Before your first breath, before your first problem, He was there
The First, before whom there is nothing, and from whom every good begins
Who He is as Al-Awwal
Al-Awwal opens the four names of 57:3: the First, the Last, the Outward and the Inward. The Prophet ﷺ explained the first of them himself in a supplication reported in Sahih Muslim: You are the First, and there is nothing before You. And in Sahih al-Bukhari: Allah existed and there was nothing other than Him. Imagine before time, before space, before any thing: Allah was there. Not in a waiting room, not alone in need of company, but perfect and complete.
Every created thing has a start. Stars, mountains, angels and you all came into being at a moment He chose. He did not. He has no cause, no origin, and nothing produced Him. The four names together surround everything: Al-Awwal and Al-Akhir in time, before and after it all; Az-Zahir and Al-Batin in reach, above and within it all. Al-Awwal is the side of beginnings.
Scholars also drew a gentle meaning from it: He is first in giving. Every good that reaches you started with Him before it passed through anyone's hands.
Where you see Al-Awwal at work
When Zakariyya wondered how he could have a son in old age, he was told that his Lord says: it is easy for Me, for I created you before, when you were nothing (19:9). The Quran asks every human: was there not a time when you were not even a thing worth mentioning (76:1)? You were nothing. He was there, and He decided you would be.
When Fatimah, worn out by grinding grain, asked her father ﷺ for a servant, one narration in Sahih Muslim records that he taught her a supplication instead, which includes: You are the First, nothing is before You; You are the Last, nothing is after You; You are the Outward, nothing is above You; You are the Inward, nothing is beneath You; settle our debts and free us from poverty. Before the request, five lines of knowing Him.
Handing your affairs to Him
When a problem arrives it can feel like it came from nowhere and now owns your life. But Al-Awwal was there before the problem, before the illness began, before the debt existed, before the person who hurt you was born. Nothing in your life starts outside His knowledge or ahead of Him. To Allah belongs the command before and after (30:4).
It also cures a quiet arrogance. We tell our story as if it began with our hard work: my degree, my business, my savings. Rewind further. Who gave you a body before you could work, parents before you could ask, a mind before you could study? His grace came first, so you can trust it will not suddenly run out now. The One who cared for you before you existed will not abandon you halfway.
You are holding the first scan of your baby, a tiny shape on grey paper, and already worrying about money, schools and the world they will grow up in. Pause. Al-Awwal knew this child before you did, and planned its provision before it had a heartbeat. You are joining care that began long before you.
My life began with me, and everything I have I built from scratch.
Al-Awwal was giving to me before I existed; everything began with Him.
Why the heart loves Him for it
We feel a special love for whoever was kind to us first, before we had done anything to deserve it. Al-Awwal is first in that sense too. He fed you in the womb, clothed you when you were helpless, gave you parents when you could not even recognise them. You did not start this relationship; He did. A heart that sees that cannot help returning the love.
O Allah, You are the First and there is nothing before You. You began my life with grace before I asked; complete it with grace, and let my every beginning start with You.
The Prophet ﷺ called on Him by this name in his bedtime supplication in Sahih Muslim, ending with a request to settle debts and free us from poverty.Before sleeping tonight, read the supplication from Sahih Muslim that names Him as the First, the Last, the Outward and the Inward.