Al-’Aziz – Al-Jabbaar العزيز الجبار
The name of Allah Al-‘Aziz combines all the characteristics of Al-‘izzah, the mightiness as Allah says:
إِنَّ الْعِزَّةَ لِلَّهِ جَمِيعًا} يونس 65}
All Al-‘izzah (power and all the mightiness and all the strength) belong to Allah. Surah Yunus [10: 65]
The name of Al-‘Aziz comprises three meanings:
Firstly: It denotes the meaning of Power, Mightiness and Strength, as Allah says:
إِنَّ الله هُوَ الرَّزَّاقُ ذُو الْقُوَّةِ الْمَتِينُ} الذاريات 58}
Verily, Allah is The All Provider, Owner of Power, The Most Strong. Surah Adh-Dhaariyaat [51:58]
When the people of ʿAd, asked their Prophet Hud: “Who is mightier than us in strength?”
{فَأَمَّا عَادٌ فَاسْتَكْبَرُوا فِي الْأَرْضِ بِغَيْرِ الْحَقِّ وَقَالُوا مَنْ أَشَدُّ مِنَّا قُوَّةً ۖ} فصلت 14
As for ‘Ad, they were arrogant in the land without right, and they said: “Who is mightier than us in strength? Surah Fussilat [41:14]
What did Allah say? He responded with:
أَوَلَمْ يَرَوْا أَنَّ الله الَّذِي خَلَقَهُمْ هُوَ أَشَدُّ مِنْهُمْ قُوَّةً ۖ} فصلت 15}
Did they not see that Allah Who created them, Is mightier in strength than them? Surah Fussilat [41:15]
The answer is: Your Creator is definitely more powerful, so this is the power and strength that is intended.
Secondly: the meaning of Al ‘Aziz also includes His being free of needing the creation. This is ‘izzah of abstention which means the impossibility of any shortcomings, the impossibility of anyone being equal to Him and the impossibility that anyone can ever harm Him, glorified and exalted is He; He is too high and mighty to be in need of anyone. He is The All Rich and all the creation are in need to Him.
He is free of any shortcomings whatsoever. He, glorified and exalted is He, has the most perfect and complete names, attributes and actions.
وَلَهُ الْمَثَلُ الْأَعْلَىٰ فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ ۚ وَهُوَ الْعَزِيزُ الْحَكِيمُ} الروم 27}
He has the highest description, i.e. none has the right to be worshipped but He, and there is nothing comparable to Him in the heavens and in the earth, and He is The All Mighty, The All Wise.
Surah ar-Rum [30: 27]
Thirdly: The meaning of conquering, overpowering. Allah conquers and overpowers the whole of creation. The entire creation is submissive to His power and submissive to His will. All forelocks are under His control, no one in this creation can make anything in any way except with His permission and only if He wills.(1)
قُلِ اللَّهُمَّ مَالِكَ الْمُلْكِ تُؤْتِي الْمُلْكَ مَنْ تَشَاءُ وَتَنْزِعُ الْمُلْكَ مِمَّنْ تَشَاءُ وَتُعِزُّ مَنْ تَشَاءُ وَتُذِلُّ مَنْ تَشَاءُ ۖ بِيَدِكَ الْخَيْرُ ۖ إِنَّكَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ} ال عمران 26}
Say O Muhammad (peace be upon him): O Allah, Possessor of the Kingdom, You give the kingdom to whom You will, and You take the kingdom from whom You will, and You endue with honor whom You will, and You humiliate whom You will. In Your Hand is the good, Verily, You are able to do all things.
Surah Al-Imraan [3: 26]
Look at your own creation—do you have any choice in your height, the way you look, in your intelligence, in your gender, how long you will live, your sickness or health? Do you have any choice? No, you don’t. We all submit to His power and to His will regarding all these matters.
