Sufism
Al-Jabbar (الجبار) — The Compeller, The Irresistible
speculativedeep
sovereigntydestructioncosmic ordermoral struggle
Al-Jabbar (الجبار) is the divine Name whose root j-b-r carries a double meaning: to compel irresistibly and to set a broken bone. Al-Ghazali in Al-Maqsad al-Asna explains that al-Jabbar is the One who restores what is shattered and bends what resists back toward its proper form. This Name belongs to the jalali (majestic) attributes — it is the face of God that the nafs experiences as overwhelming force, shattering the ego's resistance to divine will. Yet within the tradition of the Asma al-Husna, jabr also carries the meaning of healing: the divine Compeller mends the broken-hearted, restores the dispossessed, and realigns what ghaflah (heedlessness) has distorted from its fitrah (original nature).