The Ninety-Nine Names · the 10th name
الْمُتَكَبِّر
Al-Mutakabbir
The Supreme in Greatness
- The rootك ب ر
- From the rootkabura: to be great; the form here means to hold oneself great
The essay
In every other mouth this word is a vice. The Qur'an uses the same root for the arrogance of Pharaoh and of Iblis, and says the gates of heaven are not opened to those who treat its signs with this. It is a vice in us for one reason: it is a false claim. In Him alone the claim is simply accurate. That is the whole of the difference, and it is worth sitting with, because it means pride is not wrong for being unpleasant. It is wrong for being untrue.
In the Qur'an
هُوَ ٱللَّهُ ٱلَّذِي لَآ إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ ٱلۡمَلِكُ ٱلۡقُدُّوسُ ٱلسَّلَٰمُ ٱلۡمُؤۡمِنُ ٱلۡمُهَيۡمِنُ ٱلۡعَزِيزُ ٱلۡجَبَّارُ ٱلۡمُتَكَبِّرُۚ سُبۡحَٰنَ ٱللَّهِ عَمَّا يُشۡرِكُونَ
He is Allah, other than whom there is no god: the King, the Most Holy, the Peace, the Giver of Security, the Guardian over all, the Almighty, the Compeller, the Supreme. Glory be to Allah, far above all they set beside Him.
this Name is in the Qur’an
What it asks of you
Notice the next time you want credit. Ask what part of the chain that produced the thing you did was actually yours.
Read beside it
The words
People beside it