Al-Qahhar
The Dominant
Exalted and Glorious
Are many Lords differing among themselves better, or Allah the One, Supreme, and Irresistible? (12:39)
Say: “Allah is the Creator of all things, and He is the One, the Supreme, the Irresistible.” (13:16)
They will appear before Allah, the One, the Irresistible. (14:48)
Say: “I am only a warner, and there is no god except Allah, the One, the Irresistible.” (38:65)
This name is derived from a word meaning dominance. The Dominant is One Who has greater Commanding influence even on the influential. The human being can claim that he holds complete dominance over another human being, but Allah has full control over our body, spirit, and movement. He is Dominant in a way in which He can do anything He wills.
From: The Meanings of the Names of Our Lord by Shaykh Muhammad Sa’id al-Jamal ar-Rifa’i Head of the Higher Sufi Council in Jerusalem and the Holy Land Teacher at the Dome of the Rock (al-Aqsa)
******
He is the Ever-Dominating One, who has surrounded all His creation from without and within with His irresistible power. Nothing can escape Him. The worlds and the heavens bow their heads before Him. How many universes, peoples, and nations has He destroyed in punishment.
Allah counters His attribute of al-Qahhar with His attribute al-Latif. They are within each other. He has also created causes and means that separate His punishing destructive force from His delicate loving finesse (al-Latif). He has created the means of faith, sincerity, justice, compassion, generosity, wisdom, and other beautiful characteristics upon which the light of al-Latif shines. He has created the causes of rebellion, denial, arrogance, ignorance, tyranny, and hypocrisy, upon which the darkness of His terror is reflected.
Try to find the traces of these ascending and descending causes, and these two mirrors one full of light, the other, of darkness, in and around you. We take refuge from Allah al-Qahhar in Allah al-Latif.
‘Abd al-Qahhar is the one who is given the power to obliterate tyranny. The greatest tyranny that people suffer is from our evil commanding ego, and ‘Abd al-Qahhar is able to enslave that tyrant. None can influence nor overcome him. Such a person becomes all-powerful to execute that which is right.
If a person with a sincere wish in his heart to free himself from the domination of his ego and from overwhelming worldly ambition remembers and recites ya Qahhar as often as he can, he may become able to control his ego.
From: The Name & the Named by Shaykh Tosun Bayrak al-Jerrahi al-Halveti
