The All-Aware - Al-Khabīr
The root of this word is kh-b-r (خ-ب-ر), which means ‘to know’, or ‘to be aware of the real inner nature of something’, or ‘to be an expert in something because you know both the inner and the outer’. In Arabic if I say someone is khabīr, I mean that he is an expert; he knows all there is to know about his field. God Almighty (exalted it He) is Al-Khabīr, whose knowledge encompasses both the inner and outer nature of things. He not only knows our actions, but He knows the state of our heart. He knows the outward actions that He has ordained and their hidden benefits, which only those who are aware will truly appreciate. God's Name Al-Khabīr lets us know something else: what God Almighty has ordained for us benefits us, and what He has prohibited is harmful. When we use terms like ‘ḥarām’ (forbidden) and ‘farḍ’ (obligatory), divorced from any context and, more importantly, divorced from the One who has decreed, we only see the actions in a superficial way: ‘This is prohibited; this is forced upon me.’ When something happens that we cannot understand – ‘Why did God Almighty not respond to my du`ā’ (supplication)?’ – we cannot see from where we are standing that while something may have looked good to us, He knew its internal reality, which would not have been good for us. God is Al-Khabīr.