وَهُوَ الْقَاهِرُ فَوْقَ عِبَادِهِ} الأنعام 18}
And He is the Irresistible (Supreme), above His slaves. Surah Al-An-‘am [6:18]
One should ponder that the amazing thing is we do not even have the choice over our own hearts. Can you make your heart feel happy when there is a pain in it? Can you make your heart to love a specific thing or person? No, it is only if Allah wills. Even for your heart to love Allah, we need Allah’s will first. This is an example of how Allah overpowers His creation.
Now, if we do understand this name of Allah, we need to react to this understanding and subsequently to worship Allah according to this understanding. If you know that Allah is the All Powerful, the All Mighty, The Honorable, then how are you going to receive His orders? How will you react to His commands?
We should submit to His orders and commands and humble ourselves to Him, because Allah, the All Mighty and the All Powerful deserves this.
We need to know that each name necessitates a special act of worship. There are names which make you worship Allah lovingly, and other names which make you seek hope in Allah and put your reliance on Him. Yet another name will incline you to hope and seek His forgiveness and there are names like this name, Al-‘Aziz, which will incline you to submit and humble yourself to Him.
The question in front of us now is: Do you want to be honourable and mighty (having ‘izzah)? Do you want to feel this special type of honor (‘izzah)?
So what is meant by honor and glory with regards to ourselves? The Scholars say ‘izzah legislatively means: A state of feeling distant from being defeated and overcome.
This ‘izzah is a feeling which fills the heart and soul with transcendence, due to the strong attachment to Allah, where the soul is elevated from any humiliating position and frees itself from the slavery of its lusts and desires, and from the degradation of greed.
So, when you free your heart and soul from being attached to the people regarding your needs and hopes and fears (no attachments at all in anyway), it is only then, you will feel this honor. When you are attached only to Allah, asking only Him, and fearing only Him, you will be able to free yourself from the creation, you will be able to deal with people knowing that no one can bring benefit to you and no one can harm you, it is only Allah Who can do that.
وَلِلَّهِ الْعِزَّةُ وَلِرَسُولِهِ وَلِلْمُؤْمِنِينَ} المنافقون 8}
To Allah only belongs the Honor, Power and Glory and to His Messenger and to the believers.
Surah Al-Munafiqun [63:8]
If you want this honor and glory then only Allah can grant you this.
The honor of being a slave only to Allah, our Creator, The King, The All Mighty and the All Powerful. This is the true freedom. To humble yourself only to Allah,
This freedom of creation has a very special joy. Only a free person can taste the true feelings of submission and lowering himself only to Allah. When he puts his face on the ground in his prostration, and says: “I submit only to You Allah and I lower myself only to You Allah”, then he can truly feel this great pleasure and the joy of these words. The honor to be a slave only to Allah and no one else, this is in reality tawheed and the honor that comes with tawheed.
The only way to achieve this honor and this freedom from the creation, is by honoring Allah’s religion and to honor His commands. So the more you humble yourself to Allah, the more you will be honorable.
مَن كَانَ يُرِيدُ الْعِزَّةَ فَلِلَّهِ الْعِزَّةُ جَمِيعًا} فاطر 26}
Whoever desires Al-‘izzah (honor, power and glory), then to Allah belong all ‘izzah (power and glory).
Surah Faṭir [35:26]
Imagine living a life free from any fears, from any worries, free from needing the people. You will only fear Allah and will hope in Allah, and surely He will suffice you and protect you and provide for you, He the All Mighty, the All Powerful.
‘Umar ibn Al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, said:
(نحن قوم أعزنا الله بالاسلام فمهما ابتغينا العزة بغيره أذلنا الله” (أخرجه بن المبارك في الزهد ٥٨٤ و هو صحيح”
We are people Allah made us honourable with Islam, and if we seek honor from other than Islam Allah will humiliate and lower us (2)
This honor, ʿUmar ibn Al-Khattaab mentioned, deserves to be pondered at. How the arabs before Islam were just scattered tribes, they looked at the Roman and Persian Kingdom as the major powers which they can never dream of opposing, nevermind defeating. Then after Islam was established in their lands and after they abided to the rules of Islam and submitted to Allah, He enabled them to conquer these two major powers, and lead them to conquering the world from east to west.
