The Ninety-Nine Names · the 41st name
الْجَلِيل
Al-Jalil
The Majestic
- The rootج ل ل
- From the rootjalla: to be majestic, weighty, exalted beyond triviality
The essay
Jalal is majesty of the kind that produces awe rather than affection: the aspect of God the Qur'an sets beside beauty and generosity, never alone. The Book does not use Al-Jalil as a noun; it says Dhu-l-Jalali wa-l-Ikram, the Owner of Majesty and Honour, and it says it twice in one surah, both times attached to what remains when everything else has gone. Majesty in the Qur'an is never separated from generosity, and the pairing is the whole doctrine.
In the Qur'an
وَيَبۡقَىٰ وَجۡهُ رَبِّكَ ذُو ٱلۡجَلَٰلِ وَٱلۡإِكۡرَامِ
And there remains the Face of your Lord, Owner of Majesty and Honour.
from the enumeration · the verse carries the meaning
What it asks of you
Let awe and warmth sit in the same prayer. A faith with only one of them turns into either terror or sentiment.
Read beside it
The words