Al 'Aliyy

Height itself is what these letters mean — rising above, being out of reach. From them come aʿlā, higher, and taʿālā, the word the Qur’an uses when it puts Allah above what people say of Him.

Six of the eight ayat on this page are the name; the other two are the same letters doing ordinary work — the high heavens, and the highest ranks. Where it is the name it is never alone: al-Kabīr follows it four times and al-ʿAẓīm twice, one of those at the close of the Throne Ayah. Height, in this root, is a matter of rank rather than of distance, which is a different thing from being far away.