This is another of the names of Allah that is used only once in the Qur'an and not used in a way that helps in determining the exact meaning of the name. The citation is Surah 59:23. The reference establishes the name, it simply does not explain it.
The stem can mean someone who forces their way on others (which is acceptable when the one doing the forcing is God, but negative when the one doing the forcing is a person. The 9 times in the Qur'an where this word is used of people rather than of Allah, it is primarily a negative word speaking of tyrants.
So the primary meaning is someone who forces submission. I have read that according to al Khattaabi, it means: “He is the One who forces His creation upon what He commands and upon what He has forbidden. In other words, whatever Allah wills, His will is executed.”
This can get us into all kinds of issues about free will and predestination. Christians debate the issue. There are places in the New Testament where the same writer seems to be on both sides of the issue within the same letter (I feel like this is the case in Ephesians, for instance). My personal conclusion is that this issue is more complicated than it seems, and that somehow free will and predestination are in fact compatible, though I do not know how to reconcile them philosophically. Nor do I feel a great need to do so. Is everything that we do completely predetermined by God, so that he moves us like a puppet master? I have no doubt that God could do so if he wished. The issue is not God's ability and power. But even if that is the case, it remains true at the same time that we are required to live our lives as if we had free will and are making choices about what to do. So, for me, the issue of God as compeller is something that applies to those times when we feel as though God were forcing us to do something.
And those times do come. I suspect that the overwhelming majority of the time, God's compelling is more like the compelling of a compelling argument. God's ways are extremely gentle. Sometimes they can seem too gentle to us. John Donne complained that he wished God would come and be more forceful with him.
Batter my heart, three-personed God, for youBut there are times when we resist the gentle leadings, and discover that God does have more forceful ways of leading us.
As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend;
That I may rise, and stand, o'erthrow me, and bend
Your force to break, blow, burn, and make me new.
I, like an usurped town, to another due,
Labour to admit you, but Oh, to no end.
Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend,
But is captived, and proves weak or untrue.
Yet dearly I love you, and would be loved fain,
But am betrothed unto your enemy:
Divorce me, untie or break that knot again,
Take me to you, imprison me, for I,
Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,
Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.
The stem ج ا ب ر (j-a-b-r) has other meanings as well. It can mean tall, and lofty, when it describes a palm tree, and perhaps even when it describes people, as in the Qur'an 5:22, where the people are described with this word, by the men complaining to Moses that they are reluctant to enter the land. It gets translated as "powerful" and "tyrannical", but I am reminded of the Old Testament passage describing this incident (Numbers 13:32-33) in which the complaint is both that the people of the land are too powerful and that they are too tall. "We became like grasshoppers in our own sight and so we were in their sight." This does not get us too far in considering God, except that it can translate into lofty, or exalted, and indeed it has been said that this name means the same thing as Al-Mutakabbir. Perhaps this is so, but then little is gained from this name in terms of a unique consideration.
This same stem can also mean to repair the broken, reform, restore. Algebra comes from this meaning, and the word for a splint for a broken bone is based on this stem. Jinan Bastaki says that some of the great scholars prayed, " 'Ya Jaabir kul kaseer' when they were faced with overwhelming difficulty, meaning 'Oh You who mends everything that is broken.'"
Amatullah says that when you make up something that is deficient this is jabr, and suggests that the implication for understanding the term Al-Jabbar is that,
When we find our resources to be incomplete, Allah (swt) completes them. When we are unable to reach our goals, Allah (swt) assists us. He is the One who amends the affairs of His creation. It means if a slave is unable to reach His goal, Al-Jabbaar will enable Him and provide Him with the sources to reach this goal.
Of course, for a Christian this notion of God as a repairer and restorer who enables us to reach a goal we cannot reach on our own resonates strongly with our understanding that God in Christ was reconciling the world to himself. What we are unable to do (live a sinless life) was accomplished through Jesus' life and death on the cross, and is transferred to us through faith. I understand that the idea that this was Jesus' mission is foreign to Islam, but it is central to Christianity, and it inevitably comes to mind as I meditate upon God as restorer.
Scholars warn translators about something called ITT: Illegitimate Totality Transfer. The problem is that one word can have many meanings, but it does not have all of those many meanings at the same time. In English, when we say, "John had a ball," it can mean, "John had a round object which is used for playing," or "John had a great time," or "John hosted a party which involved dancing." But it does not mean, "John had a great time at a party that involved dancing and round objects." That example sounds silly, but when novice translators begin working with translations of religious works, the temptation to jam several unrelated meanings together becomes greater, because one tends to find things that sound like they have great mystical significance. For this reason, I am skeptical of a translation or explanation of this name as "The one who forces the world to be restored."
However, when we work with a name, especially a name for God that describes his attributes, I am also not entirely convinced, despite the concern about ITT, that one name cannot carry two different meanings. Certainly, Muslim scholars have worked with both in conjunction with this one word. And I find that both are aspects of God's nature that ring true to my understanding, and so I have ventured to address both in one song.
Al-Jabbar
Al-Jabbar, the One who can force me
Al-Jabbar, the One who compels
Al-Jabbar, the One who can force me
Al-Jabbar, the One who compels
God, I don't want to feel your compelling
That is not my idea of fun
But I want to say now you have my consent
To do what must be done
Al-Jabbar, the One who can force me
Al-Jabbar, the One who compels
Al-Jabbar, the One who can force me
Al-Jabbar, the One who compels
Well, sometimes my heart is like a stubborn child
Or like a mule that needs a good kick
I would rather be guided by your gentleness
But if you must, then bring the stick.
Al-Jabbar, Al-Jabbar, Al-Jabbar
Al-Jabbar, the One who restores me
Al-Jabbar, the One who repairs
Al-Jabbar, the One who completes me
The One who carried the burden that we could not bear.
Al-Jabbar
I want to make it clear that this song is not about the proper treatment of mules, about which I know nothing. Perhaps there is no such thing as a mule that needs a good kick. But Proverbs 26:3 suggests to me that there may be times when I need a stick, at least a metaphorical one for my heart. I find encouragement that this is a sign of God's love in Hebrews 12:3-11
Here are three websites that helped me a great deal as I considered the meanings of this name:
Relationships with the Divine: Al-Jabbar the Compeller
Al-Jabbar: Healing the Broken Heart
Asma Al-Husna: Al-Jabbar
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