Name 73 of 99
Al-Awwal
الْأَوَّل
The First
What it means
Al-Awwal has no beginning: before every "before" is His existence. Time itself is a creature; He precedes it not chronologically but ontologically.
Qur'anic evidence
This name appears explicitly in the following ayahs:
Q 57:3
Sources for this entry
The Arabic name and its enumeration follow the traditional list in Sunan al-Tirmidhī (§3507). The concise explanation reflects the consensus classical understanding taught in Al-Ghazālī's Al-Maqṣad al-Asnā and Ibn Kathīr's tafsīr. Qur'anic references are locations where the name appears in the Mushaf.
Contemplate Al-Awwal with SABR
Learning the names of Allah alongside memorising His words is one of the highest forms of study. SABR pairs one name per day with your memorisation session.