Al-Afuww
Al-Afuww is the Pardoner — who erases the sin altogether, leaving no trace to be recalled.
Name 82 of 99
الْعَفُوُّ
Al-Afuww
The Pardoner
- In Arabic
- الْعَفُوُّ
- Transliteration
- Al-Afuww
- Position in the list
- Name 82 of 99
Al-Afuww — The Pardoner
What the name means
Scholars distinguish afw from maghfirah: forgiveness covers the sin, pardon effaces it. What is covered still exists; what is pardoned does not.
The Quran pairs it with power to remove any suggestion of weakness: Allah is ever Afuww, Qadir — pardoning while fully able to punish.
Living by this name
Aisha asked the Prophet ﷺ what to say if she found Laylat al-Qadr, and he taught her: O Allah, You are Afuww, You love pardon, so pardon me. The name is placed at the year's most valuable moment.
Its response is to pardon others the way you are asking to be pardoned. See also Al-Ghafur and At-Tawwab.
Al-Afuww in the Quran
The 4 verses below contain this name. Every reference is checked against the Arabic text of the Quran before it is published, so Al-Afuww really is in each verse it is cited from.
يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ لَا تَقْرَبُوا۟ ٱلصَّلَوٰةَ وَأَنتُمْ سُكَٰرَىٰ حَتَّىٰ تَعْلَمُوا۟ مَا تَقُولُونَ وَلَا جُنُبًا إِلَّا عَابِرِى سَبِيلٍ حَتَّىٰ تَغْتَسِلُوا۟ ۚ وَإِن كُنتُم مَّرْضَىٰٓ أَوْ عَلَىٰ سَفَرٍ أَوْ جَآءَ أَحَدٌۭ مِّنكُم مِّنَ ٱلْغَآئِطِ أَوْ لَٰمَسْتُمُ ٱلنِّسَآءَ فَلَمْ تَجِدُوا۟ مَآءًۭ فَتَيَمَّمُوا۟ صَعِيدًۭا طَيِّبًۭا فَٱمْسَحُوا۟ بِوُجُوهِكُمْ وَأَيْدِيكُمْ ۗ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ كَانَ عَفُوًّا غَفُورًا
O you who have faith! Do not approach prayer when you are intoxicated, [not] until you know what you are saying, nor [enter mosques] in the state of ritual impurity until you have washed yourselves, except while passing through. But if you are sick or on a journey, or any of you has come from the toilet, or you have touched women, and you cannot find water, then make your ablution on clean ground and wipe a part of your faces and your hands. Indeed Allah is all-excusing, all-forgiving.
Surah An-Nisa 4:43Read the full surah →فَأُو۟لَٰٓئِكَ عَسَى ٱللَّهُ أَن يَعْفُوَ عَنْهُمْ ۚ وَكَانَ ٱللَّهُ عَفُوًّا غَفُورًۭا
Maybe Allah will excuse them, for Allah is all-excusing, all-forgiving.
Surah An-Nisa 4:99Read the full surah →۞ ذَٰلِكَ وَمَنْ عَاقَبَ بِمِثْلِ مَا عُوقِبَ بِهِۦ ثُمَّ بُغِىَ عَلَيْهِ لَيَنصُرَنَّهُ ٱللَّهُ ۗ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ لَعَفُوٌّ غَفُورٌۭ
So will it be; and whoever retaliates with the like of what he has been made to suffer, and is aggressed against [again] thereafter, Allah will surely help him. Indeed Allah is all-excusing, all-forgiving.
Surah Al-Hajj 22:60Read the full surah →ٱلَّذِينَ يُظَٰهِرُونَ مِنكُم مِّن نِّسَآئِهِم مَّا هُنَّ أُمَّهَٰتِهِمْ ۖ إِنْ أُمَّهَٰتُهُمْ إِلَّا ٱلَّٰٓـِٔى وَلَدْنَهُمْ ۚ وَإِنَّهُمْ لَيَقُولُونَ مُنكَرًۭا مِّنَ ٱلْقَوْلِ وَزُورًۭا ۚ وَإِنَّ ٱللَّهَ لَعَفُوٌّ غَفُورٌۭ
As for those of you who repudiate their wives by zihar, they are not their mothers; their mothers are only those who bore them, and indeed they utter an outrage and a lie. Indeed Allah is all-excusing, all-forgiving.
Surah Al-Mujadila 58:2Read the full surah →
How reliable is the list of ninety-nine?
That Allah has ninety-nine names is established in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim. The specific enumeration — this list of ninety-nine — comes from a narration in Jami' at-Tirmidhi that at-Tirmidhi himself called gharib, and which many hadith scholars grade weak; several held that a narrator compiled the names by searching the Quran and Sunnah. Classical scholars including al-Khattabi, Ibn Hazm, al-Qurtubi and al-Ghazali compiled lists of their own that differ from it. None of this touches the names themselves, every one of which is established elsewhere; it means the count of exactly these ninety-nine is a scholarly arrangement rather than a revealed roster, and Allah's names are not limited to them.
Questions about Al-Afuww
Al-Afuww (الْعَفُوُّ) means "The Pardoner". Like every one of the ninety-nine names, it describes an attribute of Allah rather than serving as a label — the names are how the Quran teaches who Allah is.
Yes. This page cites 4 verses containing Al-Afuww, each checked against the Arabic text before publishing.
Address Allah with "Ya" before the name — "Ya Afuww" — and ask for what that attribute gives. The Quran instructs it directly: "To Allah belong the most beautiful names, so call upon Him by them" (7:180).
It is number 82 in the well-known list. The order comes from the narration of at-Tirmidhi and is a scholarly arrangement, so numbering can differ slightly between printed lists — the names themselves do not.