Al-Batin
Allah is Al-Baatin, or The One who is hidden or secret. Allah is unseen but his existence is known through signs. Allah immanent operating within all of creation. The one who is the secret inner companion.
From the root b-t-n which has the following classical Arabic connotations: to be concealed, to lie hidden to penetrate, to be inside.
He is the First and the Last, the Ascendant and the Intimate, and He is, of all things, Knowing. (Quran 57:3)
[He is] Knower of the unseen, and He does not disclose His [knowledge of the] unseen to anyone Except whom He has approved of messengers, and indeed, He sends before each messenger and behind him observers (Quran 72:26-27)
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Name: |
Al-Batin |
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Al-Batin in Arabic |
ٱلْبَاطِنُ |
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Al-Batin Arabic root |
(ب ط ن) |
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Al-Batin meaning in English |
The Secret One, The Inner One, The Intimate. |
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Al-Batin meaning in Urdu |
پوشيدہ و پنہاں |
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Appearance in the Quran |
2 times |
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Tasbeeh |
The one who recites the name 3 times every day, will be able to find truth in things in life. |
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Asma ul Husna with similar meaning: |
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The meaning of Al-Batin is the one who is hidden and concealed from the eyes. Another meaning of the name Al-Batin is the one that is obscured from one’s senses, otherwise also understood as within or veiled. There are five derived forms of the root from which the name Al-Batin is derived.
The meanings inferred from these forms are concealed, womb, belly, and interior. The word 'butn' in Arabic means belly, which is covered inside the body. The inference that can be drawn here for Al-Batin is something that is not out in the open but rather inside and away from the eyes. Al-Batin also means the one who is hidden in a way that defies one's vision, intellect, and mind. Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى) is Al-Batin, someone who is not tangible, material, or matter that can be defined or measured by any devices and parameters.
Our understanding of Allah can never indeed be complete, for He is beyond our capacity of visualizing and understanding. Whatever exists in the world is a sign of Him, but Who Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى) is remains concealed from our visions, hearts, and minds. The name Al-Batin is the opposite of Az-Zahir. While Zahir means apparent, batin means hidden and veiled from the eyes. Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى) mentions himself as Az-Zahir and Al-Batin in the verse:
“He is the First and the Last and the Ascendant (overall) and the One Who knows all hidden things, and He is Cognizant of all things” (Quran 57:3).
Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى) is Al-Batin not just to us, but He has been to His Prophets. Since the start and end of time, Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى) is hidden from us, but it is through His signs that we have an idea that He exists. The mention of Al-Batin in the Quran can be understood from the story of Prophet Musa in the following verses: “When Moses came at the appointed time and his Lord spoke to him, he asked, “My Lord! Reveal Yourself to me so I may see You.”
Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى) answered:
"You cannot see Me! But look at the mountain. If it remains firm in its place, only then will you see Me." When his Lord appeared on the mountain, He leveled it to dust and Moses collapsed unconscious. When he recovered, he cried, "Glory be to You! I turn to You in repentance and I am the first of the believers" (Quran 7:143).
Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى) will stay hidden from our eyes, and our senses cannot grasp His Divine and Exalted existence. Therefore, it is a reward of the life hereafter, that the believers granted paradise will have a radiant face looking at their Lord as mentioned in the Quran (75:22-23). As humans, we have limited thought and perception, and we cannot know what is not visible or known to us.
The significance of Al-Batin is understood in its comparison with its opposite Az-Zahir. Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى) is evident and manifests His existence through His sufficiency and bounties that He has given to us in this world. He is Al-Batin through his mercy, wisdom, and objectivity. Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى) knows the hidden truth, and so is He because of the intensity of His appearance that burnt a mountain to ashes.
When Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى) says: “and made His favors to you complete outwardly and inwardly” (Quran 31:20), one can understand that although his blessings and favors are visible and apparent to us, the wisdom behind them is what our intellect can’t grasp. Al-Batin signifies that Allah's (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى) presence transcends beyond the existence of this world and of our physical perception. His exists in ways that He makes obvious through his signs but We cannot Grasp Him as mentioned in the Quran in the following verse:
“No vision can encompass Him, but He encompasses all vision. For He is the Most Subtle, All-Aware” (Quran 6:103).
There are no exact names that share a similar meaning to Al-Batin among the 99 names of Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى). however, the names that expand on the meaning of Al-Batin are Al-Khabeer (The All-Aware One) and Ar-Raqeeb (The Watchful One).
Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى) testifies that He is Al-Batin and hidden from the world and every human being in this world except His prophets that He spoke to through revelations that the angels brought. This is mentioned in the Quran in the following verses:
“And it is not for any human being that Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى) should speak to him except by revelation or from behind a partition or that He sends a messenger to reveal, by His permission, what He wills. Indeed, He is Most High and Wise” (Quran 42:51).
Prophet Muhammad(ﷺ) in his supplication, mentioned Al-Batin as a name to seek refuge in Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى) as reported by Suhail reporting that Abu Salih commanded them in the following words which he narrated from Abu Hurairah and Abu Hurairah reported from Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ):
"When any one of you intends to go to sleep, he should lie on the bed on his right side and then say: O Allah. the Lord of the Heavens and the Lord of the Earth and Lord of the Magnificent Throne, our Lord, and the Lord of everything, the Splitter of the grain of corn and the datestone (or fruit kernel), the Revealer of Torah and Injil (Bible) and Criterion (the Holy Qur'an), I seek refuge in Thee from the evil of everything Thou art to seize by the forelock (Thou hast perfect control over it). O Allah, Thou art the First, there is naught before Thee, and Thou art the Last and there is naught after Thee, and Thou art Evident and there is nothing above Thee, and Thou art Innermost and there is nothing beyond Thee. Remove the burden of debt from us and relieve us from want."