Allah has described Himself in the Holy Qur'an through His Names and Attributes. One of these names is As-Salam, which means the source of peace, safety and perfection. Allah is the Giver of safety to humanity; there is no safety in the whole universe except that is attributed to Him. As-Salaam is perfect and whole and He is the only one who can bestow safety and security as well as inner peace. Allah is the Peace who spreads peace throughout universe. Since life was first created, it has been predominated by long stretches of peacefulness, security, tranquility, and contentment. Allah is Peace and from Him emanates all peace. It is as the Prophet (peace be upon him) said, "O Allah! You are Peace and from You is peace. Blessed be You, possessor of glory and honor." [Sahih Muslim (91)] {And to Allah belong the best names, so invoke Him by them. And leave [the company of] those who practice deviation concerning His names. They will be recompensed for what they have been doing.} [Chapter 7, verse 180] As-Salam means The Flawless and comes from the same root as peace (Islam) as entities are at peace when they are flawless. We all understand "salam" to be peace, but this word has a number of dimensions, and they all relate to Allah's Name As-Salam that means to be free from defect. As human beings, we try to seek and create what is flawless because we have a natural affinity towards it. What disturbs us and prevents a peaceful existence is when we put all of our hopes in the imperfect. We depend on other human beings, while we should be depending on Allah. When we are disappointed, we are broken. But that is because people and things are not perfect. When we let go of that attachment to the material and to other people, and understand that we all have faults, then we will understand that it is only Allah who is Flawless. This should not be interpreted as laziness to not strive for perfection in our deeds, worship, personal relationships, education, and work. Allah guides us, in our minds and deep in our hearts we are content that As-Salam always guides our hearts. We should always show patience and perseverance in hard times and As-Salam will give us the inner peace inside. Abu Musa Al-Ash'ari reported, "I asked the Prophet (peace be upon him): "Who is the most excellent among the Muslims?" He (peace be upon him) said, "One from whose tongue and hands the other Muslims are secure." [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]. As Muslims, we should not inflict harm upon others, either directly or indirectly. During our life, we all seek peace in some way. We work so that we do not have to worry about how to secure our needs. We take breaks to rest and give ourselves some calm. However, the surest way to find peace and tranquility of the heart is by remembrance of Allah and reading the Holy Qur'an and supplicating to Him. {Those who have believed and whose hearts are assured by the remembrance of Allah. Unquestionably, by the remembrance of Allah hearts are assured.} [Chapter 13, verse 28] Most of the things that cause real disturbances in our hearts and our lives are tied to what we allow into our hearts. When we allow ourselves to envy and to hate, we are naturally far from being in a state of peace, because our hearts are far from Allah, the source of inner peace. The anger in our hearts harms us and shows discontent with the divine decree. Prophet Ibrahim is a fine example in being content and at peace with what Allah has decreed, and having complete trust in Allah. He was in a state of complete calm and peace even when he was to be catapulted into a raging fire by the disbelievers. His heart was in such a state that when his father said he would stone him if he did not desist from his message, Prophet Ibrahim (peace be upon him) replied kindly and gently to his father that he would worship no other than Allah and that He would ask Allah to forgive his father. To achieve a peaceful life we have to always remember Allah. In each and every action that we do, we should do it with the intention to please Allah We should ask for forgiveness at all times, so Allah will relieve us of every burden, and make after every discomfort ease. We should remind ourselves that only Allah is Flawless. We all have flaws and we all make mistakes. We should not despair when this happens, but rather work hard to become better. We cannot place burdens on people that they cannot bear by expecting them to be perfect either. Seek your reward from Allah, not from people. We are rewarded for our striving. When we put our hope in the results and not in Allah, keeping up with doing good deeds and doing the right thing can be hard. When we realize that the striving in and of itself is praiseworthy in the sight of Allah, we will not be deterred by what may seem as failure. People would spend their whole life trying to find happiness and contentment in the material world, while peace comes from Allah. The name, As-Salaam, gives us confidence and reassurance.
