Al Muqtadir
The Perfectly Omnipotent
The Omnipotent, whose power in motion nothing slows or survives.
Al-Muqtadir is capability at its fullest reach: the Name the Quran uses when power is being demonstrated, when tyrants who mocked warnings meet the seizure no army deflects, and when the righteous are seated in the assembly of truth 'near a Sovereign, Perfect in Ability'.
Mentions of Al Muqtadir
From the Quran & Hadith
From the root qaf-dal-ra (ق د ر), shared with Al-Qaadir, in the iftiʿāl form that intensifies and extends: muqtadir is power in full deployment, prevailing, enforcing, and settling matters. If Al-Qaadir says He can, Al-Muqtadir says nothing withstands Him when He does.
The seizure of the deniers
Of the people of Pharaoh the Quran writes the shortest of epitaphs: 'They denied Our signs, all of them, so We seized them with a seizure of one Exalted in Might and Perfect in Ability (ʿAzīzin Muqtadir)' (Quran 54:42). Generations of imperial power, drowned in an hour. Surah al-Qamar repeats its refrain around such endings; history, read with iman, is a museum of Al-Muqtadir's verdicts on arrogance.
And the seat of the truthful
The same surah that records the seizure closes with this Name in mercy's setting: 'Indeed, the righteous will be among gardens and rivers, in a seat of honor near a Sovereign, Perfect in Ability (malīkin muqtadir)' (Quran 54:54-55). Omnipotence is terror or refuge depending on which side of it you stand. For the taqwā-people, the Name means their Host can deliver every promised delight, eternally, without strain.
Kadhdhabū bi-āyātinā kullihā fa-akhadhnāhum akhdha ʿazīzin muqtadir.
“They denied Our signs, all of them, so We seized them with a seizure of one Exalted in Might and Perfect in Ability.”
Inna-l-muttaqīna fī jannātin wa nahar. Fī maqʿadi ṣidqin ʿinda malīkin muqtadir.
“Indeed, the righteous will be among gardens and rivers, in a seat of honor near a Sovereign, Perfect in Ability.”
Wa kāna-llāhu ʿalā kulli shay'in muqtadirā.
“And Allah is ever, over all things, Perfect in Ability.”
Injustice at scale can make believers feel that evil holds the real power: regimes entrenched, corruption systemic, cruelty efficient. Al-Muqtadir is the corrective read of history: Pharaoh's file looked permanent until the morning it closed. No oppressor operates outside a power that can seize 'with the seizure of one Exalted in Might', and delays in that seizure are His forbearance, never His inability. The personal question the Name asks is simple: when the Omnipotent acts on every claim and account, where will you be seated? Work now for the seat of ṣidq, truthfulness, honored proximity, in the presence of the Perfectly Able, and let every earthly power imbalance shrink to its actual size: temporary, observed, and headed for an audit.
Allāhumma-jʿalnā fī maqʿadi ṣidqin ʿindaka yawma nalqāk
O Allah, seat us in a seat of truth in Your presence on the Day we meet You.
- Quran 54:42
- Quran 54:55
Count "Al Muqtadir", The Creator of all power
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