Al-Qahhar

The One who subdues the rebellious, who can never be defeated or overcome. Allah Almighty says: "And He is the Subjugator over His servants. And He is the Wise, the Acquainted [with all]." (Al-An'am, 18) "...Say: 'Allah is the Creator of all things, and He is the One, the Prevailing.'" (Ar-Ra'd, 16) All dominion, all supremacy, all strength and power belong to Allah alone, the Prevailing. Everything besides Him is defeated and overcome. It is Allah who breaks the backs of tyrants and oppressors, who bends the necks of the rebellious and those who transgress, and who prevents them from attaining their worldly ambitions. Even the wishes and desires of created beings lie beneath His will. Allah Most High says: "And you do not will except that Allah wills. Indeed, Allah is ever Knowing and Wise." (Al-Insan, 30) Just as Allah has the power to remove distress from people and to grant relief to their hearts, so too He has the power to subdue them with a great punishment. The Qur'an gives examples of nations destroyed by punishments sent from Allah. Because these people turned away from the true religion and rebelled against Allah, they were destroyed in the morning, wholly unaware, by a great calamity that swept over them. Allah sent upon the disbelieving peoples storms that tore their houses from their foundations and rained down upon them stones of baked clay. He struck the people He had warned with downpours that levelled the cities in which they lived. He sent upon them earthquakes that turned the ground upside down, and with a single blast He brought them all low. As is plainly evident, Allah's subduing of a person is beyond all comparison. The Muslim should strive as far as he is able to overcome the enemies of Allah and to prevail over them. Those who turn away from Allah and rely on another will certainly be defeated and become playthings in the hand of Satan. Yet all that has been mentioned here is the suffering Allah lets people taste in this worldly life — His subduing of them in this world for what they have done. What truly matters is the person being subdued in Hell with a punishment never before witnessed. Those who fail to appreciate Allah's worth and show ingratitude in the face of His infinite mercy will meet the punishment of Hell in the Hereafter. The full recompense of the crimes they committed in this world will be given to them in the next.

To bring oppressors and enemies to ruin, it is recited 306 times at midnight and at sunrise as "Ya Qahhar, jalla jalaluhu". Whoever at midnight or at sunrise says a hundred times "Ya Jabbar, Ya Qahhar, Ya Dha'l-batshi'sh-shadid" and then supplicates, "Khudh haqqi mimman zalamani" — "O my Lord, take my right from the one who has wronged me" — will surely obtain his right from the oppressor.