Sūrat al-Fātiḥah, Verse 3
﴿ٱلرَّحۡمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ﴾“The Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful.” (1:3)
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1. Summary §
When the mercy names return in al-Fātiḥah, they stand between “Lord of the worlds” and “Master of the Day of Recompense.” The Lord who creates and sustains is the One who shows mercy; the One who shows mercy is the One before whom we will answer. These two names teach us to hear the surrounding verses together.
2. Word-by-Word Analysis §
Both names come from the same three root letters, the letters connected with mercy.
| Arabic | Transliteration | Root | Meaning in the verse |
|---|---|---|---|
| ٱلرَّحۡمَٰنِ | al-Raḥmāni | ر-ح-م r-ḥ-m | the Entirely Merciful, whose mercy is perfect and full |
| ٱلرَّحِيمِ | al-Raḥīmi | ر-ح-م r-ḥ-m | the Especially Merciful, whose mercy reaches those shown mercy |
3. Understanding the Verse §
Two names, one divine mercy §
ٱلرَّحۡمَٰنِ (al-Raḥmān), “the Entirely Merciful,” presents mercy in its fullness. ٱلرَّحِيمِ (al-Raḥīm), “the Especially Merciful,” directs attention to that mercy reaching those whom Allah shows mercy. The first name brings forward His perfect attribute; the second, His showing mercy to its recipients.[1][2]
The two names describe one divine mercy. The fuller form of the first name does not mean that Allah becomes less merciful under the second. Each name brings a different part of the meaning into view.
The names first appear in the Basmala, the phrase with which the sūrah opens. Al-Ṭabarī and Ibn Kathīr explain them there and refer back to that explanation here.[3] Here the question is what their return adds.
Why are the names repeated here? §
The words remain the same; the surrounding verses change what they bring to our attention. Al-Ghazālī gives a useful rule for reading the Qurʾān: when wording returns, look at what precedes and follows it. The new setting reveals the added benefit.[4]
After رَبِّ ٱلۡعَٰلَمِينَ (rabbi l-ʿālamīn), “Lord of the worlds,” the mercy names explain the lordship just mentioned. The One who creates, owns, nurtures and governs every world is merciful. His care for creation is among the signs of that mercy.[5][6]
The names also prepare us for مَٰلِكِ يَوۡمِ ٱلدِّينِ (māliki yawmi l-dīn), “Master of the Day of Recompense.” Al-Ghazālī draws attention to mercy at the return to Allah, when He grants an everlasting kingdom in recompense for faith and worship.[7] Judgment brings accountability; it also brings the believer to the mercy of the One who judges.
This is why the order matters. Lordship is followed by mercy, so that knowing Allah’s authority draws us toward Him in praise.[8] Mercy is followed by the reckoning, so that hope remains joined to reverence and responsibility.[9] Al-Fātiḥah teaches both in a single movement: the Lord we praise is merciful, and to Him we must answer.
4. Thematic Connections in the Qurʾān §
Three other passages show the relationship between Allah’s name, His lordship and His mercy.
﴿قُلِ ٱدۡعُواْ ٱللَّهَ أَوِ ٱدۡعُواْ ٱلرَّحۡمَٰنَ﴾“Call upon Allah or call upon the Entirely Merciful.” (17:110)
Both names identify the One upon whom the servant calls.
﴿كَتَبَ رَبُّكُمۡ عَلَىٰ نَفۡسِهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَةَ﴾“Your Lord has decreed mercy upon Himself.” (6:54)
Lordship and mercy are joined, as they are in verses 2 and 3 of al-Fātiḥah.
﴿وَرَحۡمَتِي وَسِعَتۡ كُلَّ شَيۡءٖ﴾“My mercy encompasses all things.” (7:156)
The reach of His mercy extends throughout His creation.
5. Gems and Subtleties §
Gem 1 §
Revelation is a greater mercy than rain.
Rain reaches the earth, pasture grows, and grain becomes food. These are mercies that people share with the animals. Revelation brings a gift beyond bodily sustenance: messengers and books teach us why we were created and how to worship Allah. Ibn al-Qayyim therefore sees the sending of revelation as an even greater expression of the name ٱلرَّحۡمَٰن (al-Raḥmān).[10]
Rain sustains the body for a time. Revelation shows the way to a life that does not end. To recognize mercy only in what feeds us is to overlook the mercy that guides us.
Gem 2 §
Allah answers this second praise.
In the hadith qudsi, in which the Prophet ﷺ relates words from Allah, the servant says ٱلرَّحۡمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ. Allah answers:
أَثْنَى عَلَيَّ عَبْدِي“My servant has praised Me again.”[11]
Verse 2 began with praise; these two names add to it. Praise offered again is ثَنَاء (thanāʾ), extolling.[12] The familiar words have a place in this exchange: the servant praises, and Allah answers.
6. Contemporary Applications §
Do not let hardship alone tell you what Allah thinks of you.
A difficulty tells you that you are suffering; it does not, by itself, tell you that Allah has abandoned you. Al-Fātiḥah gives you His own names by which to know Him. Remember His mercy alongside what you are passing through, just as the sūrah places mercy alongside lordship and judgment.
Remember that His mercy is joined to complete power.
A person may wish to help and lack the means. Allah has no such shortfall. The One whose mercy encompasses everything is free of deficiency; His mercy is joined to the power to act.[13] These names give you reason to seek His help without reducing mercy to sympathy that cannot reach you.
When teaching, let encouragement have its proper place.
