Assalamu Alaykum wa Rahmatu Allah wa Barakatuh.

This is your sister Danielle LoDuca.

Today I want to talk about the Name of Allah Al-Khaliq (The Creator) and it seems like such a basic thing to understand that Allah is the creator of everything. But it’s one of the most of the powerful names and I’d like to talk about different angles but today I’m going to just start with one and a very simple basic level.

So, going back on my own experience when I had reached college, I had lost all interest in the religion, I didn’t think about God or whether or not there was a God, I didn’t think about where everything came from…

I was just living my life and I was focused on very short term goals, you know, having a good time, getting my bachelor degree, meeting people wherever… and I was studying to be an artist.

So that was very important to me and the goal of some or most of all artists is basically to create something powerful. I had this burning desire inside me to create something that would really have an impact that will bring beauty or profanity to lives of people.

And something also to express what I felt within me. My aspirations as an artist were totally trampled upon when I took across country whirl trip. I drove from New York all the way across the country to California with my girl friend and I’ve seen unbelievable expenses of earth, I mean to sit on a mountain and look out over the plain stretching beyond what the eye could see, and the colors, the sunsets, the sunrises, the astonishing land formations… it was just beyond imagination, it was exquisite, it was mind-blowing.

So after visiting so many places across the country… seeing the canyons, the rivers, the oceans… and the different colors of sand that stretches across the shores of California for example.

I just was actually devastated as an artist because I realized that I would never be able to create anything even a fraction as incredible and amazing profound intricate, beautiful, you name it, I would never be able to accomplish even a tiny of tiny little fraction of what already existed on the earth.

My endeavor seem vey pointless anyway but at the same time it was really important for me and my journey, this was before I knew anything about Islam, that trip was before 9/11, I had no interest whatsoever in religion but at the same time I would sit at night, you know, in the desert dunes and stare at the stars and watch… and I was just absolutely amazed and I just realized that this is huge, this is incredible…

It was just so fascinating and mind blowing. I thought maybe I have to change my major to be a geologist or an astronomer… I was just so enamored.

So, anyway, the thing is that there are these signs all around us like Allah Almighty said in the Quran: {Indeed, in the creation of the heavens and the earth and the alternation of the night and the day are signs for those of understanding.} (Quran 3:190)

I don’t consider myself of having been a person of understanding at that time but if we just take a little bit of time to really investigate the world around us even if it’s in a small way.

So for example if you have a very busy life and you just step outside one day, I mean just pick up a leaf or watch a bird in a tree and try to give your mind the space that you need to really appreciate these things, you know, try to unclutter your mind and forget about the issues of work, forget about whatever just happened with your family, or what you’re thinking about what you need to do today…

Just take a small moment to absorb and observe the intricacy, the complexity… it’s really so powerful and you see that Allah Almighty mentions creation throughout the Quran that these are signs for us.

And you see that there so much more in the world even than we can observe like the amazing creatures and the depth of the ocean that we can only find out about because of submarines and special equipment.

They’re there but when we find out about them, our amazement increases and I think that some scientists say that the more we learn, the more we realize we don’t know.

That’s why the name Al-Khaliq (The Creator) is very important to us as Muslims just by appreciating the creation of the world; the creation of Allah that expands everywhere from within ourselves, our bodies, our children, our environment, and beyond to the skies and into the oceans, biology, chemistry, Nano technology, delving even deeper to much smaller level of creation.

So we should be really taking the time to investigate and giving our minds space to truly appreciate even on a small level something of Allah’s creation in every single day.

And I think, by doing that, it’s a great way to really stay connected with the importance of Islam and tawheed (monotheism) that la ilaha illa Allah there is nothing worthy of worship except Allah and the signs of that fact are all around us in the earth.

May Allah make us of those of understanding, the people who give thought and the people who can genuinely understand and appreciate the signs that Allah has placed for us all around us, and may we be grateful to Him, and may we truly direct our awe and praises and gratitude to Him and Him alone.

Ameen.