The Ninety-Nine Names · the 47th name
الْوَدُود
Al-Wadud
The Most Loving
- The rootو د د
- From the rootwadda: to love with affection and tenderness; wudd is love that shows
The essay
Arabic has several words for love and this is the warm one: affection that is expressed, not merely felt. It is used for what is between spouses. The Qur'an says He is Al-Ghafur, Al-Wadud, in that order, in a surah about believers being burned alive for their faith: forgiving, and affectionate. Not tolerating. Not permitting. Fond of. This is the Name that most often surprises people who thought they knew what the Book said about God.
In the Qur'an
وَهُوَ ٱلۡغَفُورُ ٱلۡوَدُودُ
And He is the Much-Forgiving, the Most Loving.
this Name is in the Qur’an
What it asks of you
Consider that you might be loved rather than merely permitted. Most people's spiritual life changes shape when that lands.
Read beside it
The words
A story