The Ninety-Nine Names · the 94th name
الْهَادِي
Al-Hadi
The Guide
- The rootه د ي
- From the roothada: to guide, to show the way and to lead along it
The essay
Arabic distinguishes showing the road from taking someone down it, and He does both. The Qur'an is explicit that the Prophet himself could not guide whom he loved, only Allah guides, which removes the burden of converting anyone from every believer's shoulders. Guidance is asked for seventeen times a day in the opening surah, and the fact that it is asked for daily by people who already have it says something about what it is.
In the Qur'an
وَكَذَٰلِكَ جَعَلۡنَا لِكُلِّ نَبِيٍّ عَدُوّٗا مِّنَ ٱلۡمُجۡرِمِينَۗ وَكَفَىٰ بِرَبِّكَ هَادِيٗا وَنَصِيرٗا
And so We appointed for every prophet an enemy from among the criminals. And your Lord is enough as a Guide and a Helper.
this Name is in the Qur’an
What it asks of you
You cannot guide anyone, including yourself. You can ask, and you can stop standing in the way.
Read beside it
The words
A story