Al-Majeed · The Glorious One, The Most Honorable

Majd is a special kind of glory. It is greatness that is wide and full, like a pasture rich enough for every animal that comes to it. Al-Majeed is glorious in who He is, perfect in every attribute, and that glory is abundant: it spills over into generosity, mercy and blessing.

The name often stands with Al-Hamid, the Praiseworthy. Scholars explain that hamd is praise for His beauty, goodness and favours, while majd is praise for His greatness, majesty and the vastness of His attributes. Hamid and Majeed together mean He is loved for His goodness and exalted for His greatness. The Prophet ﷺ taught us to end our prayer for him and his family with these two names: You are Hamid, Majeed (Sahih al-Bukhari).

Unlike human glory, which is borrowed, partial and fading, His glory is His own, complete and permanent. Nothing adds to it and nothing diminishes it. A related name, Al-Majid, comes from the same root and has its own page; Al-Majeed is the form found in the Quran, and the more emphatic of the two.

The name appears in a moment of joy. Angels visited Ibrahim and gave his elderly wife news of a son, Ishaq, and a grandson, Yaqub. She was astonished: a child, at her age, from an old husband? The angels answered: do you wonder at the decree of Allah? His mercy and blessings are upon you, people of the house; He is Hamid, Majeed (11:71-73). His glory showed itself as a gift to an old couple who had waited a lifetime.

That is why the Salat Ibrahimiyya, recited in every prayer, ends with the same two names. We ask Him to bless Muhammad ﷺ and his family as He blessed Ibrahim and his family, and we appeal to Him as the Praised, the Glorious, whose glory delights in pouring blessing on those He has chosen.

His word shares this quality. The Quran is called Qur'an Majeed (50:1, 85:21), glorious and abundant in good, giving more the more you return to it. And when a servant in prayer recites that He is Master of the Day of Judgement, Allah says: My servant has glorified Me (Sahih Muslim).

When you feel small and unnoticed, remember that His glory is not the kind that ignores the small. Majd overflows; it reaches down. The same glory that fills the heavens brought a son to an old woman who had laughed at the very idea.

Trust Him with the requests that seem too much to ask. Shrinking your dua because you think it is too big is to forget the abundance in His glory. Ask Al-Majeed as Ibrahim's household was answered: with mercy and blessing beyond what they thought possible.

You are in the last sitting of Asr, rushing through the Salat Ibrahimiyya as you have a thousand times, already thinking about dinner. Slow down at the end: innaka Hamidun Majeed. You are appealing to the One whose glory poured blessing on Ibrahim's family. Ask Him, right there, for that same overflow on yours.

There is a particular kind of love we feel for someone great who is also generous, a love mixed with admiration. Al-Majeed is the perfection of both, and every time you send blessings on the Prophet ﷺ and end with Hamid Majeed, you are praising the One whose glory is your gain.