Al-Isra · Makki · ayah 110 of 111

Al-Isra 17:110

قُلِ ٱدْعُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ أَوِ ٱدْعُوا۟ ٱلرَّحْمَـٰنَ ۖ أَيًّا مَّا تَدْعُوا۟ فَلَهُ ٱلْأَسْمَآءُ ٱلْحُسْنَىٰ ۚ وَلَا تَجْهَرْ بِصَلَاتِكَ وَلَا تُخَافِتْ بِهَا وَٱبْتَغِ بَيْنَ ذَٰلِكَ سَبِيلًا

“Say, "Call upon Allāh or call upon the Most Merciful [ar-Raḥmān]. Whichever [name] you call - to Him belong the best names." And do not recite [too] loudly in your prayer or [too] quietly but seek between that an [intermediate] way.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Two names and one voice: call Him by any of His most beautiful names, in a voice meant for Him, not for the street outside.

A reflection

Every beautiful name already has its Owner

At a primary school parents' evening, a father sits down and introduces himself by his job title. Head of Infrastructure, he says, before his own name. The teacher smiles and writes two words in her notebook: Yusuf's dad.

We collect names that lift us. Titles, letters after the surname, the line under a profile photo. The ego wants a name that raises it into view. One classical derivation ties ism, name, to the root of samāʾ, sky: to name a thing is to lift it up and make it known.

Now listen to the order of the words. Fa-lahu al-asmāʾ al-ḥusnā. Arabic puts 'to Him' first, before the names. One commentary draws out what that fronting does. These names are His, and nobody else's, whatever the idolaters imagined. Ḥusnā is a superlative: not good names, but the most beautiful. Each one, the commentaries say, points to a perfection with no flaw in it. The Quran uses this exact phrase in only four places (7:180, 17:110, 20:8, 59:24).

Set your titles beside that. Every name you carry was handed to you by someone, and will be taken back. Head of Infrastructure is a line in a contract. Nobody gave Him His names. They describe what He is.

Someone may ask: why would God care which names He is called by? Is that not the very vanity He dislikes in us? But the names add nothing to Him. He is the Rich, free of all need (35:15). The names are for us, so that we know whom we are calling. A voice needs a name to reach towards.

That is why the ayah opens with a command: qul, say, and then idʿū, call. The One with the most beautiful names has given you many true ways to reach Him. The humble response is to stop polishing our own labels and use His. Beside those names, 'Yusuf's dad' is title enough.

The full entry has 7 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.