Page 150 - Names of Allah

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The Retaliator
Then when they had provoked Our wrath, We inflicted Our
retribution on them and drowned every one of them. (Surat
az- Zukhruf, 43:55)
Allah warns every nation through His chosen Messengers so
that they might be saved from idolatry and degeneration. As for
those who ignore these warnings and grow more insolent, Allah
punishes them. And, His retribution is surely unlike that of people:
Those who did not believe will be addressed: “Allah’s ab-
horrence of you, when you were called to faith but then
chose unbelief, is even greater than your hatred of your-
selves.” (Surat al-Ghafir, 40:10)
In most cases, Allah may delay His punishment upon those
people who were warned, and thus were informed of the truth, to
give them more time to acquire faith and purify themselves.
However, the majority of people use this time to strengthen their ex-
isting insolence. Therefore, they deserve a humiliating punishment.
As Allah states:
It is coming closer to you and closer. Then closer to you and
closer still. Does man reckon that he will be left to go on
unchecked? (Surat al-Qiyama, 75:34-36)
According to the Qur’an, denying our Lord, being insolent and
ungrateful toward Him, and refusing to abandon such defiant atti-
tudes are among the greatest crimes that a person can commit. This
is why Allah punishes unbelievers in ways that they could never
have imagined. In one verse, Allah informs us that He is the

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