The 99 Names · Name 88 of 99 · Beyond
الْغَنِيُّThe Self-Sufficient, free of all need
Recited as it sounds in the Qur'an, 31:26.
Heard together with: al-Ghaniyy / al-Mughnī; al-Ghaniyy al-Ḥamīd
In 1324 Mansa Musa (peace be upon him), king of Mali, passed through Cairo on his way to Mecca with so much gold, and gave so much of it away, that the price of gold in Egypt is said to have fallen for years afterwards.
On his way home he had run out, and had to borrow. al-Ghaniyy, the Self-Sufficient, names the One whose riches never run out, because He needs nothing at all.
Then take away everything it needs. What is left is not a bigger version of us. It is the Name.
Episode 1We need about 2,000 to 2,500 calories a day, according to the NHS, and water, sleep, warmth and other people. We are open systems: energy in, energy out, all the time. Even the richest person on Earth must eat, breathe and sleep, and cannot buy a single extra day of life when it is over. Our independence is always partial. We call people 'self-made', but no one made the air they breathe or the body they were born in. Being human means needing.
Episode 2The common shrew, one of Britain's smallest mammals, has such a fast metabolism that it must eat every two or three hours, day and night, often consuming close to its own body weight in insects and worms each day. A few hours without food can kill it. Every living thing is like this in its own way: an open system that needs a constant flow of energy from outside. Even the toughest creatures are dependants. Nothing alive in nature is free of need.
Episode 3Mansa Musa (peace be upon him)'s pilgrimage of 1324 became a legend. Arab historians such as al-ʿUmarī described his huge caravan and lavish gifts in Cairo, which are said to have lowered the value of gold there. He is still remembered as one of the wealthiest people in history. But by the time his caravan reached Suez on the way home, many pilgrims had died and the gold was gone; he had to borrow from Cairo merchants. Human wealth, however vast, is a store that empties as it gives.
Episode 4Take away need, fuel, return and gain. Every giver we know gives from a store that gets smaller, and needs something back. al-Ghaniyy gives from no store and needs no return. In a hadith qudsi, God says that if every human and jinn from first to last asked Him at once and He gave each what they asked, it would take from what He has no more than a needle takes from the sea when it is dipped in (Muslim 2577). “People, it is you who need God; God is the Self-Sufficient, the Praiseworthy” (Qur'an 35:15, our rendering).
From the tradition: Muslim 2577 (qudsi): 'were I to give everyone what he requested, that would not decrease what I have, any more than a needle decreases the sea if put into it' (API 6572). Acts 17:25 'neither is he served by men's hands, as though he needed anything'; Ps 50:12 'Were I hungry, I would not tell you'.
On screen
The Matrix's machines need us to run. al-Ghaniyy needs nothing from anything.
Abū Dharr al-Ghifārī, a Companion known for his plain living, reported a long hadith qudsi, words of God told by the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). It is one of the most loved passages in Muslim devotion.
O My servants, it begins, I have forbidden injustice for Myself and made it forbidden among you, so do not wrong one another.
O My servants, all of you are lost except those I guide, so ask Me for guidance and I will guide you. All of you are hungry except those I feed, so ask Me for food and I will feed you. All of you are unclothed except those I clothe, so ask Me for clothing and I will clothe you.
O My servants, you cannot harm Me and you cannot benefit Me. If the first of you and the last of you were all as devout as the most devout heart among you, it would add nothing to My kingdom. If you were all as wicked as the most wicked heart, it would take nothing from it.
And if the first of you and the last of you stood in one place and asked of Me, and I gave every one of you what you asked, it would no more reduce what I have than a needle reduces the sea when it is dipped in. (Muslim 2577)
“If I were hungry, I would not tell thee; for the world is Mine, and the fulness thereof.”
Psalms 50:12 · JPS 1917
In Psalm 50 God speaks against the idea that sacrifices feed Him: “If I were hungry, I would not tell thee; for the world is Mine, and the fulness thereof.” What God wants instead, the psalm says, is thanksgiving and faithfulness.
Jewish teaching holds that commandments are given for human good, not because God lacks anything. The rabbis taught that God desires the heart.
“neither is he served by men’s hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he himself gives to all life and breath, and all things.”
Acts 17:24-25 · WEB
Paul told the people of Athens that God “doesn't dwell in temples made with hands, neither is he served by men's hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he himself gives to all life and breath, and all things”.
Christian theology speaks of God's aseity, His existence from Himself. Christians believe God created out of overflowing love within the Trinity, not out of need, a belief distinctive to them.
“People, it is you who are in need of God, and God is the Self-Sufficient, the Praiseworthy.”
Qur'an 35:15 · our rendering
al-Ghaniyy appears many times in the Qur'an, often with al-Ḥamīd. It tells people that their good deeds benefit themselves: “Whoever strives, strives only for himself; God is free of need of all the worlds” (29:6). And: “Kind words and forgiveness are better than charity followed by hurt; God is Self-Sufficient, Forbearing” (2:263).
A related hadith says that true wealth is not having many possessions but a soul that is content (Bukhari 6446).
Psalm 50, Paul in Athens and Qur'an 35:15 all say God needs nothing from us and gives everything to us. All three teach that worship and charity benefit people, not God. Christians describe God's self-sufficiency as the love of the Trinity; Jews and Muslims describe it without the Trinity.
A moment to reflect
National Geographic's Sun 101: a star that gives and gives, and burns its own fuel.
TED-Ed on the tardigrade: even the toughest animal needs something.
Fill a bucket with water and mark the level. Dip a needle in and take it out. Can you see any difference? Read the needle hadith (Muslim 2577) and Psalm 50:12.
Hold a 'swap shop' where people bring things they no longer need and take what they do, with no money changing hands. Talk about Bukhari 6446: wealth is a contented soul.
hadith-api eng-muslim 6572