In 59:23, we read:

“He is Allah besides Whom there is no other god, the King, the Holy, the One Who grants peace, the One Who grants security, the Guardian over all, the Mighty, the Supreme, the One Who possesses greatness; Glory to Allah from whatever they set up (with Him)” (Qur’an, 59:23).

When applied to the Almighty, al-Muhaimin means that He is the One Who oversees His servants’ actions, Who provides them with sustenance and decrees their life-spans. He does so through His knowledge, control and protection. Anyone who oversees something is its guardian; so he has full power over it. These Attributes can never be present in their absolute meaning except in Allah (SwT).

This Attribute describes in 10:61 the One Who testifies for or against His servants who enter into mutual transactions:

“... We are witnesses over you when you enter into it” (Qur’an, 10:61).

Allah (SwT) is al-Muhaimin, the One Who witnesses all what His servants do, be it a speech or an action. The meaning of this verse incorporates the meaning of the word”muhaimin” thus: the One Who knows everything and from Whose knowledge nothing at all can escape, not even the weight of an atom on earth or in the heavens.

Al-Khalil ibn Amed al-Farahidi 1says that al-Mu’min means: the One Who ever watches, Who ever protects. It is common in Arabic to describe someone as muhaimin if he protects someone else or is his guardian.

Al-Mibrad dictionary explains its meaning as: the One Who is most kind and compassionate. Arabs describe the bird that stretches its wings to protect its young as being muhaimin over them.

Al-Hassan al-Basri says it means the Guardian Who testifies to one’s truth. Applied to the Almighty, it may carry one of two meanings: His testimony by word, hence His testimony informing us about His messengers being truthful, and His empowering those messengers to produce miracles, thus testifying to their truthfulness.

Al-Muhaimin is the One Who encompasses in His knowledge the management of the affairs of all His creation from the smallest atom to the largest planet in the cosmos.

• 1. He is”Abu Abdul-Rahman” al-Khalil ibn Ahmed al-Farahidi al-Basri (100 – 173 A.H./718 – 791 A.D.), of the Azd tribe, founder of the science of scansion, mentor of Seebawayh and the first to write a concordance for the Arabic language. Al-Farahidi was one of the most prominent scholars of the Basri School. He is said to have been born in Oman. A number of books are attributed to him such as معاني الحروف (Ma’ani al-Huroof, meanings of alphabets), العوامل والعروض والنقط (Al-‘Awamil wal Arood wal Nuqat, factors, scansions and dots). He altered the way the harakat (accent/emphasis marks) are drawn in Arabic.