Before naming the reckoning, al-Fātiḥah names mercy. The Prophet ﷺ relates that Allah says:
إن رحمتي سبقت غضبي“My mercy has preceded My wrath.”[14]
This order, and the return of the mercy names after the Basmala, give the believer reason for reassurance and continued praise. They also teach those who explain the religion to begin with encouragement through Allah’s mercy and glad tidings of it. A learner should hear what draws a person toward Allah, as well as the warning of His punishment.[15]
The subject and the person’s circumstances help determine which words are needed: encouragement must not conceal a necessary warning, and warning must not crowd out the mercy being taught. Each occasion calls for its own words.[16]
7. Common Misconceptions §
Wrong: The second name is only emphasis, so the verse says the same thing twice.Correct: The two names describe one divine mercy from different directions. ٱلرَّحۡمَٰنِ (al-Raḥmān) presents mercy in its fullness; ٱلرَّحِيمِ (al-Raḥīm) directs attention to that mercy reaching its recipients. These are two successive descriptions, each adding meaning, rather than one description repeated for emphasis.[17][18][19]
A Practical Consequence of This Name’s Exclusivity §
Ibn Kathīr reports that al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī said:
ٱلرَّحْمَٰنُ اسْمٌ مَمْنُوعٌ“Al-Raḥmān is a name reserved exclusively for Allah.”[20]
The name ٱلرَّحْمَٰن (al-Raḥmān) belongs exclusively to Allah, while رَحِيم (raḥīm) may also describe a created being.[21]
Wrong: A person named ʿAbd al-Raḥmān may simply be called “Raḥmān.”Correct: عَبْدُ الرَّحْمَٰن (ʿAbd al-Raḥmān) means “servant of the Entirely Merciful.” Removing عَبْدُ (ʿabd), “servant,” does not simply shorten the name. It leaves the person being addressed by a name that belongs to Allah alone.A person named ʿAbd al-Raḥmān should therefore be addressed by his full name, not as “Raḥmān.” If a shorter form is needed, it may be taken from عَبْد instead, such as ʿAbd, ʿUbayd, or ʿAbbūd.[22]
Wrong: If Allah is this merciful, nobody will really be punished.Correct: The next verse names Allah as Master of the Day of Recompense. Mercy does not erase judgment. It tells you what the One who judges is like.
Wrong: Allah's mercy means only the good things He does. Mercy is not a real attribute belonging to Him.Correct: Allah’s acts of kindness proceed from His mercy. An act is distinct from the attribute from which it proceeds. Al-Ālūsī rejects a selective interpretation that treats mercy as figurative while treating other attributes as literal without a governing reason. He calls that inconsistency “pure arbitrariness.” Al-Sakūnī, whom he quotes, explains that the early Muslims affirmed what Allah affirmed for Himself while denying any resemblance between Him and creation.[23]
8. Points for Reflection §
- When you think about Allah, do you remember His power more readily than His mercy, or His mercy more readily than His judgment?
- In a hardship, what can the names Allah chose for Himself remind you of?
- Which mercy do you notice more easily: food, health and safety, or revelation, guidance and correction?
- When you next recite these names in prayer, which of their meanings will you try to keep in mind?
Deeper Study for Specialists
1. The Questions This Verse Raises §
What does each name point to? §
Both names come from ر-ح-م (r-ḥ-m), the root connected with mercy. Their shared root raises a question: when both names are said together, what does each add?
Ibn al-Qayyim distinguishes the attribute from its action toward a recipient:
فَكَانَ ٱلْأَوَّلُ لِلْوَصْفِ وَٱلثَّانِي لِلْفِعْلِ“The first is for the description and the second for the act.”[24]
ٱلرَّحْمَـٰن (al-Raḥmān) names Allah as the One to whom mercy belongs. ٱلرَّحِيم (al-Raḥīm) presents Him showing that mercy to those who receive it. The distinction is between possessing the attribute and acting by it, not between two different mercies.
The wording of the Qurʾān supplies his test. Allah says:
﴿وَكَانَ بِٱلۡمُؤۡمِنِينَ رَحِيمٗا﴾“And He is merciful to the believers.” (33:43)
And:
﴿إِنَّهُ بِهِمْ رَءُوفٌ رَّحِيمٌ﴾“He is Kind and Especially Merciful to them.” (9:117)
In both, رَحِيم (raḥīm) is linked to those shown mercy: “to the believers,” “to them.” Ibn al-Qayyim observes:
وَلَمْ يَجِئْ قَطُّ رَحْمَـٰنُ بِهِمْ“And raḥmān never once comes with ‘to them.’”[25]
The connection to recipients supports reading the second name as mercy in action. Ibn ʿUthaymīn expresses the same relationship as wide mercy and mercy that arrives.[26]
This distinction explains the names when they occur together. When either occurs alone, it includes both the attribute and its action. The separate uses at 17:110 and 33:43 therefore do not strip either name of half its meaning.[27]
A broader principle distinguishes the One whom the names identify from the descriptive meaning each conveys. This leaves the paired attribute-and-action distinction intact. Ibn al-Qayyim says that the divine names have:
ٱعْتِبَارٌ مِنْ حَيْثُ ٱلذَّاتُ وَٱعْتِبَارٌ مِنْ حَيْثُ ٱلصِّفَاتُ“One consideration from the side of the essence and another from the side of the attributes.”
All the names identify the same God; each also conveys its distinct descriptive meaning. In his words:
فَهِيَ بِٱلِٱعْتِبَارِ ٱلْأَوَّلِ مُتَرَادِفَةٌ وَبِٱلِٱعْتِبَارِ ٱلثَّانِي مُتَبَايِنَةٌ“In the first respect they have the same referent; in the second, they have distinct meanings.”[28]
Another explanation concentrates on who receives the mercy. Al-ʿArzamī says:
الرحمن لجميع الخلق، الرحيم، قال: بالمؤمنين“Al-Raḥmān is for the whole of creation; al-Raḥīm, he said, is for the believers.”[29]
Ibn Kathīr relays supporting reasoning, introduced as “they said,” which points to ٱلرَّحْمَـٰن (al-Raḥmān) alongside the Throne in 20:5 and 25:59, and to وَكَانَ بِٱلۡمُؤۡمِنِينَ رَحِيمٗا, “and He is merciful to the believers,” in 33:43. The first setting concerns universal dominion; the second expressly names the believers.[30]
Al-Samīn al-Ḥalabī gives a related formulation:
والرحمن أبلغ من الرحيم، ولذلك قيل: رحمن الدنيا ورحيم الآخرة“Al-Raḥmān is more intensive than al-Raḥīm. For that reason it is said: Merciful of this world and Compassionate of the next.”[31]
The reference to the next world needs the qualification given by Ibn Kathīr and developed below by al-Shanqīṭī. The transmitted supplication calls Allah رحمن الدنيا والآخرة ورحيمهما, “the Entirely Merciful of this world and the next and the Especially Merciful in both.” On the account that makes ٱلرَّحِيم particular to believers, it includes His mercy to them in this life as well.[32][33]
These explanations ask different questions. Ibn al-Qayyim explains the attribute and its action; the general-and-particular account identifies the recipients. The question of which Arabic form is fuller is a third matter.
