Iqra

Learn the Qur’an, one ayah at a time.

40 of 99

الْحسِيبُ

Al Haseeb

The Reckoner

Scroll on for a reflection, and where you’ll meet it

Reflection

Ḥisāb is reckoning; ḥasb, from the same root, means simply “enough”. Arabic puts the arithmetic and the sufficiency in one set of letters, as though counting carefully and having enough were the same discovery.

The written form is not in the Qur’anic text — the name is carried by the list, holding both senses at once. What the Qur’an does have is the sentence people say at their most frightened: ḥasbunā Allāh, Allah is enough for us. Counting is not always adversarial. First of all it is how nothing gets lost.

Where you’ll meet it

A few of the ayat where this name’s written form appears.