The Ninety-Nine Names · the 2nd name
الرَّحِيم
Ar-Raheem
The Bestower of Mercy, especially upon those who believe
- The rootر ح م
- From the rootthe same root as Ar-Rahman, in the form of a quality that settles and stays
The essay
The two mercies are paired in the opening line of the Book and they are not a repetition. Ar-Rahman is the wide mercy that covers all that exists; Ar-Raheem is the mercy that stays, the one the Qur'an attaches again and again to those who turn toward Him. One is the rain over everything; the other is what grows where the ground was prepared. Read together they answer the two fears a person actually has: that he is outside the circle, and that being inside it might not last.
In the Qur'an
وَإِلَٰهُكُمۡ إِلَٰهٞ وَٰحِدٞۖ لَّآ إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ ٱلرَّحۡمَٰنُ ٱلرَّحِيمُ
And your God is one God. There is no god but Him, the All-Merciful, the Ever-Merciful.
this Name is in the Qur’an
What it asks of you
Do the small thing that keeps you inside the second mercy: return, ask, and return again. It is the returning that is being described here, not the arriving.
Read beside it
The words