The Ninety-Nine Names · the 30th name
اللَّطِيف
Al-Latif
The Subtle and the Gentle, whose kindness reaches unseen
- The rootل ط ف
- From the rootlatufa: to be fine, subtle, imperceptibly small; and to be gentle
The essay
Two meanings, and the Name holds both. He is subtle: His knowledge reaches into what is too fine to be seen, and His acting is so quiet it is usually only visible looking backwards. And He is gentle: the reaching is kind. Put together, Al-Latif names the help you did not notice arriving: the delay that saved you, the door that closed, the person who happened to say the thing. The Qur'an pairs it with The Aware, so the subtlety is never absent-mindedness.
In the Qur'an
أَلَا يَعۡلَمُ مَنۡ خَلَقَ وَهُوَ ٱللَّطِيفُ ٱلۡخَبِيرُ
Would He who created not know? And He is the Subtle, the All-Aware.
this Name is in the Qur’an
What it asks of you
Go back over a year you thought was wasted and look for the fine work. It is usually there, and usually was not visible at the time.
Read beside it
The words