Al-Muqaddam
The Bringer Forward Who precedes all things and Who determines them in every age that they appear. So whoever the Eternal makes worthy of being brought forward, then when he desires to be brought forward with Allah, let his behavior on the path be correct. It is a path of gaining ascendancy.
From: The Children Around the Table of Allah by Shaykh Muhammad Sa’id al-Jamal ar-Rifa’i Head of the Higher Sufi Council in Jerusalem and the Holy Land Teacher at the Dome of the Rock (al-Aqsa)
AL-MUQADDIM
Allah brings forward whomever He wills. Allah advances the chosen among His creation, bringing some above and ahead of others. For instance, He invites the whole of humanity to truth, but leads some to respond to the invitation, while others are left behind. He creates all human beings as Muslims: some realize their Islam, their submission, while others are left behind. Allah has made things lawful and unlawful for all people. To some, He has given discrimination: these abide by His law and advance, while others are trampled upon.
Allah favors some of his servants by the quiet love He creates in the hearts of people for them, and others by loud cheers and applause. There are great kings whose deaths are celebrated by their people with joy. There are poor men whose departures are mourned by the world.
The believer knows that although Allah is the one who advances whom He wills, He has also set laws of action for us. If we do not do anything and are lazy, the end is poverty, constriction, trouble, and pain. If we work for money and fame, that money will be spent on drinking, gambling, and debauchery. The end of that will again be poverty, constriction, and pain.
We must learn to be in harmony with Allah al-Muqaddim and work in accordance with His laws if we wish to advance. If the goal is to obtain the good of this world in a lawful manner, and if Allah does not permit the servant to become rich, although he tries very hard, still Allah knows best. Perhaps such acceptance is a greater advancement than being ahead in riches for the measure of true advancement is the degree of one’s closeness to Allah.
‘Abd al-Muqaddim is the one whom Allah keeps in the first rank in every respect. Allah also gives such a person control over the ones who are going to advance and the ones who have moved ahead.
Someone who is aware of the demands of his ego and the state of his soul, and who knows that his ego pulls him down toward the earth because it was created from it, while his soul pulls him up to the heavens because it came from that direction, may make a habit of reciting this Name 184 times a day. That person will be given the wisdom to choose his or her priorities in this life as well as the will to perform our duties for the Hereafter at their proper times, and will be successful in both.
From: The Name & the Named by Shaykh Tosun Bayrak al-Jerrahi al-Halveti