Name #45 of 99

Al Waasi'

The Boundless, All-Encompassing

الْوَاسِعُ
Al Waasi'
Arabic
الْوَاسِعُ
Transliteration
Al Waasi'
Meaning
The All Comprehending
How scholars have translated it
The All-EncompassingThe BoundlessThe VastThe All-Sufficient in Capacity
AL WAASI' MEANING

The Vast, whose every attribute is without limit or shore.

Al-Waasi encompasses all things: His knowledge holds every detail, His mercy embraces every creature, His provision spans every mouth, and His forgiveness is wider than every record of sins. Where every created capacity has a rim, His has none.

✦ ✦ ✦

Mentions of Al Waasi'

From the Quran & Hadith

Arabic root
و س عto be wide, spacious, vast; to encompass, comprehend, embrace; to be ample and abundant

From the root waw-sin-ayn (و س ع), which carries the classical Arabic connotations of being wide, spacious, and vast; encompassing, comprehending, and embracing; and being ample and abundant. Saʿah is spaciousness. Al-Waasi is vast in every attribute: His mercy, knowledge, provision, power, and forgiveness are all without shore.

Wherever you turn

'To Allah belongs the east and the west. So wherever you might turn, there is the Face of Allah. Indeed, Allah is all-Encompassing and Knowing' (Quran 2:115). The verse frees the heart from geography: no place is far from Him, no direction empty of Him. The traveler unsure of the qibla, the exile far from home, the one whose world just shrank to a hospital room, all are inside His vastness equally.

Vast in forgiveness, vast in bounty

The Quran names His vastness precisely where we fear narrowness. In forgiveness: 'Indeed, your Lord is vast in forgiveness' (Quran 53:32). In provision: 'Allah gives multiplied increase to whom He wills. And Allah is all-Encompassing and Knowing' (Quran 2:261). The scholars note that Al-Waasi is often sealed with Al-Aleem: vastness governed by knowledge, so nothing given is random and nothing withheld is neglect; the ocean has a mind.

From the Quran
وَلِلَّهِ ٱلْمَشْرِقُ وَٱلْمَغْرِبُ ۚ فَأَيْنَمَا تُوَلُّوا۟ فَثَمَّ وَجْهُ ٱللَّهِ ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ وَٰسِعٌ عَلِيمٌ

Wa lillāhi-l-mashriqu wa-l-maghrib. Fa-aynamā tuwallū fa-thamma wajhu-llāh. Inna-llāha Wāsiʿun ʿAlīm.

To Allah belongs the east and the west. So wherever you might turn, there is the Face of Allah. Indeed, Allah is all-Encompassing and Knowing.

Quran 2:115 (Al-Baqarah)
إِنَّ رَبَّكَ وَٰسِعُ ٱلْمَغْفِرَةِ

Inna rabbaka wāsiʿu-l-maghfirah.

Indeed, your Lord is vast in forgiveness.

Quran 53:32 (An-Najm)
وَٱللَّهُ يُضَـٰعِفُ لِمَن يَشَآءُ ۗ وَٱللَّهُ وَٰسِعٌ عَلِيمٌ

Wa-llāhu yuḍāʿifu liman yashā'. Wa-llāhu Wāsiʿun ʿAlīm.

And Allah gives multiplied increase to whom He wills. And Allah is all-Encompassing and Knowing.

Quran 2:261 (Al-Baqarah)
Reflection

Most despair is a failure of scale: we measure our problem against our own capacity and conclude it cannot be carried. Al-Waasi corrects the denominator. Your sin feels vast? His forgiveness is vaster, by His own description. Your need feels bottomless? His treasuries have depositories of everything. The wall you face has no door? Wherever you turn, there is His Face. Let the Name also widen you. A believer shaped by Al-Waasi has a wide heart: room for people who differ, patience that does not run out at the first offense, generosity that is not cramped by fear of loss. Narrow hearts come from believing resources are narrow. Whoever knows the Vast can afford to be spacious.

Calling on Allah by this Name
اللَّهُمَّ وَسِّعْ لَنَا فِي رَحْمَتِكَ وَرِزْقِكَ وَمَغْفِرَتِكَ

Allāhumma wassiʿ lanā fī raḥmatika wa rizqika wa maghfiratik

O Allah, grant us vastness in Your mercy, Your provision, and Your forgiveness.

Related Names
References
  1. Quran 2:115
  2. Quran 53:32
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