Al-Mutakabbir

The root. Al-Mutakabbir comes from k-b-r, the root behind kabīr (great) and takabbur (pride, arrogance, claiming greatness for oneself). The verb form behind this name is reflexive — it describes making oneself great, claiming greatness actively rather than simply possessing it — which is exactly why the same root can name both an attribute of Allah and one of the gravest faults a person can carry, depending entirely on who the claim belongs to.

What it means here. Al-Mutakabbir names Allah as the one who is entitled to greatness and declares it as rightfully His alone — a claim that is simply true when He makes it, since all greatness belongs to Him regardless. Applied to a created being, the identical word is condemnation: a creature claiming greatness for itself is claiming something it does not own, which is precisely the fault the Quran calls takabbur and warns against repeatedly. The name and the sin share every letter; only the one making the claim decides which it is.

Where it is met. Al-Mutakabbir closes the cluster of names in Surah al-Hashr, following Al-Aziz and Al-Jabbar. The same root recurs elsewhere in the Quran, almost always in its negative, human sense, describing those who reject truth out of pride — a contrast that is very likely deliberate, placing the one name where greatness truly belongs beside repeated warnings about claiming it falsely.