Allah calls Himself Al-Mutakabbir— The Supremely Great, The Perfection of Greatness— on one occasion in the Quran. He is the One who is supremely great. Al-Mutakabbir reveals His Greatness and power at every moment and in every incident!
The Supreme, The Possessor of All Rights, The Perfect Greatness
Mutakabbir comes from the root kaaf-baa-raa, which has three main meanings. The first main meaning is to be great in size, rank, or dignity, and the second to to be great in age and in learning. The third main meaning to have rights, privileges, and attributes that others don’t have.
This root appears 161 times in the Quran in 18 derived forms. Examples of these forms are kabura (“hard”), yastakbiroona (“arrogant”), akbaru (“(is)greater”), and al-kibari (“the old age”).
Linguistically, kibriya means greatness and sovereignty, and it encompasses the meanings of the perfection of one’s self and existence; nobody can be described as such except Allah. Allahu Akbar– Allah is the Greatest— comes from the same root, as well as the name of Allah, Al-Kabeer. Al-Mutakabbir is the One who possesses all greatness, who is above having any of the qualities of His creatures, who cannot be harmed by the oppressors among His creation, and whose greatness and pride are the utmost.
Al-Mutakabbir Himself says: He is Allah , other than whom there is no deity, the Sovereign, the Pure, the Perfection, the Bestower of Faith, the Overseer, the Exalted in Might, the Compeller, the Superior. Exalted is Allah above whatever they associate with Him. [Quran, 59:23]
Allah Al-Mutakabbir versus the arrogant
Allah ‘azza wa jall describes people as mutakabbireen (arrogant) on multiple occasions in the Quran. They have arrogance in their hearts and actions towards Allah by disbelieving in His signs and they are arrogant to other people by looking down on them due to position, race, wealth, etc. The Prophet salallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said: Allah is beautiful and loves beauty, arrogance is: rejecting the truth and looking down on people. [Muslim, At-Tirmidhee] Only Allah is al-Mutakabbir in a positive sense.
A lesson on how to battle pride
What is the opposite of kibr (arrogance)? It is humility, the adornment of a believer. Abu Hurayrah radiyallaahu ‘anhu narrated that the Prophet salallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said: . . . and no one will exercise humility for Allah’s sake, except that Allah will raise him up [Muslim] Urwah ibn Zubair radiyallaahu ‘anhu said: I saw Umar carrying a large leather water canteen on his shoulder. I said to him, ‘O Amir-ul-Mu’mineen, you shouldn’t be carrying that’. Umar replied by saying, A delegation came to Medina and I saw their obedience to me, and some ‘nakwah’ entered into my heart and I wanted to destroy it.
