orbits. If Allah didn’t withhold them then collision between the heavenly bodies (Sun, Moon, stars, planets etc.) would happen resulting in killer catastrophe. So we all must be very thankful to Allah Azza wa Jall and we must worship and obey Allah for our prosperity in both of the worlds.
