الحسنى
al-Ḥusnā
The best reward God gives for virtue and righteousness; in the dual, al-Husnayayn, His rewards in this world and in the next.
What it means
Al-Ḥusnā is the feminine form meaning “the best”. The Quran promises it to the doers of good: “For those who do good is the best (al-ḥusnā) and more” (10:26). In the sense of God’s positive reward for virtue and righteousness, it points to what awaits believers in the next life. The dual form al-ḥusnayayn means God’s rewards on earth and in paradise, the two kinds of good. The Quran uses the same dual in 9:52 for “one of the two best things”. The same adjective appears in the phrase “the most beautiful names” (al-asmāʾ al-ḥusnā) in 7:180.
Often misunderstood as
It is easily confused with the Beautiful Names of God, which share the adjective but name a different subject.
Term and Arabic as listed in Ismail al Faruqi, Toward Islamic English (International Institute of Islamic Thought, 1995), p. 29, listed as AL ḤUSNĀ. The definition is restated here.