The Ninety-Nine Names · the 28th name
الْحَكَم
Al-Hakam
The Judge, whose ruling is final
- The rootح ك م
- From the roothakama: to judge, to decide; the same root as hikmah, wisdom, and the bridle of a horse
The essay
Al-Hakam is the One whose ruling ends the matter. The root's oldest sense is restraint, the bridle that stops a horse from bolting, and that is what a judgement does: it stops the case running. Every human verdict is provisional, appealable, sometimes bought. His is the last word on every dispute, including the ones no court ever heard: the inheritance quietly taken, the reputation destroyed by a rumour with no author, the wrong nobody can prove.
In the Qur'an
أَفَغَيۡرَ ٱللَّهِ أَبۡتَغِي حَكَمٗا وَهُوَ ٱلَّذِيٓ أَنزَلَ إِلَيۡكُمُ ٱلۡكِتَٰبَ مُفَصَّلٗاۚ
Shall I seek a judge other than Allah, when it is He who sent down to you the Book, set out in detail?
this Name is in the Qur’an
What it asks of you
If you have a case that no one on earth will hear, file it here and stop carrying it. If you are the one being complained about, settle before the hearing.
Read beside it
Lights that name it