Al-Basit
Al-Basit is the Extender — the One who spreads out provision, mercy and relief for whom He wills.
Name 21 of 99
الْبَاسِطُ
Al-Basit
The Extender
- In Arabic
- الْبَاسِطُ
- Transliteration
- Al-Basit
- Position in the list
- Name 21 of 99
Al-Basit — The Extender
What the name means
Bast is to spread open, the way a hand opens or a cloth is unrolled. It covers widening of sustenance, of the chest in contentment, and of hope after despair.
The Quran gives it as a verb beside its pair: Allah withholds and extends, and to Him you will be returned. The two are one policy seen from two sides.
Where Al-Basit comes from
Al-Basit does not appear in the Quran as a standalone name. It reaches the famous list of ninety-nine through the narration of at-Tirmidhi, and its meaning is established by the Quran in other words — through verbs and related forms rather than the name itself. Scholars accepted such names on that basis; this page marks the distinction rather than hiding it.
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-Basit
Al-Basit (الْبَاسِطُ) means "The Extender". 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.
Not as a standalone name. Al-Basit reaches the list of ninety-nine through at-Tirmidhi's narration, while its meaning is established in the Quran through verbs and related forms. This page says so plainly rather than attaching a verse that does not contain it.
Address Allah with "Ya" before the name — "Ya Basit" — 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 21 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.