99 Names of Allah - 09 - Al-'Azeez - The Mighty

[09] اَلْعَزِيزُ (Al-'Azeez): The Mighty

[Download resources here]

Sing 99 Names (5min)

Play PowerPoint of the first 33 names, 2-3 times. Sing together and do the actions so far plus:

Action for Al-Azeez: Fist pump the air with both hands and then pose with both arms bent to mime being a strong winner.

Today’s focus is on the name Al-'Azeez which means The Mighty.

Story relating to today's name (7min)

Read the following short story to the children (printable copy in the resources file):

Mighty Brown Bear & the Tug-of-War

In a certain forest, a long time ago, there once lived a group of animals with a strange rule between them. Every month, on the night of the full moon, all the animals would gather together for a grand tug-of-war tournament. The winning animal - the strongest animal - would earn the prize of becoming the next king or queen of the forest. As the mightiest animal in the forest, they had the difficult responsibility to make sure everything was in order and running smoothly; but as ruler, they also had the luxury of eating any food in the forest, whenever they wanted, and no one could refuse them.

The forest animals lived happily this way, with kingship passing regularly between the strongest five: Golden Eagle, Silver Stag, Black Badger, Copper Beaver and Red Fox. They took turns to rule the forest with might and justice.

...All until one day. The day Brown Bear came. 

Brown Bear was large. Brown Bear was strong. Brown Bear arrived in the forest on the night of the full moon. He saw the animals' tournament. "Are you playing tug-of-war?" he asked. "I want to join in, too!"

Yes, Brown Bear was very strong indeed. So strong, that on the very first night he came to the forest, he won their tournament with ease and went to sleep as their new king! 

Brown Bear, however, was not a very good king. He was a glutton, irresponsible, and he was forgetful... So instead of helping sort out the animals' problems, and keeping the forest running smoothly, he chose to spend his days eating instead. No matter how much the animals complained, they could not win against him in a tug-of-war match, and so each month he stayed as king and each month the other animals became more and more upset. Brown Bear didn't mean to cause problems, he was just too greedy and he was just too lazy! 

Every month, at the tug-of-war tournament, the same thing happened. Golden Eagle beat his wings with all his might, but he could not win. Silver Stag heaved his giant antlers with all his might, but he could not win. Black Badger dug her sharp claws firm into the soil with all her might, but she could not win. Copper Beaver used his great tail to beat the ground with all his might, but he could not win. And Red Fox gnashed her teeth with all her might... But she could not win.

"If the strongest five cannot beat Brown Bear," the forest animals despaired, "then none of us can! He will stay our king and we will stay miserable forever!"

But one day, clever Red Fox thought of a plan. She called Golden Eagle, Silver Stag, Black Badger and Copper Beaver to a meeting - for over the many months of Brown Bear's reign, the strongest five animals had become good friends. 

The next night of the full moon, Brown Bear was going to get a surprise...

It was time for the tournament to begin. The moon shone high above the forest, bathing everything below in its gentle, white light.

Brown Bear came out yawning, holding one end of the rope. "Who's first?" he asked the crowd. "Let's end this quickly so we can go to bed and I can wake up early tomorrow as king again - the bees have been busy today and I can't wait to take the honey from their hive!" He licked his lips dreamily. 

"I'm first!" called a voice, and Red Fox stepped forward to pick up the other end of the rope. 

"I'm first!" shouted Copper Beaver, holding onto the rope behind Red Fox. 

"I'm first!" announced Black Badger, taking her place behind Copper Beaver.

"I'm first!" bellowed Silver Stag, wrapping his antlers in the rope behind Black Badger. 

"I'm first!" screeched Golden Eagle, clutching the end of the rope in his talons behind Silver Stag.

"You can't all be first!" blinked Brown Bear, not sure what to make of the five animals before him. "I thought the winner became king and you can't all be king at the same time!"

"Yes, we can!" the five replied and they all started pulling: teeth, tail, claws, antlers and wings against the mighty Brown Bear. And no matter how tough Brown Bear was, of course he couldn't win against the five strongest animals at once!

"We win!" Red Fox called out to the forest, "So we will share king and queenship between us! Golden Eagle will look after the trees. Silver Stag is in charge of the meadows. Black Badger will watch the underground, Copper Beaver the rivers, and I will take the bushes and undergrowth. Does anyone have any problems?"

