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Al-Wadud

الْوَدُودُ

Al-Wadud is the Most Loving — the One who loves His righteous servants and is loved by them.

Name 47 of 99

الْوَدُودُ

Al-Wadud

The Most Loving

In Arabic
الْوَدُودُ
Transliteration
Al-Wadud
Position in the list
Name 47 of 99
Meaning

Al-Wadud — The Most Loving

What the name means

Wudd in Arabic is love that shows: affection expressed in act, not merely held in the heart. The form is both active and passive — the One who loves and the One who is loved.

The Quran places it beside forgiveness in one verse and beside the Throne in another, joining tenderness to majesty rather than setting them apart.

Living by this name

It corrects the idea that Allah is only to be feared. Shuayb ﷺ appeals to it while calling his people back: my Lord is Merciful, Loving.

Its response is worship out of love rather than only out of fear, and love for others for His sake. See also Ar-Rahim and Al-Barr.

Al-Wadud in the Quran

Al-Wadud 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-Wadud really is in each verse it is cited from.

  1. وَٱسْتَغْفِرُوا۟ رَبَّكُمْ ثُمَّ تُوبُوٓا۟ إِلَيْهِ ۚ إِنَّ رَبِّى رَحِيمٌۭ وَدُودٌۭ

    And ask forgiveness of your Lord and then repent to Him. Indeed, my Lord is Merciful and Affectionate."

  2. وَهُوَ ٱلْغَفُورُ ٱلْوَدُودُ

    And He is the Forgiving, the Affectionate,

    Surah Al-Buruj 85:14Read the full surah
On the list itself

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.

About this name

Questions about Al-Wadud

Al-Wadud (الْوَدُودُ) means "The Most Loving". 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-Wadud, each checked against the Arabic text before publishing.

Address Allah with "Ya" before the name — "Ya Wadud" — 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 47 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.