Which Arabic word has the fuller form? §
Arabic can express a quality through different word patterns. Both فَعْلَان (faʿlān) and فَعِيل (faʿīl) are intensive forms. The question is which conveys greater fullness, not whether only one is intensive or whether Allah’s mercy changes as one name follows the other.[34]
The majority explanation gives the greater force to فَعْلَان (faʿlān). Al-Suyūṭī records this as the view of most scholars and names al-Suhaylī among its defenders. Al-Suhaylī compares its form with التثنية (al-tathniyah), the dual, which expresses two and so carries the idea of doubling.[35][36] Al-Biqāʿī likewise treats ٱلرَّحْمَـٰن (al-Raḥmān) as the fuller form.[37]
A second explanation gives the greater force to فَعِيل (faʿīl). Ibn al-Anbārī takes this view, which Ibn ʿAskar prefers. Their comparison begins from the resemblance of فَعِيل to a plural form: if فَعْلَان resembles the dual, a plural suggests more than two. Quṭrub gives the two forms equal force. These are the three explanations recorded by al-Suyūṭī.[38]
The comparison with two or more than two concerns Arabic form. It does not count separate mercies within Allah’s mercy. Ordinary usage helps explain the fullness conveyed by فَعْلَان: غَضْبَان (ghaḍbān) describes a person filled with anger. This supports the explanation followed here, in which ٱلرَّحْمَـٰن is fuller in form than ٱلرَّحِيم.[39]
A different line of reasoning begins with the order of the words. If the second name reinforces the first, should it not be stronger? Ibn Kathīr answers:
وَٱلْجَوَابُ أَنَّ هَذَا لَيْسَ مِنْ بَابِ ٱلتَّوْكِيدِ، وَإِنَّمَا هُوَ مِنْ بَابِ ٱلنَّعْتِ بَعْدَ ٱلنَّعْتِ“The answer is that this is not a case of emphasis at all, but of one description after another.”[40]
The proposed inference treats the second name as تَوْكِيد (tawkīd), reinforcement of the first. Ibn Kathīr instead identifies نَعْت (naʿt), description, followed by another description. Since the second gives an additional description, its position does not require it to be a stronger restatement of the first.
Ibn al-Qayyim quotes al-Suhaylī’s discussion before giving his own explanation of the joined names. His reply concerns the two accounts of their combined meaning, immediate and deferred mercy, and general and particular mercy. It does not reject al-Suhaylī’s separate explanation of the فَعْلَان pattern.[41]
The fuller pattern is فَعْلَان (faʿlān), and both names express Allah’s perfect mercy. The difference belongs to the words and what each brings forward.
Why does ٱلرَّحۡمَٰنِ come first? §
The order can be measured in more than one way. The fuller pattern comes first, but Ibn Kathīr offers another reason based on who may bear each name.
He calls ٱلرَّحْمَـٰن more particular and better known than ٱلرَّحِيم: لِأَنَّهُ أَخَصُّ وَأَعْرَفُ مِنَ ٱلرَّحِيمِ. The sequence moves from the most exclusive name outward: فَلِهَـٰذَا ٱبْتَدَأَ بِٱلْأَخَصِّ فَٱلْأَخَصِّ, “so He began with the most particular and then the next most particular.”[42]
The name ٱللَّه (Allāh) belongs to Him alone. The name ٱلرَّحْمَـٰن (al-Raḥmān) may not be taken by another. The description رَحِيم (raḥīm) may be applied to a created being, as Allah describes His Prophet ﷺ in 9:128: بِٱلۡمُؤۡمِنِينَ رَءُوفٞ رَّحِيمٞ (bi-l-muʾminīna raʾūfun raḥīm), “kind and merciful to the believers.”[43]
This produces an important distinction:
- By exclusivity of naming, ٱلرَّحْمَـٰن is narrower because no created being may bear it.
- By the reach commonly associated with the mercy, ٱلرَّحْمَـٰن is wider because it embraces creation generally.
The two measurements ask different questions, so there is no contradiction between them.
Why is the second name said at all? §
If ٱلرَّحْمَـٰن is already the fuller form, a reader may ask what ٱلرَّحِيم adds.
One answer comes through ʿAṭāʾ al-Khurāsānī. A man claimed the name ٱلرَّحْمَـٰن for himself. Joining the two names refuted the claim because Allah alone is described by both together (ʿAṭāʾ al-Khurāsānī, reported by al-Ṭabarī and relayed by Ibn Kathīr).[44] The claimant was Musaylimah, who claimed prophethood in al-Yamāmah during the Prophet’s ﷺ lifetime and was killed during the caliphate of Abū Bakr رضي الله عنه.
Al-Biqāʿī connects the two names to the wider movement of the sūrah. ٱلرَّحْمَـٰنِيَّة (al-raḥmāniyyah), being Entirely Merciful, corresponds to the lordship named in the preceding verse and extends to everything under that lordship. ٱلرَّحِيمِيَّة (al-raḥīmiyyah), being Especially Merciful, corresponds to Allah as the One worshipped. It brings good and protects from harm in a way that gladdens those who receive it; it reaches those whom the final verse calls favoured. He judges this explanation nearer to the meaning: وَهُوَ وَٱللَّهُ تَعَالَىٰ أَعْلَمُ أَقْرَبُ, “and this, Allah knows best, is the nearer.”[45]
Why are both names repeated here? §
The question now concerns the return of the whole pair. Both names have already appeared in the Basmala. Al-Biqāʿī directs the reader to al-Ghazālī’s explanation of what their new position adds.[46]
Al-Ghazālī begins by defining the kind of repetition he is denying:
وقولُهُ ثانياً: ﴿الرحمن الرَّحِيمِ﴾ إشارة إلى الصفة مرة أخرى، ولا تظنّ أنه مكرر، فلا تَكَرُّرَ في القرآن، إذ حَدُّ المُكَرَّر ما لا ينطوي على مزيدِ فائدة“And His saying a second time al-Raḥmān al-Raḥīm is a pointing to the attribute once more. Do not suppose it is a repetition, for there is no repetition in the Qurʾān, since a repetition is by definition what contains no added benefit.”[47]
The same words can return while adding something to the meaning. Here the surrounding verses show what that addition is.
Looking back to رَبِّ ٱلۡعَٰلَمِينَ, “Lord of the worlds,” al-Ghazālī explains:
المقصودُ التنبيهُ على أنموذَجِ من رحمة في خلق العالمين“The purpose is to draw attention to an example of mercy within the creation of the worlds.”[48]
Looking ahead to مَٰلِكِ يَوۡمِ ٱلدِّينِ, “Master of the Day of Recompense,” he writes:
فيشيرُ إلى الرحمة في المَعادِ يومَ الجزاءِ عند الإنعام بالمُلْكِ المؤَبَّدِ في مقابَلةِ كلمةٍ وعبادة“It points to mercy at the return, on the Day of Recompense, when everlasting kingship is granted in return for a word and an act of worship.”[49]
The first connection concerns creation; the second concerns the return to Allah. The mercy names stand between them, bringing both within the praise being offered. Al-Ghazālī then states the method a reader can use elsewhere:
والمقصودُ أنه لا مكرَّرَ في القرآن، فإن رأيتَ شيئاً مكرراً من حيث الظاهر، فانظرُ في سَوابقه ولَواحقه لينكشف لك مزيدُ الفائدة في إعادته“The point is that there is nothing repeated in the Qurʾān. If you see something outwardly repeated, look at what precedes it and what follows it, and the added benefit in its repetition will be disclosed to you.”[50]
What follows from affirming Allah’s mercy? §
The الجبرية (Jabriyyah), an ancient heretical sect, held that Allah burdens a servant with what he cannot do, then punishes him for failing to do it. Their account also makes the servant answer for acts that were not his own doing. Such an account cannot be reconciled with the mercy affirmed in these two names.
