Al-Quddus
Al-Quddus is the Utterly Pure — free of every defect, and far above whatever the mind reaches for when it tries to picture Him.
Name 4 of 99
الْقُدُّوسُ
Al-Quddus
The Most Holy
- In Arabic
- الْقُدُّوسُ
- Transliteration
- Al-Quddus
- Position in the list
- Name 4 of 99
Al-Quddus — The Most Holy
What the name means
The root q-d-s carries purity and separation together — the sense of something set entirely apart because nothing has touched it. Al-Quddus is therefore not merely without fault; He is beyond the categories in which fault is even measured.
Classical scholars read the name as the answer to every mental image: whatever you imagine, Allah is other than that. It guards the doctrine of tanzih, that Allah is exalted above resemblance to His creation.
Living by this name
The name asks a worshipper to purify what can be purified — intention first, then the tongue and the limbs. The connection is not decorative: the Quran ties success to tazkiyah, the purification of the self.
It also disciplines how we speak about Allah. To say of Him only what He and His Messenger ﷺ said of Him is the practical form of holding this name in mind.
Al-Quddus in the Quran
The 2 verses below contain this name. Every reference is checked against the Arabic text of the Quran before it is published, so Al-Quddus really is in each verse it is cited from.
هُوَ ٱللَّهُ ٱلَّذِى لَآ إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ ٱلْمَلِكُ ٱلْقُدُّوسُ ٱلسَّلَٰمُ ٱلْمُؤْمِنُ ٱلْمُهَيْمِنُ ٱلْعَزِيزُ ٱلْجَبَّارُ ٱلْمُتَكَبِّرُ ۚ سُبْحَٰنَ ٱللَّهِ عَمَّا يُشْرِكُونَ
He is Allah, other than whom there is no deity, the Sovereign, the Pure, the Perfection, the Bestower of Faith, the Overseer, the Exalted in Might, the Compeller, the Superior. Exalted is Allah above whatever they associate with Him.
Surah Al-Hashr 59:23Read the full surah →بِسْمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ يُسَبِّحُ لِلَّهِ مَا فِى ٱلسَّمَٰوَٰتِ وَمَا فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ ٱلْمَلِكِ ٱلْقُدُّوسِ ٱلْعَزِيزِ ٱلْحَكِيمِ
Whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth is exalting Allah, the Sovereign, the Pure, the Exalted in Might, the Wise.
Surah Al-Jumuah 62:1Read 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-Quddus
Al-Quddus (الْقُدُّوسُ) means "The Most Holy". 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 2 verses containing Al-Quddus, each checked against the Arabic text before publishing.
Address Allah with "Ya" before the name — "Ya Quddus" — 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 4 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.