الْخَافِضُ
Al-Khafid
The Reducer
What Al-Khafid Means
Al-Khafid comes from the root kha-fa-da: to lower, bring down, or make low. In the Quran the word appears once as a name of Allah’s action, where the Day of Resurrection is described as ‘bringing low’ some and ‘raising’ others (56:3). Scholars explain this name together with its pair, Ar-Rafi: worldly rank is temporary and often upside down, and it is Allah alone who assigns true rank in the end. He brings low the arrogant who exalted themselves over people and over His truth, and He debases tyrants whom power made heedless. For the believer, this name removes both pride and despair. Being unknown or lowly among people is not disgrace with Allah, just as fame and status among people are not honor with Him. What that Day brings low is not poverty or obscurity, but the heart that meets Allah with pride and rejection.
Al-Khafid in the Quran
خَافِضَةٌ رَّافِعَةٌ
“It will be abasing (some), exalting (others)”
What the Prophet ﷺ Taught Us
THE FOUNDATION OF THE 99 NAMES
“Allah has ninety-nine names, i.e. one-hundred minus one, and whoever knows them will go to Paradise.”
“‘Amir b. Wathila reported that Nafi’ b. ‘Abd al-Harith met ‘Umar at ‘Usfan and ‘Umar had employed him as collector in Mecca. He (Hadrat ‘Umar) said to him (Nafi’): Whom have you appointed as collector over the people of the valley? He said: Ibn Abza.”
Calling Upon Allah by This Name
Allah Himself commands us to call upon Him by His beautiful names:
وَلِلَّهِ ٱلْأَسْمَآءُ ٱلْحُسْنَىٰ فَٱدْعُوهُ بِهَا ۖ وَذَرُوا۟ ٱلَّذِينَ يُلْحِدُونَ فِىٓ أَسْمَـٰٓئِهِۦ ۚ سَيُجْزَوْنَ مَا كَانُوا۟ يَعْمَلُونَ
“For Allah there are the most beautiful names. So, call Him by them, and leave those who deviate in (the matter of) His names. They shall be recompensed for what they have been doing.”
Allah commands us to call upon Him by His names (7:180), so you may say, in your own words: ‘Ya Khafid — O You who bring down every proud power — lower my pride, protect me from arrogance, and do not leave me humbled before anyone but You.’ The lesson of this name is humility: the same Day that brings down the arrogant raises the lowly who believed, so the believer bows willingly to Allah now rather than being brought low in disgrace later.
Quran translations: Mufti Taqi Usmani. Hadith texts and gradings: the DeenHub hadith library. Every reference on this page is from the Quran or from hadith graded Sahih or Hasan.