Allah does not burden a servant with what lies beyond his power or punish him for an act that is not his own. Verse 2 considers this question through Allah’s perfection and His right to praise; here the reasoning begins from His mercy.[51]
Mercy takes the explanation further. Allah pardons much even of what His servants have themselves done. The Qurʾān joins what people have earned to what Allah pardons:
﴿وَمَآ أَصَٰبَكُم مِّن مُّصِيبَةٖ فَبِمَا كَسَبَتۡ أَيۡدِيكُمۡ وَيَعۡفُواْ عَن كَثِيرٖ﴾“Whatever calamity befalls you is because of what your own hands have earned, and He pardons much.”[52] (42:30)
The final words matter to the reasoning: accountability for what a person has done stands alongside pardon for much of it. Allah’s mercy rules out punishment for what lies beyond a servant’s power or is not his own doing. Responsibility for the servant’s own deeds remains, together with Allah’s pardon. And Allah knows best.
2. How the Commentators Read This Verse §
Al-Biqāʿī (d. 885 AH / 1480 CE) §
Al-Biqāʿī reads the verse through its place in the sūrah. At the opening, the mercy names encourage praise. Yet he also finds a pointer to warning within the second name, whose narrower application completes encouragement with reverence.[53]
Ibn ʿUthaymīn approaches the placement from another direction. Once رَبِّ ٱلۡعَٰلَمِينَ, “Lord of the worlds,” has been said, the hearer may ask what kind of lordship it is: a lordship of seizing and vengeance, or one of mercy and favour. The two names answer that question.[54]
The two explanations approach the placement from different directions. Al-Biqāʿī asks what mercy adds to the sequence and how it moves the servant. Ibn ʿUthaymīn asks what question the preceding description naturally raises.
Al-Shanqīṭī (d. 1393 AH / 1974 CE) §
Al-Shanqīṭī develops the general-and-particular account by interpreting the Qurʾān through the Qurʾān. He states, والرحمن أشد مبالغة من الرحيم, “al-Raḥmān is more intensive than al-Raḥīm,” and adds, وعلى هذا أكثر العلماء, “most scholars hold this.”[55]
His initial explanation gives ٱلرَّحْمَـٰن (al-Raḥmān) mercy encompassing all creatures in this world and the believers in the next, and ٱلرَّحِيم (al-Raḥīm) mercy for the believers on the Day of Resurrection. The qualification about this life appears in his answer below.[56]
He also records possible agreement: وفي كلام ابن جرير ما يفهم منه حكاية الاتفاق على هذا, “in Ibn Jarīr’s words is what may be understood as reporting agreement on this.” He does not claim that al-Ṭabarī explicitly transmitted a consensus.[57]
His evidence consists of Qurʾānic usage. Verses 20:5 and 25:59 use ٱلرَّحْمَـٰن where the Throne and universal dominion are mentioned. Verse 67:19 says of the birds, مَا يُمۡسِكُهُنَّ إِلَّا ٱلرَّحۡمَٰنُ (mā yumsikuhunna illā l-Raḥmān), “none holds them up but the Entirely Merciful.” Sūrat al-Raḥmān opens with the name and then enumerates its works from 55:1 through 55:13, which he calls من أظهر الأدلة (min aẓhari l-adillah), “among the plainest evidences.” For the second name he turns to 33:43, وَكَانَ بِٱلۡمُؤۡمِنِينَ رَحِيمٗا, “and He is merciful to the believers.” Al-Shanqīṭī says, فخصهم باسمه الرحيم, “so He singled them out with His name al-Raḥīm.”[58]
Al-Shanqīṭī also answers an objection to his own position. A transmitted supplication calls Allah رحمان الدنيا والآخرة ورحيمهما, “the Entirely Merciful of this world and the next and the Especially Merciful in both.” He replies,
أن الرحيم خاص بالمؤمنين كما ذكرنا، لكنه لا يختص بهم في الآخرة، بل يشمل رحمتهم في الدنيا أيضا“al-Raḥīm is particular to the believers, as stated, but not restricted to them in the Hereafter. It also includes His mercy to them in this world.”
The distinction concerns its recipients, not the abode in which they receive it.[59]
Al-Marāghī (d. 1371 AH / 1952 CE) §
Al-Marāghī also reads the verse through its position. The names follow lordship
ليبين لعباده أن ربوبيته ربوبية رحمة وإحسان“to make plain to His servants that His lordship is a lordship of mercy and beneficence.”
This calls them
ليقبلوا على عمل ما يرضيه وهم مطمئنو النفوس منشرحو الصدور، لا ربوبية جبروت وقهر لهم“to turn to the deeds that please Him with settled souls and open hearts, not under a lordship of tyranny and subjugation.”[60]
Al-Marāghī then connects the verse to what follows:
وقد جاء قوله: (مالِكِ يَوْمِ الدِّينِ) إثر قوله: (الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحِيمِ) ليكون كترهيب بعد ترغيب، وليعلمنا أنه تعالى ربّى عباده بكلا النوعين من التربية“His saying Master of the Day of Recompense came after the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful as warning after encouragement, and to teach us that He nurtures His servants through both kinds of nurture.”
