99 Attributes of Allah: Al Jāmiʿ - The Gatherer

Al Jāmiʿ " ٱلْجَامِعُ " is one of the very powerful and strong attributes of Allah mentioned in the 9th verse of Surah 3. Al-i'Imran:

رَبَّنَاۤ اِنَّكَ جَامِعُ النَّاسِ لِيَوۡمٍ لَّا رَيۡبَ فِيۡهِ​ؕ اِنَّ اللّٰهَ لَا يُخۡلِفُ الۡمِيۡعَادَ

Our Lord! You surely will gather mankind together one Day, a Day about (the coming of which) there is no doubt. Surely Allah never goes against His promise.' 

(Surah 3. Al-i'Imran: 9) 

This attribute is clearly attributed to the Day of Resurrection when Allah will order gathering of the entire mankind to His court and present to them their sheets of conduct. Those with cleaner sheets of conduct will be happily taken to the much promised paradise. However, that day will be a bane for those with charge sheets full of red ink and will have the boiling waters and burning fire of hell.

The gathering of all mankind on the Day of Resurrection is further elaborated in 87th verse of Surah 4. An-Nisaa as under:

اللّٰهُ لَاۤ اِلٰهَ اِلَّا هُوَ​ؕ لَيَجۡمَعَنَّكُمۡ اِلٰى يَوۡمِ الۡقِيٰمَةِ لَا رَيۡبَ فِيۡهِ​ؕ وَمَنۡ اَصۡدَقُ مِنَ اللّٰهِ حَدِيۡثًا‏ 

“There is no god but Allah. He will certainly gather you [layajma`annakum]  all together on the Day of Resurrection - the Day regarding which there can be no doubt. Whose word can be truer than Allah's?"

The above verse explains that whatever the unbelievers, polytheists and atheists may do does not impair God's godhead. That God is the One and Absolute Lord of all is a fact which none can alter. And a Day will come when He will gather together all human beings and will make them see the consequences of their deeds, and no one will be in a position to escape His retribution. God therefore does not require His good creatures to maltreat, on His behalf, those who are lost in error. This is the link between the present verse and the one preceding it. The same verse also concludes the theme running through the last twenty verses or so. The present verse outlines that a man can follow whichever course he deems fit, and expend his energy in any direction he likes, but ultimately all men will have to stand before the One True God for His judgement and will see the consequences of their deeds.

Al Jāmi stems from the root j-m-' which has the following classical Arabic connotations: (1) to collect, gather up, (2) to congregate, gather together, (3) to draw together, muster, (4) to reconcile, to connect together, combine, (5) to form a connection between, union, and (6) to compose, arrange, resolve or settle something.

This root appears 129 times in the Quran in 11 derived forms. Examples of these forms are yajma’oona (they accumulate), ajma’eena or jamee’an (all together), al-jam’aani (the two forces, the two hosts) and jama’oo (gathered).

Linguistically, the concept of jam refers to both physical gathering and union, such as yawm ul-jumu’ah ( the day people gather) and ‘ijmaa (scholarly consensus) as spiritual reconciliation, such as bringing the hearts people together after enmity. [5]

We simply cannot fathom the reality as to how Allah will bring everyone, from the beginning of time until the end of time, together in one place at one time. This is one of the reasons why the attribute Al Jāmiʿis so powerful, and this is why His ‘bringing together’ is divine and different to any way that we bring things together. Allah tells us so in the Qur’an:

هٰذَا يَوۡمُ الۡفَصۡلِ​ۚ جَمَعۡنٰكُمۡ وَالۡاَوَّلِيۡنَ‏ 

“This is the Day of Judgment; We will have assembled you (jama`naakum) and the former peoples.” [Surah 77. Al-Mursalat: 38]

This attribute of Allah, beside gathering of the mankind, also refers to the gathering of the hearts of the true believers together and becoming united to beat back the machinations of the non believers who have been and will continue to create cracks in the folds of the believers to waken them and destroy their faith and strength:

وَاعۡتَصِمُوۡا بِحَبۡلِ اللّٰهِ جَمِيۡعًا وَّلَا تَفَرَّقُوۡا​ وَاذۡكُرُوۡا نِعۡمَتَ اللّٰهِ عَلَيۡكُمۡ اِذۡ كُنۡتُمۡ اَعۡدَآءً فَاَ لَّفَ بَيۡنَ قُلُوۡبِكُمۡ فَاَصۡبَحۡتُمۡ بِنِعۡمَتِهٖۤ اِخۡوَانًا ۚ وَكُنۡتُمۡ عَلٰى شَفَا حُفۡرَةٍ مِّنَ النَّارِ فَاَنۡقَذَكُمۡ مِّنۡهَا ​ؕ كَذٰلِكَ يُبَيِّنُ اللّٰهُ لَـكُمۡ اٰيٰتِهٖ لَعَلَّكُمۡ تَهۡتَدُوۡنَ‏ 

“And hold firmly to the rope of Allah all together [jamee`an] and do not become divided. And remember the favor of Allah upon you – when you were enemies and He brought your hearts together and you became, by His favor, brothers. And you were on the edge of a pit of the Fire, and He saved you from it. Thus does Allah make clear to you His verses that you may be guided.” 

[Surah 3. Al-i'Imran: 103]

The expression 'rope of Allah', in this verse, refers to the 'religion of God'. The reason for use of the word 'rope' (habl) is that it both establishes a bond between man and God and joins all believers together. To take a firm hold on this cable means that the believers should attach profound importance to their religion: this should always be the centre of their concerns; they should continually strive to establish it; and the common desire to serve it should make them co-operate with each other.

As soon as Muslims turn their attentions away from the fundamental teachings of their religion and lose sight of establishing its hegemony in life they begin to concern themselves with matters of secondary importance. And, just as they rent the communities of the former Prophets, enticing people away from their true objective in life, so schisms and dissensions are bound to plague their lives. If Muslims do this they are bound to suffer indignity and disgrace both in this world and the Next as happened with the followers of the previous Prophets.

Let then remain united as commanded by Allah and hold together so that we are never weakened. And also hold the religion of Islam very dear to our hearts and implement the directives contained in Quran so that when we are again gathered on the Day of Resurrection, we are rewarded and not punished.

You may refer to our post "99 Attributes of Allāh" for complete list of 99 attributes of Allah Almighty with meaning and explanation.

You may also refer to our Reference Pages for knowing more about Islam and Quran

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