Al-Qabid — The Withholder

Al-Qabid is the One who withholds, restricts, or takes away — provision, life, or ease — by His wisdom. The name is always understood alongside Al-Basit, the One who expands and gives abundantly, because the Quran presents the two as a single verse of the same reality: Allah both straitens and extends (2:245). Classical scholars caution against reading restriction as abandonment; withholding may be a mercy whose reason is not visible. Neither name is complete without the other.

Updated July 16, 2026