Whom everything honourable is referred, and with Him does every glory end. He calls His
servants to account for their deeds, Who tries those who obey Him and rewards them for such
obedience, Who calls those who disobey Him to account and penalizes them for their
disobedience; He, and only He, tries everyone.
Things are connected to one another, and in the end they are connected to Allah Who has
said, "O Prophet! Allah suffices you and the believers who follow you" (Qura'n, 8:64). If we
look at this great cosmos, which is fixed and unaffected by external effects since millions of
years, we will conclude that there is a complex accounting system for it which is spontaneous.
It makes cosmic criteria fixed in order to guarantee the preservation of human life on earth in
the best way so that man may be able to perform the function for which Allah created him,
that is, to worship Him. The number of computations required to run such a tremendous
cosmos can never be conceived by any human mind; so, how can one imagine the
spontaneous alterations of some while the rest remain the same?! It is the Great al-haseeb, the
computing One, the Great, the most swift of all those who compute. It truly is an Attribute
which deserves a close look. If a thinking person were to remain thinking all life, he will
never be able to compute except very, very little indeed. Yet I like through these simple
statements to give the reader an idea that may provide him with a glimpse of the greatness of
this miraculous Attribute:
The verb "hasaba" means: counted, computed, calculated, deducted a total, etc. "hisab"
means: counting, computing, calculating, or accounting, and it is accomplished by adding,
subtracting, and such related steps. The science of hisab is arithmetics from which more
advanced sciences: algebra, mathematics, and calculus, are derived. The Holy Qura'n contains
references to al-haseeb and the derivatives of its root word in verses such as these:
... and though there may be the weight of a grain of mustard seed, We will (still) bring it, and
sufficient are We to take account. (21:47) Then are they sent back to Allah, their Master, the
True One; now surely His is the judgment, and He is the swiftest in taking account. (6:62)
They shall have (their) portion of what they have earned, and Allah is swift in reckoning.
(2:202) There is none to repeal His decree, and He is swift to take account. (13:41) ... there he
finds Allah, so He pays him back his reckoning in full, and Allah is swift in reckoning.
(24:39)
In order to be acquainted with the secret of Allah's Power as embedded in His Attribute "al-
haseeb", as it manifests itself upon His creation, let us take a look at the chemical,
physiological and astronomical balance existing in the cosmos. We will see that there is a
high computing power too great to be conceived, one capable of conducting such
computations and controlled by One Who is fully knowledgeable of the cosmos in its entirety,
of the smallest atom in it up to the largest planet. Had it not been so, its cosmic computations
would not have remained fixed. In order to form an idea about the complexity of such
computations, we have to provide an example: