The Ninety-Nine Names · the 76th name
الْبَاطِن
Al-Batin
The Hidden, nearer than anything
- The rootب ط ن
- From the rootbatana: to be hidden, to be inside; batn, the belly, the interior of a thing
The essay
He is the Hidden, and the word means inward rather than absent. He is nearer than the jugular vein, and no eye reaches Him. The two Names are given together in one verse, the Manifest and the Hidden, and they are not in tension. The most obvious thing in existence is also the one thing that cannot be looked at directly, and holding both is closer to honesty than choosing one.
In the Qur'an
هُوَ ٱلۡأَوَّلُ وَٱلۡأٓخِرُ وَٱلظَّـٰهِرُ وَٱلۡبَاطِنُۖ وَهُوَ بِكُلِّ شَيۡءٍ عَلِيمٌ
He is the First and the Last, the Manifest and the Hidden, and He knows all things.
this Name is in the Qur’an
What it asks of you
He is not far away and difficult to reach. He is close and difficult to see. Those call for different responses.
Read beside it