A man asked Al-Imam Al-Hasan Al-Basri for an advice, so he told him:
(أعز أمر الله حيثما كنت، يعزك الله حيثما كنت” (عن كعب صاحب الحرير”
Honor Allah commands wherever you are and in every situation, and Allah will honor you wherever you are and in every situation. (3)
This meaning was demonstrated by Sheikh Al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah when he said (referring to his stay in prison):
What can my enemies do to me? They have no authority on me, my paradise is in my heart. My imprisoning is an opportunity for privacy with Allah, deporting me is a vacation, killing me is martyrdom (Shahaadah). (4)
So this is how one feels the honor and pride and dignity of not fearing anyone except Allah. This is the outcome of a true understanding of Allah’s name Al-‘Aziz.
We need to understand, that this honor and pride and glory we are talking about, is an inner feeling which fills our soul.
Yet, when we deal with people in general and especially other Muslims, we have to be humble ourselves amongst them. We must never mistreat them out of pride or arrogance. We should lower ourselves to the good believers out of mercy for them.
Allah hates those who are arrogant and proud with others. Why? Because we are slaves ourselves and we are weak helpless creatures, so why the arrogance? Only Allah deserves to be proud, because He is The Creator, The King and we are His slaves.
الجبار
Al-Jabbar (الجبار)
The name of Allah Al-Jabbar has three meanings:
The first is the attribute of conquering and overpowering as mentioned in the name al-‘Aziz previously.
The second beautiful meaning of His name Al-Jabbar (The Compeller), is that Allah restores with His mercy, the weak. He restores the broken hearts and restores the sick one by guiding him to be patient, by facilitating his cure and by rewarding him for his pain with the greatest rewards.
Restore (يجبر): it comes with the meaning of restoring your defects to a good condition, to compensate for any hardship, to remedy your broken heart, to mend our defects in worship and to mend our injured dignity
Allah restores the hearts of the believers, who have submitted to Him, and who are attached with their hopes only in Him. Those who feel they need His guidance and His aid. Allah will restore these believers by enlightening their hearts with knowledge about Him and by guiding them. He will restore them from their defects and whenever they do an act of disobedience, He will guide them to repent and will accept their repentance so they can complete their faith again. (5)
To understand the meaning of restoring, it has a root word in arabic which means ‘cast’ (as in a cast put on a broken bone). This cast fixes the broken bone and restores it back to its complete state and as such, the weakness disappears and strength is restored.
You will find Tthis meaning of restoring, in the supplication of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, between the two prostrations in his prayers:
اللَّهُمَّ اغْفِرْ لِي وَارْحَمْنِي وَاجْبُرْنِي وَاهْدِنِي وَارْزُقْنِي
I ask you Allah to forgive me and to have mercy upon me and to restore my weakness and my defects (i.e restore them to strength) and to guide me and to provide for me. (6)
Now reflect O reader! When you say this supplication in your prayers, do you really ponder on the meaning of each word? Do you know what are you asking Allah with inside your heart? Do you feel a great need for Allah to respond to what you have asked? Do you realize your need for the forgiveness of Allah, His guidance and provision? Do you realize how your heart needs Al-Jabbar to restore any defects in it or ease any pain it feels? If we do not feel this then this supplication will not have its desired effect.
You will find this second meaning of the name of Allah, Al-Jabbar, in the Quran in many places. Allah, glorified and exalted is He, commands us to take care of the orphan because he is weak. Allah commands us to have special care with our parents when they are old because now they are weak. Allah prohibits us from hurting the feelings of the poor when we help them with money. Allah restores our good state after any hardship we face due to practicing our religion by telling us that He will compensate us with the Paradise and we will be the only winners in the hereafter. Through this He puts calmness and tranquility in our hearts which will give us the strength to continue and endure.