He supports the sequence with the Qurʾān’s own pairing of mercy and punishment:
﴿نَبِّئۡ عِبَادِيٓ أَنِّيٓ أَنَا ٱلۡغَفُورُ ٱلرَّحِيمُ﴾﴿وَأَنَّ عَذَابِي هُوَ ٱلۡعَذَابُ ٱلۡأَلِيمُ﴾“Tell My servants that I am the Forgiving, the Merciful, and that My punishment is the painful punishment.”[61] (15:49–50)
3. Iʿrāb: Grammatical Structure§
The two names continue the descriptions of ٱللَّه (Allāh) in verse 2. On this analysis, each is مَجْرُور (majrūr): its ending follows the جَرّ (jarr) of the word it describes.[62]
| Word | Grammatical role | What it describes |
|---|---|---|
| ٱلرَّحۡمَٰنِ (al-Raḥmāni) | صفة ثانية (ṣifa thāniya), a second description, majrūr | The name ٱللَّه (Allāh) in verse 2. |
| ٱلرَّحِيمِ (al-Raḥīmi) | صفة ثالثة (ṣifa thālitha), a third description, majrūr | The same divine name. |
A second grammatical analysis treats the two words as بَدَلَان (badalān), two substitutes for the name ٱللَّه: أو هما بدلان من لفظ الجلالة, “or the two of them are substitutes for the divine name.”[63] Al-Lāḥim gives both analyses. The same choice between صفة (ṣifa), description, and بدل (badal), substitute, arises at رَبِّ in verse 2 and مَٰلِكِ in verse 4.
4. Ṣarf: Roots and Word Formation§
The root is ر-ح-م (r-ḥ-m), connected with رَحْمَة (raḥmah), mercy. ٱلرَّحْمَـٰن (al-Raḥmān) follows فَعْلَان (faʿlān); ٱلرَّحِيم (al-Raḥīm) follows فَعِيل (faʿīl).
Ibn ʿAbbās رضي الله عنهما identifies ٱلرَّحْمَـٰن as a فَعْلَان form derived from mercy and affirms that it belongs to native Arabic speech. His statement identifies the form; the comparison of its force with فَعِيل is a further question. Al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī also calls it an اسم ممنوع (ism mamnūʿ), a name reserved against use by anyone else.[64]
How the patterns help explain the order §
Both names belong to the class صفة مشبهة (ṣifa mushabbaha), a description expressing an established quality, and to صيغ المبالغة (ṣiyagh al-mubālaghah), intensive forms. The explanation adopted here follows the fullness conveyed by فَعْلَان. Al-Lāḥim states the morphological relationship:
و «الرحمن» على وزن «فعلان»، و «الرحيم» على وزن «فعيل» كل منهما صفة مشبهة، ومن صيغ المبالغة. لكن «فعلان» أبلغ من «فعيل»، لأن صيغة «فعلان» تدل على الامتلاء، يقال: رجل غضبان أي ممتلئ غضبًا. ولهذا قدم «الرحمن» على «الرحيم»“Al-Raḥmān is on the pattern faʿlān and al-Raḥīm on the pattern faʿīl. Each is a ṣifa mushabbaha, an enduring description, and each belongs to the intensive forms. But faʿlān is fuller than faʿīl, because faʿlān indicates being filled. One says rajulun ghaḍbān, a man filled with anger. For this reason al-Raḥmān was placed before al-Raḥīm.”[65]
The word غَضْبَان (ghaḍbān) illustrates the force of an Arabic pattern. It explains why the fuller word comes first. The questions about the recipients of mercy and the relation between attribute and action require the Qurʾānic usage considered above.[66]
Both names are recited, and this morphological comparison changes no legal ruling. It explains a reason for their order.
5. Balāgha: Rhetorical Analysis §
Mercy between lordship and sovereignty §
ٱلرَّحۡمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ, “the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful,” stands between رَبِّ ٱلۡعَٰلَمِينَ, “Lord of the worlds,” and مَٰلِكِ يَوۡمِ ٱلدِّينِ, “Master of the Day of Recompense.” The sūrah could have passed from lordship to sovereignty without repeating the mercy names. Their place between the two gives encouragement its own place in the sequence.
Al-Biqāʿī explains what that encouragement calls the servant to do:
ولما كانت مرتبة الربوبية لا تستجمع الصلاح إلا بالرحمة اتبع ذلك بصفتي ﴿الرحمن الرحيم﴾ ترغيبًا في لزوم حمده“Since the rank of lordship does not gather all that is right except through mercy, He followed it with the two attributes, as encouragement toward holding fast to praising Him.”[67]
The declaration of His ownership of the Day then warns against the manifestations of His majesty.[68] Encouragement and warning thus lead into the direct address of verse 5.
Al-Biqāʿī traces the movement through four meanings. Praise declares that Allah deserves all praise. Lordship awakens love. The mercy names encourage continued praise. Ownership of the Day warns. With these meanings gathered, turning toward Allah and directing one’s aspirations to Him is مِنْ شَأْنِ كُلِّ ذِي لُبٍّ, “the way of everyone with understanding.”[69] The servant then moves from speaking about Allah to addressing Him: إِيَّاكَ نَعۡبُدُ, “You alone we worship.”
Putting the fuller name first: التقديم (al-taqdīm) §
ٱلرَّحۡمَٰنِ precedes ٱلرَّحِيمِ here and in the Basmala. Elsewhere, either name occurs without the other. In 33:43, Allah says وَكَانَ بِٱلۡمُؤۡمِنِينَ رَحِيمٗا, “and He is merciful to the believers.” In 20:5, He says ٱلرَّحۡمَٰنُ عَلَى ٱلۡعَرۡشِ ٱسۡتَوَىٰ, “The Entirely Merciful rose over the Throne.”
Here both names occur together. Their order has two explanations:
- The fuller word form comes first. فَعْلَان (faʿlān) conveys fullness. In the comparison of the names, أن «الرحمن» أبلغ من «الرحيم», “al-Raḥmān is fuller than al-Raḥīm.”[70]
- The more exclusive name comes first. ٱلرَّحْمَـٰن (al-Raḥmān) belongs to Allah alone, whereas رَحِيم (raḥīm) may describe another. Hence ولكونه أخص من الرحيم قدم عليه, “because it is more particular than al-Raḥīm, it was placed before it.”[71]
One reason concerns the word’s construction; the other concerns who may bear the name. Both help explain the same order. The paired names then take their place in the larger sequence: mercy and encouragement before judgment and warning.[72]
6. Qirāʾāt §
No variation specific to the words of verse 3 is identified in the cited passages of Ibn al-Jazarī’s al-Nashr or Ibn Jinnī’s al-Muḥtasab.[73] This concerns the words of this verse; the general recitational rules, أُصُول (uṣūl), remain part of each reading.
