Living Quran

Az-Zahir — The Manifest

Az-Zahir is the Manifest — above all things and evident through them, since everything that exists points to Him. Classical scholars explain the name in two ways that fit together: He is apparent by the overwhelming evidence of His signs, and He is above everything in dominance. It sits with Al-Batin in 57:3, so that Allah is at once the most evident and the most hidden. The paradox is deliberate: He is not seen, yet nothing is clearer than the traces of Him.

Updated July 16, 2026

Name 75 of 99

الظَّاهِرُ

Az-Zahir

The Manifest

Where Az-Zahir appears in the Quran

Surah Al-Hadid 57:3

هُوَ ٱلۡأَوَّلُ وَٱلۡأٓخِرُ وَٱلظَّـٰهِرُ وَٱلۡبَاطِنُۖ وَهُوَ بِكُلِّ شَيۡءٍ عَلِيمٌ

He is the First and the Last, and the Outward and the Inward; and He is Knower of all things

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Arabic text: Tanzil Uthmani (public domain). English translation: Marmaduke Pickthall, “The Meaning of the Glorious Koran” (1930) — public domain.

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