A third meaning of the name of Allah, Al-Jabbar is related to His highness and His elevation over His creation.
Allah is the only Compeller, Who overpowers and conquers the whole of creation and these attributes are deserved only to Allah. Anyone who tries to act with arrogance or tries to overpower people Allah, glorified and exalted is He, will strongly avenge him. (7)
كَذَٰلِكَ يَطْبَعُ اللَّهُ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ قَلْبِ مُتَكَبِّرٍ جَبَّارٍ} غافر35}
Thus does Allah seals up the heart of every arrogant, tyrant, so they will not be able to guide themselves to the right path. Surah Al-Ghafir [40:35]
وَاسْتَفْتَحُوا وَخَابَ كُلُّ جَبَّارٍ عَنِيدٍ مِنْ وَرَائِهِ جَهَنَّمُ وَيُسْقَىٰ مِنْ مَاءٍ صَدِيدٍ يَتَجَرَّعُهُ وَلَا يَكَادُ يُسِيغُهُ وَيَأْتِيهِ الْمَوْتُ مِنْ كُلِّ مَكَانٍ وَمَا هُوَ بِمَيِّتٍ ۖ وَمِنْ وَرَائِهِ عَذَابٌ غَلِيظٌ} إبراهيم 15-17}
And they (the Messengers) sought victory and help, from their Lord, and every obstinate arrogant dictator (who refuses to believe in the oneness of Allah) was brought to a complete loss and destruction, in front of Him is Hell, and he will be made to drink boiling festering water. He will sip it unwillingly, and he will find a great difficulty to swallow it down his throat, and death will come to him from every side, yet he will not die and in front of him, will be a great torment. Surah Ibrahim [14: 15-17]
Imam Ahmad mentions that Abu Hurairah, may Allah be pleased with him, said that the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon Him, said:
“يخرج عنق من النار يوم القيامة له عينان يبصر بهما، و أذنان يسمع بهما، و لسان ينطق به، فيقول:
إني وكلت بثلاثة: بكل جبار عنيد و بكل من ادعى مع الله إلها آخر و المصورين.”
On the Resurrection Day, there will be a neck coming out of the Hellfire, it has two eyes it sees with, it has two ears it hears with and it has a tongue it will speak with. This neck will say: Allah commanded me to capture three types of people: every arrogant obstinate individual and everyone who associated a partner with Allah and the picture makers (the one who makes or copy images imitating Allah’s creation). (8)
These are the three types of people Allah hates most.
So here we need to think again, yes Allah is merciful, and Allah restores us and forgives us, but He is Al-‘Aziz, Al-Jabbar, don’t ever think to oppose Allah. Because we need to know our limits as slaves to Allah, Al-‘Aziz, Al-Jabbar.
The limit of a slave is that he reacts to the command of Allah by saying only one thing: “Yes Allah, we hear and we obey”.
We seek refuge in Allah from Hellfire, and we ask Him His pleasure and forgiveness and to guide us to the best manners and actions.
1- Fiqh Al-Asma Al-Husna, by Sheikh Abdur Razzaq Al-Badr.
2- Taken from Ibn Al-Mubarak in Az-Zuhd page 584 and it is authentic.
3- Reported by Ka’b, author of Tahrir
4- Conveyed by Imam Ibn Al-Qayyim in his book Al-Wabil As-Sayyib
5- Fiqh Al-Asma Al-Husna, by Sheikh Abdur Razzaq Al-Badr.
6- Corrected by Imam Al-Albani in Sahih At-Tirmidhi
7- Fiqh Al-Asma Al-Husna, by Sheikh Abdur Razzaq Al-Badr.
8- Reported by Imam Ahmad and At-Tirmidhi, corrected by Imam Al-Albani
