Qur'an & Learning

The names of Allah, and where to find them

Not another list to scroll past. Each name with the verse it comes from, so you can open the Book and read it in its place.

You have seen the ninety-nine names on a poster, on a fridge magnet, on a wall hanging. You may never have read one of them in the verse it actually comes from.

That is what this page is for. And the instruction to use them at all is itself in the Qur’an.

Surah Al-A’raf (7 : 180) To Allah belong the most beautiful names — so call upon Him by them.

Where the number ninety-nine comes from

Being accurate about this matters, because almost nobody is.

The number ninety-nine is not from the Qur’an. It comes from a hadith reported in both Bukhari and Muslim — among the most rigorously authenticated material there is — in which the Prophet ﷺ said that Allah has ninety-nine names, and that whoever enumerates them enters Paradise.

The familiar numbered list is a separate question. The version most posters use comes through a narration in Tirmidhi, and scholars have long discussed whether that enumeration was part of the Prophet’s words or was compiled afterwards by a narrator. Different scholars produced different lists, and they do not all agree name for name.

So this page does something narrower and more honest: it gives names that appear in the Qur’an, with a verse for each one. Not a claim to be the definitive ninety-nine. A set you can check yourself, which is worth more.

The verse that gathers many at once

If you read only one passage today, read this one. It contains more of the names in sequence than anywhere else in the Qur’an.

Surah Al-Hashr (59 : 22–24) Three verses, name after name — the Sovereign, the Most Holy, the Source of Peace, the Granter of Security, the Guardian, the Mighty, the Compeller, the Supreme — then the Creator, the Originator, the Fashioner. It closes by saying that everything in the heavens and the earth exalts Him.

And four in a single verse

Surah Al-Hadid (57 : 3) He is the First and the Last, the Manifest and the Hidden — four names, one after another, in one line.

Read them together and they do something no single name does. Before anything, He was. After everything, He is. Nothing is more evident, and nothing is more hidden from sight.

Names, and the verse each one is in

Arranged by what you might be carrying when you reach for one. Every reference is given so you can open the mushaf and read it in context — which is the only way a name stops being a word and starts being something you know.

When you need mercy, or have run out of it for yourself

Name	Meaning	Where
Ar-Rahman	The Most Merciful — mercy as His nature, not His reaction	Al-Fatihah 1 : 1
Ar-Rahim	The Bestower of Mercy — mercy arriving, specifically, to you	Al-Fatihah 1 : 3
Al-Ghafur	The Much-Forgiving	Al-Baqarah 2 : 173
Al-Ghaffar	The Repeatedly Forgiving — the form itself means again and again	Ta-Ha 20 : 82
At-Tawwab	The Accepter of Repentance — the One who turns back toward you	Al-Baqarah 2 : 37
Al-‘Afuww	The Pardoner — who erases, not merely overlooks	An-Nisa 4 : 99
Al-Halim	The Forbearing — who does not hurry to punish	Al-Baqarah 2 : 225
Ar-Ra’uf	The Most Kind	Al-Baqarah 2 : 143
Al-Wadud	The Loving	Hud 11 : 90

When you are afraid, or something is beyond your control

Name	Meaning	Where
Al-Hayy	The Ever-Living	Al-Baqarah 2 : 255
Al-Qayyum	The Sustainer of all existence — who holds it up	Al-Baqarah 2 : 255
Al-‘Aziz	The Almighty, who cannot be overcome	Al-Hashr 59 : 23
Al-Qawiyy	The All-Strong	Al-Hajj 22 : 40
Al-Wakil	The Trustee — the One affairs are handed over to	Al-Imran 3 : 173
Al-Hafiz	The Preserver, the Guardian	Hud 11 : 57
Al-Waliyy	The Protecting Ally	Ash-Shura 42 : 28
As-Salam	The Source of Peace	Al-Hashr 59 : 23
Al-Muhaymin	The Guardian over all things	Al-Hashr 59 : 23

