WAW - THE ARABIC LETTER
INTRODUCTION
The Arabic Letter Waw (
) is equivalent to the letter 'W' in the English alphabet. It is letter number 26 in the Arabic character set. Waw () in Arabic numerology, which is known as Abjad, has the value of 6. This article is about the spiritual meaning of the letter Waw ().
THE LETTER WAW
15 Lord of the Throne of Glory,
16 Doer of what He wills.
Wadood 
- Loving is one of the Attributes of Allah.
WADOOD - LOVING
The word Wadood - Loving is Wood
Wood- Love. Love has two parts. And Love and Love + becomes Wadood - Loving. Love is something that is not visible. Love is something that is shared between two. We cannot measure love, but we can see the effects of love. A seeker in search of Allah embarks on this course for no other reason than Love for his Creator. So that he may share his Love with Allah. When we first start seeking Allah, Allah will test our love for Him with hardships. These hardships can be as different as the number of different seekers. There are numerous examples in the Quran, but we shall just look at one example.
In the case of Ibraheem (
) :
What were these certain commands which Ibraheem () fulfilled ? These commands were to leave his wife and son Ismaeel () in the desert, in Allah's care. Then after that, Allah asked Ibraheem () to sacrifice that which was most dear to him. And the dearest thing to Ibraheem () was his son Ismaeel (). So Ibraheem () offered his son to Allah as a sacrifice. And, Allah accepted his sacrifice and preserved Ismaeel () at the last minute. Why did Allah do that ?
Because Allah is Al Ghafoor ul Wadood And He is the Forgiving, the Loving. Allah tested Ibraheem's () love for his Rabb. And when Ibraheem () gave up that which he loved most for the sake of Allah, Allah restored his son and reciprocated that Love.
The moral is that Love is shared between two. If the Love of one is not reciprocated by the other it becomes a trial. When the other responds with Love, it becomes bliss.
A good example of the effects of love are described beautifully in the book Layla and Majnun by Nizami. Layla and Majnun as a story is wonderful from a worldly point of view. But if we consider this book from a spiritual point of view we find that all the Messengers of Allah () and Awliya Allah (
) went through the same process. They gave up everything for the sake of Allah's Love.
And after trying them, Allah returned, or bestowed His Love on them.
That means we have to believe and be loving towards others for the sake of Allah. Everyone one of us, is His creation. Allah Himself will reciprocate our love for others. Another word for Love in Arabic is Hubb.
32 Say: Obey Allah and the messenger. But if they turn away, Allah does not love the disbelievers.
In the case of Muhammad
, Allah bestowed on him the Title: Habeeb Allah - The Beloved of Allah. There is a subtlety in this Title. All the creation that seeks Allah pleasure is in Love with Allah. In the case of Muhammad, Allah is in Love with Muhammad. Hence the reference in the Quran:
FROM WADOOD TO WOOD
WADOOD TO WOODWhat do we call these Blessings mentioned in the above reference (Chapter 33 Verse 56) ? We call these Blessings Darood 
. In the word Darood there is the word Wood - Love.
Now if we look at the word Mahmood 
Highest in Maqamam Mahmood 
- Highest Station and the name of the Person destined for that rank 
Muhammad , we find that the name Muhammad becomes Mahmood if we add the Letter Waw () between the second Meem (
) and the Letter Dal (
). Therefore the name Muhammad becomes Mahmood which ends with Wood - Love. This reference of Maqamam Mahmood is mentioned in the Prayer that is said after the Azan - Call to Prayer. Before mentioning Maqamam Mahmood in the Prayer, there is another title of Muhammad that starts with the Letter Waw () which is mentioned first. That is Wasila - Rights of intercession.
WASEET- INTERCESSOR
Waseet 
is an intercessor. On the Day of Resurrection, Muhammad will be asked to intercede for his community. And that promise of being a Waseet - Intercessor has already been made by Allah to His Beloved Muhammad.
Muhammad,Rasool Allah said:
WAQT
WAQT
80 (Allah) said: "Respite then is granted to you
81 "Till the day of the Time Appointed."
Waqt 
is Time. Satan or Iblees is granted respite until the appointed Waqt - Time in the above verse. Waqt - Time is one of the many things that man would like to control. But it is elusive. We cannot touch or hold time, we cannot taste time, we cannot see time, we cannot hear time and we definitely cannot smell time. Time is an elusive concept. It cannot be grasped. It cannot be turned back. So most people live for today without a care for tomorrow. In Islam it is the 'tomorrow' that matters. Since Iblees has been granted respite for an appointed time, he makes us waste our allocated Waqt Time by keeping us busy with worldly matters and turning us away from seeking Allah's bounty.
Therefore we must put aside some Waqt - Time per day for Tawba - Repentance and seeking Allah's bounty. We have to put aside some good deeds for which the payment is not immediately obvious. But nevertheless, these good deeds of today will be counted 'tomorrow'.
NAMES OF ALLAH
STARTING WITH THE LETTER WA