Iqra

Learn the Qur’an, one ayah at a time.

13 of 99

الْمُصَوِّرُ

Al Musawwir

The Shaper of Beauty

Scroll on for a reflection, and where you’ll meet it

Reflection

Ṣūra is a form, a shape, a face — this root is about the shape a thing takes rather than the fact of its existing, and taṣwīr is the giving of that shape. Two things can be equally real and not remotely alike; this is the name for the difference.

It closes the three creating names in Sūrat al-Ḥashr, and the ayah moves straight on to say that the most beautiful names belong to Him. Difference is not a by-product of the making; it is the making. The particular way your face is arranged was not left over from the process.

Where you’ll meet it

A few of the ayat where this name’s written form appears.