Al-Ahad
Al-Ahad is the Unique — one in a way that admits no division, no plurality and no comparison.
Name 67 of 99
الْأَحَدُ
Al-Ahad
The Unique
- In Arabic
- الْأَحَدُ
- Transliteration
- Al-Ahad
- Position in the list
- Name 67 of 99
Al-Ahad — The Unique
What the name means
Arabic distinguishes wahid, one of a kind that could have others, from ahad, one that excludes the very possibility. Ahad cannot be halved, added to, or matched.
The Quran uses it once, as the opening of the surah the Prophet ﷺ said equals a third of the Quran: say, He is Allah, One.
Living by this name
The surah continues by ruling out what people habitually attach to God: He begets not, nor was He begotten, and there is none comparable to Him. The name is defined by negation because every positive image would mislead.
Its response is worship stripped of intermediaries. See also Al-Wahid and As-Samad.
Al-Ahad in the Quran
The verse below contains this name. Each reference is checked against the Arabic text of the Quran before it is published, so Al-Ahad really is in the verse it is cited from.
بِسْمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ قُلْ هُوَ ٱللَّهُ أَحَدٌ
Say, "He is Allah, [who is] One,
Surah Al-Ikhlas 112:1Read the full surah →
How reliable is the list of ninety-nine?
That Allah has ninety-nine names is established in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim, and both are agreed upon. The specific enumeration — this list of ninety-nine — comes from a narration in Jami' at-Tirmidhi that at-Tirmidhi himself called gharib, and which many hadith scholars grade weak; several held that a narrator compiled the names by searching the Quran and Sunnah. Classical scholars including al-Khattabi, Ibn Hazm, al-Qurtubi and al-Ghazali compiled lists of their own that differ from it. None of this touches the names themselves, every one of which is established elsewhere; it means the count of exactly these ninety-nine is a scholarly arrangement rather than a revealed roster, and Allah's names are not limited to them.
Questions about Al-Ahad
Al-Ahad (الْأَحَدُ) means "The Unique". Like every one of the ninety-nine names, it describes an attribute of Allah rather than serving as a label — the names are how the Quran teaches who Allah is.
Yes. This page cites 1 verse containing Al-Ahad, each checked against the Arabic text before publishing.
Address Allah with "Ya" before the name — "Ya Ahad" — and ask for what that attribute gives. The Quran instructs it directly: "To Allah belong the most beautiful names, so call upon Him by them" (7:180).
It is number 67 in the well-known list. The order comes from the narration of at-Tirmidhi and is a scholarly arrangement, so numbering can differ slightly between printed lists — the names themselves do not.