Al-Warith
Al-Warith is the Inheritor — to whom everything returns when its holders have gone.
Name 97 of 99
الْوَارِثُ
Al-Warith
The Inheritor
- In Arabic
- الْوَارِثُ
- Transliteration
- Al-Warith
- Position in the list
- Name 97 of 99
Al-Warith — The Inheritor
What the name means
An heir receives what an owner leaves. Allah is al-Warith in the exact sense: every possession passes, and He remains its owner when no claimant is left.
The Quran gives it in the plural of majesty — it is We who give life and cause death, and We are the Inheritors — rather than as the singular definite name, which is why it reaches the ninety-nine through at-Tirmidhi.
Living by this name
Zakariyya ﷺ used it while childless: my Lord, do not leave me alone, and You are the best of inheritors. He asked for a son while conceding the outcome.
Its response is to hold property as a steward. See also Al-Baqi and Malik-ul-Mulk.
Where Al-Warith comes from
Al-Warith 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-Warith
Al-Warith (الْوَارِثُ) means "The Inheritor". 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-Warith 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 Warith" — 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 97 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.