Al-Qahhar
Al-Qahhar is the Subduer — the One whose power overcomes everything, so completely that nothing can resist or escape it.
Name 15 of 99
الْقَهَّارُ
Al-Qahhar
The Subduer
- In Arabic
- الْقَهَّارُ
- Transliteration
- Al-Qahhar
- Position in the list
- Name 15 of 99
Al-Qahhar — The Subduer
What the name means
Qahr in Arabic is to overpower and bring under control. The intensive form means this is total: every creature is subdued by death, by need, by the limits it did not choose.
The Quran pairs it almost always with oneness — al-Wahid al-Qahhar. Absolute power and absolute unity belong together: what is truly irresistible cannot be shared.
Living by this name
It answers the tyrant. Whatever power a person holds is itself held, and the Quran shows Yusuf ﷺ using this name in prison to argue that scattered lords are no lords at all.
Its fruit is to subdue the self rather than others — the harder conquest the Prophet ﷺ pointed to. See also Al-Jabbar and Al-Wahid.
Al-Qahhar in the Quran
The 4 verses below contain this name. Every reference is checked against the Arabic text of the Quran before it is published, so Al-Qahhar really is in each verse it is cited from.
يَٰصَىٰحِبَىِ ٱلسِّجْنِ ءَأَرْبَابٌۭ مُّتَفَرِّقُونَ خَيْرٌ أَمِ ٱللَّهُ ٱلْوَٰحِدُ ٱلْقَهَّارُ
O [my] two companions of prison, are separate lords better or Allah, the One, the Prevailing?
Surah Yusuf 12:39Read the full surah →قُلْ مَن رَّبُّ ٱلسَّمَٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ قُلِ ٱللَّهُ ۚ قُلْ أَفَٱتَّخَذْتُم مِّن دُونِهِۦٓ أَوْلِيَآءَ لَا يَمْلِكُونَ لِأَنفُسِهِمْ نَفْعًۭا وَلَا ضَرًّۭا ۚ قُلْ هَلْ يَسْتَوِى ٱلْأَعْمَىٰ وَٱلْبَصِيرُ أَمْ هَلْ تَسْتَوِى ٱلظُّلُمَٰتُ وَٱلنُّورُ ۗ أَمْ جَعَلُوا۟ لِلَّهِ شُرَكَآءَ خَلَقُوا۟ كَخَلْقِهِۦ فَتَشَٰبَهَ ٱلْخَلْقُ عَلَيْهِمْ ۚ قُلِ ٱللَّهُ خَٰلِقُ كُلِّ شَىْءٍۢ وَهُوَ ٱلْوَٰحِدُ ٱلْقَهَّٰرُ
Say, "Who is Lord of the heavens and earth?" Say, "Allah." Say, "Have you then taken besides Him allies not possessing [even] for themselves any benefit or any harm?" Say, "Is the blind equivalent to the seeing? Or is darkness equivalent to light? Or have they attributed to Allah partners who created like His creation so that the creation [of each] seemed similar to them?" Say, "Allah is the Creator of all things, and He is the One, the Prevailing."
Surah Ar-Rad 13:16Read the full surah →قُلْ إِنَّمَآ أَنَا۠ مُنذِرٌۭ ۖ وَمَا مِنْ إِلَٰهٍ إِلَّا ٱللَّهُ ٱلْوَٰحِدُ ٱلْقَهَّارُ
Say, [O Muhammad], "I am only a warner, and there is not any deity except Allah, the One, the Prevailing.
Surah Sad 38:65Read the full surah →لَّوْ أَرَادَ ٱللَّهُ أَن يَتَّخِذَ وَلَدًۭا لَّٱصْطَفَىٰ مِمَّا يَخْلُقُ مَا يَشَآءُ ۚ سُبْحَٰنَهُۥ ۖ هُوَ ٱللَّهُ ٱلْوَٰحِدُ ٱلْقَهَّارُ
If Allah had intended to take a son, He could have chosen from what He creates whatever He willed. Exalted is He; He is Allah, the One, the Prevailing.
Surah Az-Zumar 39:4Read 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-Qahhar
Al-Qahhar (الْقَهَّارُ) means "The Subduer". 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 4 verses containing Al-Qahhar, each checked against the Arabic text before publishing.
Address Allah with "Ya" before the name — "Ya Qahhar" — 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 15 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.