# Allah — The Luzumiyat character guide

> Allah in The Luzumiyat by Abu al-ʻAlaʼ al-Maʻarri.

**Role:** supporting

**First appearance:** 0004-i

## Snapshot

The God al-Maʻarri addresses without flattery — invoked, questioned, and held at a distance across the Luzumiyat's most searching verses.

## Who they are

Allah is not a character in any narrative sense but a presence the poems continually turn toward and away from, as in the verse that asks how a God who made sun and moon could give all light to one. Al-Maʻarri's address is neither pious submission nor open blasphemy; it is the speech of a mind that refuses to stop asking. That unresolved posture — reverence and rebellion braided together — is what gives the collection its moral pressure and keeps the reader inside the question rather than at its edge.

## In the story

### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_luzumiyat_se/chapters/iii)

Implied through the muazzin's call to prayer.

### [VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_luzumiyat_se/chapters/vi)

Referenced as the author of the book in which the best sonnet is read.

### [IX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_luzumiyat_se/chapters/ix)

Referenced as the wielder of the glaive that cleaves through life and the universe.

### [XIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_luzumiyat_se/chapters/xiii)

Implied as the Dyer who receives and renews the faded garments of dreams.

### [XXXIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_luzumiyat_se/chapters/xxxiii)

Invoked as the one to whom the weeping daughters of Hadil and the bulbuls appeal for Brother Man.

### [XXXV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_luzumiyat_se/chapters/xxxv)

The speaker addresses Allah as the one who divides them to complete a problem, highlighting a relationship of submission and existential questioning.

### [XLIX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_luzumiyat_se/chapters/xlix)

Referenced as the creator of the coins (humans) in the quatrain.

### [LI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_luzumiyat_se/chapters/li)

Referenced as the one who makes a mess of the Earth to nourish humans and then of humans to nourish the Earth.

### [LVIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_luzumiyat_se/chapters/lviii)

Mentioned as the omniscient deity who consents to the actions that lead to sin.

### [LXXV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_luzumiyat_se/chapters/lxxv)

The One before whom Saturn and the Heavens kneel, the ultimate arbiter of devotion and weal.

### [LXXX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_luzumiyat_se/chapters/lxxx)

Referenced as the source of laughter that makes the Devil weep, highlighting divine power and irony.

### [LXXXVI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_luzumiyat_se/chapters/lxxxvi)

The speaker addresses Allah directly, lamenting the woven nature of sleep with night and golden beams.

### [XCV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_luzumiyat_se/chapters/xcv)

Addressed directly in the quatrain as the source of the commandment and the promise of an afterlife.

### [XCIX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_luzumiyat_se/chapters/xcix)

Implored as the one who hears pleas on behalf of the departed.

### [CI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_luzumiyat_se/chapters/ci)

The speaker perceives Allah's guiding hand upon his staff, indicating a direct divine presence.

### [CIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_luzumiyat_se/chapters/ciii)

Implied as the builder of the Gate of Sin, referenced as 'thy hand'.

### [CVI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_luzumiyat_se/chapters/cvi)

Implied as the divine power that casts souls into existence.

### [Chapter CXVI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_luzumiyat_se/chapters/cxvi)

Allah is the divine recipient of the slave's prayers and the one who transforms the Sultan into an incense urn.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_luzumiyat_se/characters/allah
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_luzumiyat_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_luzumiyat_se/characters