The Ninety-Nine Names · the 45th name
الْوَاسِع
Al-Wasi'
The All-Encompassing
- The rootو س ع
- From the rootwasi'a: to be wide, to have room, to encompass
The essay
Wideness is the idea: His mercy has room, His knowledge has room, His giving has room. The Name answers a fear people rarely say out loud: that there might not be enough left for them, that they came too late or asked too often or used up their allowance. The verse says wherever you turn, there is the Face of Allah. There is no direction in which He runs out.
In the Qur'an
وَلِلَّهِ ٱلۡمَشۡرِقُ وَٱلۡمَغۡرِبُۚ فَأَيۡنَمَا تُوَلُّواْ فَثَمَّ وَجۡهُ ٱللَّهِۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ وَٰسِعٌ عَلِيمٞ
To Allah belong the east and the west; wherever you turn, there is the Face of Allah. Allah is All-Encompassing, All-Knowing.
this Name is in the Qur’an
What it asks of you
Ask big. You are not drawing down a limited fund, and treating it as one is its own kind of insult.
Read beside it