Az-Zahir
Az-Zahir is the Manifest — evident above everything, known through signs that leave no excuse.
Name 75 of 99
الظَّاهِرُ
Az-Zahir
The Manifest
- In Arabic
- الظَّاهِرُ
- Transliteration
- Az-Zahir
- Position in the list
- Name 75 of 99
Az-Zahir — The Manifest
What the name means
Zuhur is both appearing and prevailing. Allah is Manifest because the evidence for Him is everywhere, and because He is above all — the same word carries both senses.
The Prophet ﷺ explained it as height: You are the Manifest, so there is nothing above You.
Az-Zahir in the Quran
The verse below contains this name. Each reference is checked against the Arabic text of the Quran before it is published, so Az-Zahir really is in the verse it is cited from.
هُوَ ٱلْأَوَّلُ وَٱلْءَاخِرُ وَٱلظَّٰهِرُ وَٱلْبَاطِنُ ۖ وَهُوَ بِكُلِّ شَىْءٍ عَلِيمٌ
He is the First and the Last, the Ascendant and the Intimate, and He is, of all things, Knowing.
Surah Al-Hadid 57:3Read 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 Az-Zahir
Az-Zahir (الظَّاهِرُ) means "The Manifest". 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 1 verse containing Az-Zahir, each checked against the Arabic text before publishing.
Address Allah with "Ya" before the name — "Ya Zahir" — 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 75 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.