Ar-Rahim
Ar-Rahim is mercy that stays — the particular, enduring mercy Allah keeps for those who believe, in this world and the next.
Name 2 of 99
الرَّحِيمُ
Ar-Rahim
The Bestower of Mercy
- In Arabic
- الرَّحِيمُ
- Transliteration
- Ar-Rahim
- Position in the list
- Name 2 of 99
Ar-Rahim — The Bestower of Mercy
What the name means
Ar-Rahim shares its root with Ar-Rahman, but the form differs. Where rahman describes mercy overflowing in the moment, rahim describes mercy as a settled, permanent attribute — mercy that does not exhaust itself and does not withdraw.
The Quran uses it more than any other of the ninety-nine, most often paired with forgiveness: ghafurun rahim, the Forgiving, the Merciful. The pairing is deliberate. Forgiveness removes the debt; mercy gives what was never owed.
Mercy that is specific
Allah describes Himself as rahim bil-mu'minin — merciful to the believers — a specificity Ar-Rahman does not carry. Scholars read this as the mercy of the hereafter: the general mercy of this world reaches everyone, while this one is kept for those who answered.
It is also the name applied to the Prophet ﷺ in the Quran, where he is called ra'uf rahim toward the believers — the only creature described with a form of this attribute.
Living by this name
The believer's share is to be reliably merciful rather than occasionally kind: mercy as a settled habit, not a mood that passes.
It is also the name to hold on to when despair argues that the door has closed. The verse says: tell My servants that I am the Forgiving, the Merciful. The invitation is stated in the same breath as the attribute.
Ar-Rahim in the Quran
The 3 verses below contain this name. Every reference is checked against the Arabic text of the Quran before it is published, so Ar-Rahim really is in each verse it is cited from.
ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
The Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful,
Surah Al-Fatihah 1:3Read the full surah →وَإِلَٰهُكُمْ إِلَٰهٌۭ وَٰحِدٌۭ ۖ لَّآ إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنُ ٱلرَّحِيمُ
And your god is one God. There is no deity [worthy of worship] except Him, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful.
Surah Al-Baqarah 2:163Read the full surah →۞ نَبِّئْ عِبَادِىٓ أَنِّىٓ أَنَا ٱلْغَفُورُ ٱلرَّحِيمُ
[O Muhammad], inform My servants that it is I who am the Forgiving, the Merciful.
Surah Al-Hijr 15:49Read 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 Ar-Rahim
Ar-Rahim (الرَّحِيمُ) means "The Bestower of Mercy". 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 3 verses containing Ar-Rahim, each checked against the Arabic text before publishing.
Address Allah with "Ya" before the name — "Ya Rahim" — 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 2 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.