The Ninety-Nine Names · the 90th name
الْمَانِع
Al-Mani'
The Withholder
- The rootم ن ع
- From the rootmana'a: to prevent, to withhold, to deny access
The essay
He withholds, and the verse makes it symmetrical: what He opens to people of mercy, none can withhold; what He withholds, none can release. Both halves are needed. Without the first, the withholding looks like the last word. Without the second, the giving looks like something you arranged. The Name is not in the Qur'an as a noun; the sentence is, and it says the same thing in both directions.
In the Qur'an
مَّا يَفۡتَحِ ٱللَّهُ لِلنَّاسِ مِن رَّحۡمَةٖ فَلَا مُمۡسِكَ لَهَاۖ وَمَا يُمۡسِكۡ فَلَا مُرۡسِلَ لَهُۥ مِنۢ بَعۡدِهِۦۚ وَهُوَ ٱلۡعَزِيزُ ٱلۡحَكِيمُ
Whatever mercy Allah opens to people, none can hold back; and whatever He holds back, none can release after Him. And He is the Almighty, the Wise.
from the enumeration · the verse carries the meaning
What it asks of you
Whatever has been kept from you was kept, not lost, and no one else is holding it.
Read beside it
The words