How Do ‘Rahman’ and ‘Rahim’ Differ?
Ayatollah Abolghasem Alidoost referred to this difference in a Quran interpretation session. What follows is excerpts from his speech:
The words Rahman (the beneficent) and Rahim (the merciful) have been revealed in the first verses of the Holy Quran. Interpreters have discussed the difference between the two words. There are two viewpoints about “Rahman”.
According to experts, Rahman refers to the broadness and inclusiveness of God’s mercy and Rahim refers to exclusive mercies. When we want to say that God bestows mercy to all people we refer to Him as Rahman and when we want to present a blessing to the faithful, we describe Him as Rahim.
God is Rahman in this world but as His mercy will not be given to disbelievers in the hereafter, He is described as Rahim.
The root of this interpretation is a sentence by Imam Sadiq (AS) as he said Rahman is a specific name that points to a general attribute and Rahim is a general name that refers to a specific attribute.
