Al-Azhar Grand Imam, Prof. Ahmad At-Tayyeb, said that the attribute of Al-ˁAzīz is derived from ˁIzzah, meaning invincibility and exaltation with the impossibility of being perceived by thoughts or imagination. This meaning contradicts what some people narrate about the concept of Al-ˁAzīz as being rare. His Eminence explained that Al-ˁIzzah in this sense belongs only to Allah Almighty. However, Al-ˁIzzah (honor) mentioned in the Holy Qur’an in the Almighty’s saying:  “Whoever desires honor through power (ˁIzzah) - then to Allah belongs all honor” (Qur’an, 35: 10) can be an attribute of man as well. This leads us to differentiate between human honor and Divine Honor, for it is impossible for divine honor to be ascribed to humans, as human honor is incomplete, not characterized by the invincibility or strength that does not weaken or perish.

During the twelfth episode of his Ramadan program Grand Imam At-Tayyeb Talk, His Eminence explained that Allah’s servants have no share of Allah’s name Al-ˁAzīz when it indicates invincibility and exaltation and the impossibility of being perceived by thoughts or imagination. They must know that Allah alone is Al-ˁAzīz (the Almighty) in that sense. His servants must know that if they seek power or honor as much as their human condition can bear, they must not seek them except from Allah, not from His servants. If they seek power and honor from a servant like them, they should know that they are asking for it from a non-mighty, and not from the Mighty one.

Some people wonder why such attributes as the Compeller, the Avenger, the Prideful, and the Humbler are ascribed to Allah. The Grand Imam explained that their astonishment is out of either ignorance or malicious premeditation, because the one who contemplates the Holy Qur’an and these attributes finds that he deals with arrogant, vengeful, and unjust people; these attributes have a specific field in which they operate. Allah does not conquer the weak believer who surrenders himself to Allah or even the atheist who does not oppress people. It is wrong to say that Allah is the Compeller in the sense that he is arrogant, for the Almighty says, “Your Lord is not unjust to His servants.” Rather, such attributes are only denote tyrants and oppressors. The Grand Imam stressed that such attributes of the Lord are not signs of cruelty, and that they are indeed signs of justice.

His Eminence added that the name Al-Jabbār (the Compeller) means the High and Exalted, whom no one can reach, as evidenced by the Arabs’ use of the word jabbārah to describe a high palm tree or a great she-camel. The word is also used in the Qur’an in the same sense: “They said, ‘O Moses, indeed within it is a people of tyrannical strength (jabbārīn)’” (Qur’an, 5: 22). Here it means: We can’t reach them; we can’t defeat them. The other meaning of Al-Jabbār is to relieve heart-broken people, because it literally means to fix a fracture. It also means to conquer and break. His Eminence indicated that the Muslim’s share of Allah’s name Al-Jabbār is to try to relieve heart-broken people, not to treat them arrogantly, and to stand up to oppressors and tyrants.