Al Mu'iz
The Honourer-Bestower
The Giver of Honor, the Bestower of Might.
Al-Muiz gives esteem to whoever He wills; hence there will be no one to degrade them. He gives strength and honor to His obedient and loving servants, gives material power to whoever He wills, and strengthens, glorifies, and makes it possible for someone or something to be respected.
Al-Muiz does not appear in the Quran as an explicit Name, and certain scholars, including Ibn Uthaymeen, Ibn Hazm, and Ibn al-Wazir, do not count it in the official list. But the Quran repeatedly describes the attribute, and it lives inside the Name Al-Azeez, which shares its root.
Mentions of Al Mu'iz
From the Quran & Hadith
From the root ʿayn-zay-zay (ع ز ز), the same root as Al-Azeez, which carries the classical Arabic connotations of being mighty, potent, strong, and powerful; high, elevated, noble, exalted, and honorable; indomitable and invincible; and being respected, cherished, dear, scarce, rare, and precious. Al-Muiz is the giver of ʿizzah: strength, honor, and dignity.
In Your hand is all good
The clearest statement of this Name's meaning is the verse the ummah recites in every generation of rising and falling powers: 'Say, O Allah, Owner of Sovereignty, You give sovereignty to whom You will and You take sovereignty away from whom You will. You honor whom You will and You humble whom You will. In Your hand is all good. Indeed, You are over all things competent' (Quran 3:26). Honor and humiliation are not market outcomes or accidents of birth; they are distributions from one hand.
Where honor is actually found
'Whoever desires honor, then to Allah belongs all honor. To Him ascends good speech, and righteous work raises it' (Quran 35:10). The verse gives both the diagnosis and the method: honor is with Allah entirely, and the elevator that reaches Him is good words carried up by good deeds. Imam al-Ghazali writes that true dominion consists in deliverance from the shame of need, the dominance of passion, and the disgrace of ignorance. The story of Yusuf (peace be upon him) shows the mechanics: sold as a slave, imprisoned on a false accusation, then raised over the treasuries of Egypt. 'We raise in degrees whom We will, but over every possessor of knowledge is one more knowing' (Quran 12:76).
Quli-llāhumma mālika-l-mulki tu'ti-l-mulka man tashā'u wa tanziʿu-l-mulka mimman tashā'u wa tuʿizzu man tashā'u wa tudhillu man tashā'. Bi-yadika-l-khayr. Innaka ʿalā kulli shay'in qadīr.
“Say, O Allah, Owner of Sovereignty, You give sovereignty to whom You will and You take sovereignty away from whom You will. You honor whom You will and You humble whom You will. In Your hand is all good. Indeed, You are over all things competent.”
Man kāna yurīdu-l-ʿizzata fa-lillāhi-l-ʿizzatu jamīʿā. Ilayhi yaṣʿadu-l-kalimu-ṭ-ṭayyibu wa-l-ʿamalu-ṣ-ṣāliḥu yarfaʿuh. Wa-lladhīna yamkurūna-s-sayyi'āti lahum ʿadhābun shadīd, wa makru ulā'ika huwa yabūr.
“Whoever desires honor, then to Allah belongs all honor. To Him ascends good speech, and righteous work raises it. But they who plot evil deeds will have a severe punishment, and the plotting of those, it will perish.”
Wa-btaghi fīmā ātāka-llāhu-d-dāra-l-ākhirata wa lā tansa naṣībaka mina-d-dunyā. Wa aḥsin kamā aḥsana-llāhu ilayk. Wa lā tabghi-l-fasāda fi-l-arḍ. Inna-llāha lā yuḥibbu-l-mufsidīn.
“But seek, through that which Allah has given you, the home of the Hereafter; and do not forget your share of the world. And do good as Allah has done good to you. And desire not corruption in the land. Indeed, Allah does not like corrupters.”
To be among those Al-Muiz honors, look at whom Allah declares noble: 'O mankind, indeed We have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another. Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you' (Quran 49:13). The verse addresses prejudice at its root: we descend from the same parents, made into tribes to know one another, and the only ranking that survives is taqwa. As the commentators put it, no Arab has superiority over a non-Arab, and no white over black nor black over white, except by piety. So characterize yourself by this Name the way the ummah is meant to: use whatever strength and might you are given to uphold and honor what Allah has commanded, and refuse to lower what He has raised or raise what He has lowered. Honor spent that way returns multiplied; honor hoarded for the self was never honor at all.
Yā Muʿizz, aʿizzanā bi-l-islāmi wa-t-taqwā
O Al-Muiz, honor us through Islam and taqwa.
- Quran 3:26
- Quran 49:13
- Quran 12:76
Count "Al Mu'iz", The Bestower of Honour
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