The Ninety-Nine Names · the 88th name
الْغَنِيّ
Al-Ghani
The Self-Sufficient
- The rootغ ن ي
- From the rootghaniya: to be free of need, to be rich in the sense of requiring nothing
The essay
The Arabic for rich is not about having much; it is about needing nothing. On that definition no created thing has ever been rich. The verse states the relation without softening it: you are the ones in need of Allah, and Allah is the Free of need, the Praiseworthy. And it adds the second Name, because a self-sufficiency without praiseworthiness would be indifference. He needs nothing from you and is good to you anyway.
In the Qur'an
۞يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلنَّاسُ أَنتُمُ ٱلۡفُقَرَآءُ إِلَى ٱللَّهِۖ وَٱللَّهُ هُوَ ٱلۡغَنِيُّ ٱلۡحَمِيدُ
O people, you are the ones in need of Allah, and Allah is the Free of need, the Praiseworthy.
this Name is in the Qur’an
What it asks of you
Your worship adds nothing to Him. Knowing that is what stops it becoming a transaction.
Read beside it