Notes §
Editions cited: al-Ṭabarī, Jāmiʿ al-Bayān ʿan Taʾwīl Āy al-Qurʾān, taḥqīq ʿAbd Allāh b. ʿAbd al-Muḥsin al-Turkī; Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm, taḥqīq Sāmī b. Muḥammad al-Salāmah; Sulaymān b. Ibrāhīm al-Lāḥim, al-Lubāb fī Tafsīr al-Istiʿādhah wa-l-Basmalah wa-Fātiḥat al-Kitāb; Ibn ʿUthaymīn, Tafsīr al-Fātiḥa wa-l-Baqara; al-Biqāʿī, Naẓm al-Durar fī Tanāsub al-Āyāt wa-l-Suwar; Ibn al-Jazarī, al-Nashr fī al-Qirāʾāt al-ʿAshr; Ibn Jinnī, al-Muḥtasab; Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs al-Lugha; al-Samīn al-Ḥalabī, ʿUmdat al-Ḥuffāẓ fī Tafsīr Ashraf al-Alfāẓ; and Fāḍil Ṣāliḥ al-Sāmarrāʾī, Lamasāt Bayāniyya fī Nuṣūṣ min al-Tanzīl and Maʿānī al-Naḥw.
Ibn al-Qayyim, Badāʾiʿ al-Fawāʾid, ṭabʿat al-Kitāb al-ʿArabī, 1/24: وأما الجمع بين الرحمن الرحيم ففيه معنى هو أحسن من المعنيين اللذين ذكرهما وهو أن الرحمن دال على الصفة القائمة به سبحانه والرحيم دال على تعلقها بالمرحوم فكان الأول للوصف والثاني للفعل, “As for joining al-Raḥmān and al-Raḥīm, it contains a meaning better than the two meanings he mentioned: al-Raḥmān indicates the attribute that belongs to Him, glorified is He, while al-Raḥīm indicates that mercy reaching the one shown mercy. The first therefore describes the attribute, and the second its action.” His supporting observation follows at the same place: ولم يجيء قط رحمن بهم, “The expression ‘Raḥmān toward them’ never occurs.” The boundary تم كلامه قلت, “His words end; I say,” separates the preceding words of al-Suhaylī from Ibn al-Qayyim’s answer. The two explanations Ibn al-Qayyim ranks below his own are that the names signify mercy that is immediate and deferred, and mercy that is general and particular. ↩︎
Ibn ʿUthaymīn, Tafsīr al-Fātiḥa wa-l-Baqara, 1/11, for the wide mercy and the mercy that arrives. ↩︎
Al-Ṭabarī, Jāmiʿ al-Bayān, at this verse; Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr, 1/133. ↩︎
Al-Ghazālī, Jawāhir al-Qurʾān, p. 65, chapter 12, “The Secrets of al-Fātiḥah”: فلا تَكَرُّرَ في القرآن, “There is no repetition in the Qurʾān.” Al-Biqāʿī relates the same principle with the wording فلا مكرر في القرآن, “There is nothing repeated in the Qurʾān.” ↩︎
Al-Ghazālī, Jawāhir al-Qurʾān, pp. 65–68, chapter 12, “The Secrets of al-Fātiḥah.” ↩︎
al-Biqāʿī, Naẓm al-Durar, 1/26. The text is damaged at this locus, so his explanation is given as a summary and not as a quotation: in the Basmala the two names state that Allah deserves them for His own essence, and repeated here they state that mercy is owed to lordship and to sovereignty, and that mercy has overcome wrath. The pointer to the fuller treatment of why the two names recur, at 6:118 and so outside this sūrah, runs from the foot of 1/28 onto 1/29 and not from 1/26. ↩︎
Al-Biqāʿī, Naẓm al-Durar, 1/28. He continues: وهي تتضمن تثنية تفصيل ما شمله الحمد أصلًا, “The two names unfold in detail what praise contained in summary.” At this locus, the cited copy has ترغبيا, evidently through transposed letters; the context requires ترغيبا, “as encouragement,” which is followed in the translation. ↩︎
Al-Biqāʿī, Naẓm al-Durar, 1/29: ولما كان الرب المنعوت بالرحمة قد لا يكون مالكًا وكانت الربوبية لا تتم إلا بالمِلك ... اتبع ذلك بقوله: ﴿مالك يوم الدين﴾ ترهيبًا من سطوات مجده, “Since a lord described by mercy might not be an owner, and lordship is not complete without ownership, He followed that with ‘Master of the Day of Judgment,’ warning against the overwhelming force of His majesty.” This sentence parallels the preceding explanation of ٱلرَّحۡمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ: each uses اتبع ذلك, “He followed that with,” and then states the object of its encouragement or warning. ↩︎
Ibn al-Qayyim, Madārij al-Sālikīn, 1/31, quoted by al-Lāḥim, al-Lubāb, p. 341: فمن أعطى اسم الرحمن حقه عرف أنه متضمن لإرسال الرسل، وإنزال الكتب، أعظم من تضمنه علم إنزال الغيث، وإنبات الكلأ، وإخراج الحب, “Whoever gives the name al-Raḥmān its due recognizes that it includes the sending of messengers and the revelation of books even more clearly than it includes the sending of rain, the growth of pasture, and the bringing forth of grain.” Ibn al-Qayyim continues: لكن المحجوبون إنما أدركوا من هذا الاسم حظ البهائم والدواب، وأدرك منه أولو الألباب أمرا وراء ذلك, “Those who are veiled perceived from this name only the portion enjoyed by beasts and animals, while people of understanding perceived something beyond that.” ↩︎
Muslim, Ṣaḥīḥ, no. 395, from Abū Hurayrah رضي الله عنه. Al-Biqāʿī discusses the three successive answers in this hadith qudsi at Naẓm al-Durar, 1/54. ↩︎
Al-Lāḥim, al-Lubāb, p. 213: praise offered a second time is ثَنَاء (thanāʾ), extolling, and praise offered a third time is تَمْجِيد (tamjīd), magnifying. This is his formulation of the successive responses in the hadith qudsi. ↩︎
Al-Biqāʿī, Naẓm al-Durar, 1/27: لأن من عمت رحمته امتنع أن يكون فيه شوب نقص, “For one whose mercy is universal cannot possess any admixture of deficiency.” The preceding clause makes the two names point toward the other beautiful attributes, and the following clause refers to the end of Sūrat al-Isrāʾ for further discussion. ↩︎
Al-Bukhārī, Ṣaḥīḥ, no. 3194, from Abū Hurayrah رضي الله عنه; Muslim, Ṣaḥīḥ, no. 2751. Cited by al-Lāḥim, al-Lubāb, p. 312, note 4. ↩︎
Al-Lāḥim, al-Lubāb, pp. 312–313, benefit 23. His qualification is لكن لاينسى الترهيب من عقوبته، ولكل مقام مقال, “Yet the warning of His punishment must not be forgotten; each occasion calls for its own words.” ↩︎
Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr, 1/126, gives the grammatical answer and the principle governing the order of the two names. The expression أَشَدُّ مُبَالَغَةً, “more intensive,” occurs within reasoning introduced by قَالُوا, “they said,” and within an objection introduced by فَإِنْ قِيلَ, “if it is said.” It should not be presented in either place as Ibn Kathīr’s unqualified assertion. In al-Salāmah’s edition, بَعْدَ ٱلنَّعْتِ, “after the description,” appears in square brackets as a supplement drawn from the manuscripts. ↩︎
Ibn ʿAbbās رضي الله عنهما, الرحمن: الفعلان من الرحمة، وهو من كلام العرب, "al-Raḥmān is the faʿlān form from raḥmah, and it is Arab speech", and al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī's الرحمن اسم ممنوع (al-raḥmānu smun mamnūʿ), "al-Raḥmān is a name barred to others", both reported by Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr, 1/127. Ibn ʿAbbās states the pattern and nothing about its intensity. ↩︎
See Egyptian Dar al-Ifta, fatwa no. 7316, “Ḥukm al-Tasmiya bi-l-Ism al-Mutaḍammin Tazkiya aw Madḥan,” 29 December 2022; Jordan General Iftaa Department, fatwa no. 2832, “Lā Tukrah Asmāʾ al-Tazkiya ʿalā Iṭlāqihā,” 30 July 2013; Islam Question and Answer, fatwa no. 223855, “Hal Yajūz Munādāt Man Ismuhu ʿAbd al-Raḥmān bi-Yā Raḥmān?,” 21 October 2014; Islamweb Fatwa Center, fatwa no. 77224, “Ḥukm Munādāt al-Shakhṣ bi-Ism min Asmāʾ Allāh al-Ḥusnā,” 13 September 2006; and Al Mufti Online, answer no. 82413, “Raḥmān Allāh Nām Rakhne kā Ḥukm,” 7 January 2024. ↩︎
Al-Ālūsī, Rūḥ al-Maʿānī, ṭabʿat Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyyah, 1/63, rejects reducing the divine attribute of mercy to a figure for beneficence: فالقول بالمجاز في بعض والحقيقة في آخر لا أراه في الحقيقة إلا تحكما بحتا, “To treat part of it as figurative and another part as literal appears to me nothing but pure arbitrariness.” He then relates al-Sakūnī’s criticism from al-Tamyīz li-mā li-l-Zamakhsharī min al-Iʿtizāl. The expressions نزغة اعتزالية, “a Muʿtazilī impulse,” and قد حفظ الله تعالى منها سلف المسلمين وأئمة الدين, “Allah preserved the early Muslims and the leading scholars of the religion from it,” belong to al-Sakūnī and are relayed by al-Ālūsī. Al-Sakūnī continues: فإنهم أقروا ما ورد على ما ورد وأثبتوا لله تعالى ما أثبته له نبيه, “They allowed what was transmitted to stand as it was transmitted and affirmed for Allah what His Prophet ﷺ affirmed for Him,” while holding Him free of resemblance to created things. ↩︎
Ibn ʿUthaymīn, Tafsīr al-Fātiḥa wa-l-Baqara, 1/11: ﴿الرحمن﴾ هو ذو الرحمة الواسعة؛ و﴿الرحيم﴾ هو ذو الرحمة الواصلة؛ فـ﴿الرحمن﴾ وصفه؛ و﴿الرحيم﴾ فعله, "al-Raḥmān is the One of wide mercy and al-Raḥīm the One whose mercy arrives; the first is His attribute and the second His act." ↩︎
Al-Lāḥim, al-Lubāb, pp. 95–97, on the two names when joined and when used separately; his examples of separate use are Q 17:110 and 33:43. ↩︎
Ibn al-Qayyim, Fāʾida Jalīla fī Qawāʿid al-Asmāʾ al-Ḥusnā, p. 26, sixth rule. His fourth rule, on p. 25, states: أن أسماءه الحسنى هي أعلام وأوصاف، والوصف بها لا ينافي العلمية, “His beautiful names are both proper names and descriptions, and their functioning as descriptions does not conflict with their functioning as proper names.” ↩︎
al-ʿArzamī, reported by al-Ṭabarī and quoted by Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr, 1/126, with the قالوا marking the supporting reasoning as transmitted. Ibn Kathīr's own qualification, لكن جاء في الدعاء المأثور: رحمن الدنيا والآخرة ورحيمهما, "but it has come in the transmitted supplication: Entirely Merciful of this world and the next and Especially Merciful in both", follows it immediately at the same locus. ↩︎
Al-Samīn al-Ḥalabī, ʿUmdat al-Ḥuffāẓ, 2/80. ↩︎
Al-Shanqīṭī, Aḍwāʾ al-Bayān, ṭabʿat ʿAṭāʾāt al-ʿIlm, 1/47–48. His complete discussion of the two names in al-Fātiḥah brings together Q 20:5, 25:59, 67:19, 55:1–13, and 33:43, and answers an objection based on a transmitted supplication. Al-Lāḥim cites the same passage as 1/39–40 according to the pagination of his edition. ↩︎
Al-Lāḥim, al-Lubāb, p. 94, on the two patterns and their order. His references are Ibn ʿAṭiyyah, 1/58; Ibn al-Jawzī, 1/9; Abū Ḥayyān, 1/16–17; Lisān al-ʿArab, under the root ر-ح-م; al-Qurṭubī, 1/104–105; Ibn Kathīr, 1/43; and al-Shanqīṭī, 1/39–40. The final two page references follow the editions used by al-Lāḥim and therefore differ from the pagination of the editions cited elsewhere in these notes. ↩︎
Al-Suyūṭī, al-Itqān fī ʿUlūm al-Qurʾān, 3/324, records three positions. The majority holds: الْأَكْثَرُ عَلَى أَنَّ فَعْلَانَ أَبْلَغُ مِنْ فَعِيلٍ, “Most scholars hold that faʿlān is more intensive than faʿīl.” Al-Suhaylī supports this by comparing the faʿlān pattern to the dual: وَالتَّثْنِيَةُ تَضْعِيفٌ, “The dual expresses doubling.” Ibn al-Anbārī holds that al-Raḥīm is more intensive than al-Raḥmān, a position preferred by Ibn ʿAskar. Quṭrub holds that the two forms are equal. ↩︎