The forest animals cheered with delight. Only Brown Bear looked sad.

Red Fox continued, "Brown Bear, you may think it unfair of us to have worked together, but you are simply too strong and we could not win against you otherwise. You are still the mightiest animal in the forest. So what do you say, as your special privilege, you can carry on helping yourself to any food from the forest - but the job of keeping everything is in order is left to us?"

Of course, Brown Bear agreed! All the food he could want without any pressures of work! And he was very happy about it, too. In fact, all the animals were so happy with the new arrangement that when the next full moon came round, they voted to stop the tournaments altogether and to leave things how they were.

And so they all lived happily ever after. 

...Especially Brown Bear, who could eat as much honey from the trees, grass from the meadows, fruit from the bushes, roots from underground and salmon from the river as he wanted.

Brown Bear was the mightiest animal in the forest – and he was mighty happy about it, too! 

Discuss meaning, apply to children's lives (15min)

Al-'Azeez means The Mighty.

What do you think the word "mighty" means? Really, really strong and powerful - usually because of size... Just as Brown Bear was the mightiest animal in the forest.

Allah is the most powerful and the strongest - if Allah wants something then nothing can stop it. Allah can never be defeated.

Play tug-of-war game with the children, one at a time (or something else you know you're better at e.g. Snap). Win on purpose and ask who is mightier, you or them? But does that mean they could never win against you? No, as they get older and bigger or if they practise more or if you aren't paying attention (make a mistake and drop the rope!) then they could win! But if anyone or anything tries to go against Allah, it doesn't matter how much they struggle, Allah always wins. And of course, Allah would never make a mistake and lose (remember, He is As-Salaam, The Flawless!).

If there is more than one child, play tug-of-war again with them all against you - or just talk about it. If you add more people, like in the story where the five animals went against Brown Bear, what could happen? Could more people win by working together? But even if all the people in the world wanted to do something against Allah’s will, and all the people in the world worked together... Could they ever win? No!

Discuss: When you lost, did that make you not like me? Maybe a little bit? But this name of Allah doesn't just mean the most mighty and impossible to win against, it also means the most cherished. Do you know what cherish means? It means to love something and want to keep it close to you. So even though Allah is the most powerful, we never feel like we don't like it when what we want is different to what Allah wants, we still always love Him. Because remember, Allah plans things and knows things we don't know - things always happen for a reason even if we don't understand Allah’s reason. (Remind of 6 articles of faith and the qadr of Allah, if appropriate)

Craft activity (20min)

Complete the page for the book.

Imagine trying to play tug-of-war with a mountain - wouldn't that be ridiculous! You could never pull a mountain hard enough to make the whole thing move. And Allah is even stronger than the strongest thing you can imagine. There's nothing in the whole universe which could go against what Allah wants to happen. 

Let the children colour and cut out the name, meaning and picture of a mountain. Tie a knot in a piece of string and stick it down as if it's been tied around the mountain - to remind the children of the tug-of-war analogy. 

When to use this name (8min)
Allah is the source of all strength.

Can you think of a time you might need strength?

What about a time when you don't need physical strength, but emotional strength? e.g. standing up to someone being mean to you, having the strength not to give up on something difficult...

Al-Azeez is the All Mighty. Trust that He will always win and the way of Islam is correct. Always hold strong onto your faith.

On the back of their page, help the children write a few thoughts about the name Al-Azeez and their feelings.

Sticker chart (5min)

Ask individually: Which of Allah’s names did we learn today? What does it mean? Give children a sticker each for their chart.

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Other activities:

-     Create a collage of things the children cherish, using pictures they draw themselves or pictures from the internet/magazines/etc.  to help remind them this name is linked to not just the most mighty, but also the most beloved.

-     Let children design their own superhero with super strength – age, gender, costume, etc. – and draw a picture of them. They can then use this character in a role play or write a short story/scene where their hero saves the day with their super strength.

-     Play tug-of-war with all their family members, one-on-one including parents! Work out who the mightiest family member is, or for an extra challenge design a tournament to find out the order of all the family members.

Please leave a comment if you have any other ideas to add!