An-Nafi'
An-Nafi' is the Benefactor — in whose hand all benefit lies, granted to whom He wills.
Name 92 of 99
النَّافِعُ
An-Nafi'
The Benefactor
- In Arabic
- النَّافِعُ
- Transliteration
- An-Nafi'
- Position in the list
- Name 92 of 99
An-Nafi' — The Benefactor
What the name means
Naf' is benefit. Paired with Ad-Darr, the two names close the circuit: nothing helps and nothing harms except by His permission, which is the heart of tawhid in practice.
It is not in the Quran as a noun; it enters the ninety-nine through at-Tirmidhi, while the meaning is repeated in the Sunnah.
Living by this name
The Prophet ﷺ told Ibn Abbas that if the whole nation gathered to benefit him, they would benefit him only with what Allah had written for him. The teaching is given to a boy, as a foundation.
Its response is to seek what benefits and ask Allah for it. See also Ad-Darr and Al-Mujib.
Where An-Nafi' comes from
An-Nafi' 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 An-Nafi'
An-Nafi' (النَّافِعُ) means "The Benefactor". 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. An-Nafi' 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 Nafi'" — 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 92 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.