Ibn al-Qayyim, Badāʾiʿ al-Fawāʾid, ṭabʿat al-Kitāb al-ʿArabī, 1/23–24. The passage begins with قال السهيلي, “Al-Suhaylī said.” Al-Suhaylī compares the faʿlān pattern with the dual: اشترك باب فعلان وباب التثنية, “The faʿlān pattern and the dual share a category.” He illustrates this with Fāṭimah’s رضي الله عنها address يا حسنان يا حسينان, “O two Ḥasans, O two Ḥusayns,” and observes that the form does not normally take the plural or feminine endings in these examples: فلا يقال غضابين, “one does not say ghaḍābīn for the plural,” and فلا يقال غضبانة, “one does not say ghaḍbānah for the feminine.” Al-Suhaylī then explains that joining the two names announces رحمة عاجلة وآجلة وخاصة وعامة, “mercy that is immediate and deferred, particular and general.” The words تم كلامه, “His words end,” close al-Suhaylī’s statement. Ibn al-Qayyim’s own answer begins with قلت, “I say.” He proposes معنى هو أحسن من المعنيين اللذين ذكرهما, “a meaning better than the two meanings he mentioned,” concluding: فكان الأول للوصف والثاني للفعل, “The first is for the attribute and the second for the action.” His usage test is ولم يجيء قط رحمن بهم, “The expression ‘Raḥmān toward them’ never occurs.” The two meanings he ranks below his own are al-Suhaylī’s two explanations of the joined names, not al-Suhaylī’s separate discussion of the faʿlān pattern. ↩︎
al-Biqāʿī, Naẓm al-Durar, 1/26: ومن حيث أنه أبلغ من الرحيم فأولى الأبلغ الأبلغ, "and inasmuch as it is the fuller of the two, the fuller is the fitter." His own words, and not his report of another scholar's. ↩︎
ʿAṭāʾ al-Khurāsānī, reported by al-Ṭabarī and relayed approvingly by Ibn Kathīr, Tafsīr, 1/126. Ibn Kathīr identifies the attribution: كذا رواه ابن جرير عن عطاء. ووجهه بذلك, “This is how Ibn Jarīr reported it from ʿAṭāʾ, and he explained it in this manner.” Ibn Kathīr’s expression ما معناه, “what it means,” shows that he is conveying the sense rather than reproducing the wording exactly. The person who presumptuously adopted the name was Musaylimah. ↩︎
al-Biqāʿī, Naẓm al-Durar, 1/67, glossing al-Ḥarrālī and stating his own preference with وهو والله تعالى أعلم أقرب, "and this, Allah knows best, is the nearer". ↩︎
Al-Biqāʿī, Naẓm al-Durar, 1/29, points forward to a discussion associated with Q 6:118: في الأنعام عند ﴿فكلوا مما ذكر اسم الله عليه﴾ [الأنعام: ١١٨] عن الإمام حجة الإسلام الغزالي رحمه الله تعالى أنه لا مكرر في القرآن, “In al-Anʿām, at ‘Eat from that over which Allah’s name has been mentioned,’ from the imam and Proof of Islam al-Ghazālī, may Allah have mercy on him, that nothing in the Qurʾān is repeated without purpose.” The pointer is approximate. Al-Biqāʿī’s discussion of Q 6:118 appears at 7/241–243, while the quotation from al-Ghazālī appears at 7/251 under Q 6:120. That later text also repeats العالمين through a copying error. The exact quotation is therefore taken from al-Ghazālī’s own Jawāhir al-Qurʾān, not from the corrupted repetition in al-Biqāʿī’s quotation. ↩︎
Al-Biqāʿī, Naẓm al-Durar, 1/26: وذكر الوصفان ترغيبا، وطويت النقمة في إفهام اختصاص الثاني لتمام الترغيب بالإشارة إلى الترهيب, “The two attributes were mentioned as encouragement, while retribution was folded into the indication that the second is more particular, completing the encouragement with a reminder of warning.” At this locus, the cited copy has the damaged form إلأى, which is read as إلى, “to”; the error does not affect the meaning. ↩︎
Ibn ʿUthaymīn, Tafsīr al-Fātiḥa wa-l-Baqara, 1/11, gives this as the second benefit of the verse: لما قال: ﴿رب العالمين﴾ كأن سائلاً يسأل: ما نوع هذه الربوبية؟ هل هي ربوبية أخذ، وانتقام؛ أو ربوبية رحمة، وإنعام؟ قال تعالى: ﴿الرحمن الرحيم﴾, “When He said, ‘Lord of all worlds,’ it is as though someone asked: What kind of lordship is this? Is it a lordship of seizure and punishment, or a lordship of mercy and favour? Allah then said, ‘The Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful.’” ↩︎
Al-Marāghī, Tafsīr al-Marāghī, 1/30–31, explains what the two names add after the mention of Allah’s lordship. He illustrates the point with the compassionate father: ألا ترى إلى الوالد الرءوف كيف يربّى أولاده بالترغيب, “Do you not see how a compassionate father raises his children through encouragement?” His discussion begins on p. 30 with قد سبق أن قلنا, “We have already said,” and then explains the function of the names here rather than repeating their definitions. ↩︎
Al-Marāghī, Tafsīr al-Marāghī, 1/32, presents the sequence of encouragement followed by warning and supports it with Q 15:49–50. Al-Biqāʿī presents the same structure at Naẓm al-Durar, 1/28–32. Neither discussion depends upon the other; al-Marāghī adds the explicit Qurʾānic evidence. ↩︎
al-Lāḥim, al-Lubāb, 232: الرحمن صفة ثانية للفظ الجلالة "الله" والرحيم صفة ثالثة له … أو هما بدلان من لفظ الجلالة, "al-Raḥmān is a second description of the name Allāh and al-Raḥīm a third description of it … or the two of them are substitutes for the name." Both grammatical analyses are given by al-Lāḥim; he also gives them for the relevant descriptions in verses 2 and 4. ↩︎
al-Biqāʿī, Naẓm al-Durar, 1/32: فلما استجمع الأمر استحقاقاً وتحبيباً وترغيباً وترهيباً كان من شأن كل ذي لب الإقبال إليه وقصر الهمم عليه فقال عادلاً عن أسلوب الغيبة إلى الخطاب, "So when the matter had gathered deserving and endearing and encouraging and warning, it became the way of everyone with sense to turn toward Him and to confine his aspirations to Him, and so He said, turning from the third-person manner to direct address." ↩︎
Al-Lāḥim, al-Lubāb, p. 100: والرحيم رحمة خاصة بالمؤمنين في الدنيا والآخرة, “Al-Raḥīm signifies mercy particular to the believers in this world and the next,” supported with Q 33:43 and 9:117. ↩︎
Ibn al-Jazarī, al-Nashr, 1/271; Ibn Jinnī, al-Muḥtasab, 1/37–1/49. ↩︎