Beautiful Names of Allah: az-Zâhir 75

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az-Zāhir

The Manifest, The Conspicuous, The Evident

The One who has manifest all of creation and who is manifest in all of creation.

The One whose nature and existence is demonstrated in all of creation.

The One whose essence and attributes are shown throughout all of creation.

The One who is above creation, yet who is made visible through creation.

From the root z-h-r which has the following classical Arabic connotations:

to be visible, manifest, obvious, clear, distinct
to open, to come out, to cause to appear after being concealed
to be conspicuous, distinct
to ascend, mount, have higher status
to have the upper hand, subdue, overcome
to endorse, help, aid, support others, render superior

This name is used in the Qur'ān. For example, see 57:3

Note that the Arabic letter z sounds nothing at all like the English letter z, but rather is a open-jaw "th" sound.

The ancient root of z-h-r points toward that which goes from the center and spreads out, disperses or radiates into being, which is to say that it becomes outwardly manifest.

Zāhir (manifest) and Bātin (hidden) are complementary attributes.

Zāhir is that which is outward, manifest, apparent, visible.

Bātin is that which is inward, concealed, obscured.

(Also written as al-zahir, al-zaahir, az-zahir, az-zaahir, the Manifest: ya zahir, ya zaahir)