الظاهر
al-Ẓāhir
Topic
A divine name: He Who is manifest, evident through all phenomena
What it means
Al-Ẓāhir is one of the beautiful names of Allah, meaning the Manifest. The Quran says: “He is the First and the Last, the Manifest and the Hidden” (57:3). Scholars explain that Allah is manifest through His signs in creation and through the proofs of His existence, while He remains hidden in His essence. The name pairs with al-Bāṭin, the Hidden. The word ẓāhir is also used in the study of texts for the apparent meaning of a verse or hadith, which is a separate use. As a divine name it speaks of Allah’s evident power and presence.
Often misunderstood as
That it makes Allah identical with the world, when it says that His signs are evident in creation.
Term and Arabic as listed in Ismail al Faruqi, Toward Islamic English (International Institute of Islamic Thought, 1995), p. 38, listed as AL ẒĀHIR. The definition is restated here.