Iqra

Learn the Qur’an, one ayah at a time.

91 of 99

الضَّارَّ

Ad Daaarr

The Creator of the harmful

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

Reflection

Ḍarr is harm — the plain word for damage done. The same root gives ḍurr, distress, and iḍṭurra, to be forced by need, which is the word behind the Qur’an’s allowances for a person with no choice left.

The written form is not in the Qur’anic text; the name comes down in the list, where it is never printed apart from an-Nāfiʿ. What the Qur’an does say with these letters is that nothing else can do either one — no harm and no benefit from anything you might call on besides Him. That the two are held together in one list is the point of the pairing.

Where you’ll meet it

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