When you need something — provision, an answer, a way out

Name	Meaning	Where
Ar-Razzaq	The Provider	Adh-Dhariyat 51 : 58
Al-Fattah	The Opener — of what was closed	Saba 34 : 26
Al-Mujib	The Responder to supplication	Hud 11 : 61
Al-Wasi‘	The All-Encompassing, whose capacity does not run short	Al-Baqarah 2 : 115
Al-Wahhab	The Bestower, who gives without being owed	Al-Imran 3 : 8
Al-Ghaniyy	The Self-Sufficient — giving costs Him nothing	Fatir 35 : 15
Al-Qarib	The Near	Al-Baqarah 2 : 186

When you feel unseen, or think nothing you do is noticed

Name	Meaning	Where
As-Sami‘	The All-Hearing	Al-Baqarah 2 : 127
Al-Basir	The All-Seeing	Al-Isra 17 : 1
Al-‘Alim	The All-Knowing	Al-Baqarah 2 : 32
Al-Khabir	The All-Aware — of the detail underneath	Al-Mulk 67 : 14
Al-Latif	The Subtle — who works in ways too fine to notice	Al-Mulk 67 : 14
Ar-Raqib	The Watchful	An-Nisa 4 : 1
Ash-Shahid	The Witness	Al-Hajj 22 : 17
Ash-Shakur	The Appreciative — who rewards more than the act deserved	Fatir 35 : 30

When you are thinking about what He is

Name	Meaning	Where
Al-Ahad	The One — not one of a kind, but One without kind	Al-Ikhlas 112 : 1
As-Samad	The Eternal Refuge, needing nothing, needed by all	Al-Ikhlas 112 : 2
Al-Malik	The Sovereign	Al-Hashr 59 : 23
Al-Quddus	The Most Holy, free of every deficiency	Al-Hashr 59 : 23
Al-Khaliq	The Creator	Al-Hashr 59 : 24
Al-Bari’	The Originator, who brings from nothing	Al-Hashr 59 : 24
Al-Musawwir	The Fashioner, who gives each thing its form	Al-Hashr 59 : 24
Al-‘Aliyy	The Most High	Al-Baqarah 2 : 255
Al-‘Azim	The Magnificent	Al-Baqarah 2 : 255
Al-Haqq	The Truth, the only thing real without depending on another	Al-Hajj 22 : 6
An-Nur	The Light of the heavens and the earth	An-Nur 24 : 35
Al-Hakim	The All-Wise	Al-Baqarah 2 : 32
Al-Hamid	The Praiseworthy — whether or not anyone praises	Ibrahim 14 : 1
Al-Awwal · Al-Akhir	The First and the Last	Al-Hadid 57 : 3
Az-Zahir · Al-Batin	The Manifest and the Hidden	Al-Hadid 57 : 3

How to actually use this

Reading a list changes nothing. Two things do.

Take one name a week. Not ninety-nine. One. Open the verse it comes from, read it in place, and use that name in your du’a all week. Asking Ya Razzaq when you need provision, or Ya Mujib when you need an answer, is calling on Him by the name that fits the thing — which is what Al-A’raf 7 : 180 tells you to do.

Notice which one you avoid. Most people find one name harder than the others. It is usually the one they most need.

Where to go from here

Everything is already praising Him — the thunder, the birds, the mountains. What the Qur’an says about creation’s worship, and what it means that only we forget.
Grow Your Faith — where this article sits, and what else is written there.
Qur’an AI — to read the verses above aloud and have each word checked as you recite them.

What this page is and is not. The number ninety-nine comes from an authentic hadith in Bukhari and Muslim. The commonly printed list of exactly ninety-nine reaches us through a narration in Tirmidhi whose enumeration scholars have discussed — so this page does not present any list as the definitive one. Every name above is given with a verse where it appears in the Qur’an, so you can verify it yourself. This is not the complete set of names; it is the set you can check. For the theological discussions scholars have had about the divine attributes — a serious and deep field — ask a qualified scholar. Nothing here is a ruling.

Noor ul Firdaws · Norway · 2 September 2026 · contact@noorulfirdaws.com

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