Is It Permissible to Refer to Allah as “The Universe”?

Answered by Shaykh Yusuf Weltch

Question

Is it permissible to refer to Allah as the universe has things in store for you, Is it correct to refer to this name to refer to destiny or to Allah, who is the creator of destiny?

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate

Referring to Allah as the universe or any other created thing is not permissible. One should be careful to adopt modern, non-Muslim references that have become popularly used. The universe is a created, contingent, dependent, ephemeral being and to refer to Allah with it a dispraise.

Allah (Most High) says, “…Glorified and Exalted is He above what they claim!” [Quran, 6:100]

The Names of Allah (Most High) are considered by most scholars to be Tawqifi (textually established). This means there is no room to add new names to address Allah (Most High), even if their meanings are valid. [Bajuri, Tuhfat al-Murid]

Hope this helps
Allah knows best
[Shaykh] Yusuf Weltch
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Abdul-Rahim Reasat

Shaykh Yusuf Weltch teaches Arabic, Islamic law, and spirituality. After accepting Islam in 2008, he completed four years at the Darul Uloom Seminary in New York, where he studied Arabic and the traditional sciences.

He then traveled to Tarim, Yemen, where he studied for three years in Dar al-Mustafa under some of the most outstanding scholars of our time, including Habib Umar Bin Hafiz, Habib Kadhim al-Saqqaf, and Shaykh Umar al-Khatib.

In Tarim, Shaykh Yusuf completed the memorization of the Quran and studied beliefs, legal methodology, hadith methodology, Quranic exegesis, Islamic history, and several texts on spirituality. He joined the SeekersGuidance faculty in the summer of 2019.