Names of God in Islam ( ar, أَسْمَاءُ ٱللَّٰهِ ٱلْحُسْنَىٰ , "''Allah's Beautiful Names''") are names attributed to
God in Islam
God in Islam ( ar, ٱللَّٰه, Allāh, contraction of '' al- ’Ilāh'', lit. "the God") is seen as the eternal creator and sustainer of the universe, who will eventually resurrect all humans. In Islam, God is conceived as a perfect ...
by
Muslims
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abraha ...
. While some names are only in the
Quran
The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Classical Arabic, Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation in Islam, revelation from God in Islam, ...
, and others are only in the
hadith
Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approval ...
, there are some names which appear in both.
List
Hadith
By what they said to
Sahih Bukhari
Sahih al-Bukhari ( ar, صحيح البخاري, translit=Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī), group=note is a ''hadith'' collection and a book of '' sunnah'' compiled by the Persian scholar Muḥammad ibn Ismā‘īl al-Bukhārī (810–870) around 846. Al ...
Hadith:
There is another
Sahih Muslim
Sahih Muslim ( ar, صحيح مسلم, translit=Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim), group=note is a 9th-century ''hadith'' collection and a book of '' sunnah'' compiled by the Persian scholar Muslim ibn al-Ḥajjāj (815–875). It is one of the most valued bo ...
Hadith:
The
Quran
The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Classical Arabic, Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation in Islam, revelation from God in Islam, ...
refers to God's ''Most Beautiful Names'' (''al-ʾasmāʾ al-ḥusná'') in several Surahs.
Gerhard Böwering Professor Gerhard Böwering is a German academic, currently Professor of Islamic Studies within the Department of Religious Studies, Yale University. He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1994. He was awarded a Guggenheim Fellows ...
refers to Surah 1
(17:110)as the ''locus classicus'' to which explicit lists of 99 names used to be attached in
tafsir
Tafsir ( ar, تفسير, tafsīr ) refers to exegesis, usually of the Quran. An author of a ''tafsir'' is a ' ( ar, مُفسّر; plural: ar, مفسّرون, mufassirūn). A Quranic ''tafsir'' attempts to provide elucidation, explanation, in ...
. A cluster of more than a dozen Divine epithets which are included in such lists is found in Surah 59. Sunni mystic
Ibn Arabi
Ibn ʿArabī ( ar, ابن عربي, ; full name: , ; 1165–1240), nicknamed al-Qushayrī (, ) and Sulṭān al-ʿĀrifīn (, , 'Sultan of the Knowers'), was an Arab Andalusian Muslim scholar, mystic, poet, and philosopher, extremely influenti ...
surmised that the 99 names are "outward signs of the universe's inner mysteries".
Islamic mysticism
There is a tradition in
Sufism
Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, r ...
to the effect the 99 names of God point to a mystical "
Most Supreme and Superior Name" (''ismu l-ʾAʿẓam'' (). This "Greatest Name of God" is said to be "the one which if He is called (prayed to) by it, He will answer."
According to a ''
hadith
Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approval ...
'' narrated by
Abdullah ibn Masud
Abdullah ibn Masūd, or Abdullah ibn Masood, or Abdullah Ben Messaoud ( ar, عبد الله بن مسعود, ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʽūd; c.594-c.653), was a companion of the Islamic prophet Muhammad who he is regarded the greatest mufassir of Qu ...
, some of the names of God have also been hidden from mankind. More than 1000 names of God are listed in the
Jawshan Kabir
Jawshan Kabeer ( ar, جَوْشَن ٱلْكَبِير, "''the Great Cuirass''") is a long Islamic prayer that contains 1001 names and attributes of God, and is widely used in many Sunni Muslim traditions, especially in Turkey. ''Jawshan'' means ...
(—literally "the Great
Cuirass
A cuirass (; french: cuirasse, la, coriaceus) is a piece of armour that covers the torso, formed of one or more pieces of metal or other rigid material. The word probably originates from the original material, leather, from the French '' cuira ...
") invocations.
The influential Sunni mystic
Ibn Arabi
Ibn ʿArabī ( ar, ابن عربي, ; full name: , ; 1165–1240), nicknamed al-Qushayrī (, ) and Sulṭān al-ʿĀrifīn (, , 'Sultan of the Knowers'), was an Arab Andalusian Muslim scholar, mystic, poet, and philosopher, extremely influenti ...
(26 July 1165 – 16 November 1240) did not interpret the names of God as mere
epithet
An epithet (, ), also byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) known for accompanying or occurring in place of a name and having entered common usage. It has various shades of meaning when applied to seemingly real or fictitious people, di ...
s, but as actual attributes paring the universe both in created and possible forms. By these names, the divine traits disclose for humans, whose divine potential is hidden, can learn to become a reflection of such names. However, such reflections are limited; the divine traits do not equal the divine essence of the names. Influenced by the metaphysical teachings of Ibn Arabi,
Haydar Amuli
Sayyid Baha al-Din Haydar, Haydar al-'Obaidi al-Hossayni Amuli, or Sayyed Haydar Amoli or Mir Haydar Amoli a Shi'ite mystic and a Sufi philosopher, was an early representative of Persian mystic philosophy and one of the most distinguished commen ...
assigned
angels
In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God.
Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles include ...
to the different names of God. Accordingly, the good angels as a whole are a manifestation of God's Names of Beauty.
Evil angels (''shayatin'') on the other hand are a manifestation of God's Names of majesty, such as "The Haughty".
Theophoric given names
![Khalili Collection Hajj and Arts of Pilgrimage Talismanic shirt](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ee/Khalili_Collection_Hajj_and_Arts_of_Pilgrimage_Talismanic_shirt.jpg)
The Arabic names of God are used to form theophoric given names commonly used in Muslim cultures throughout the world, mostly in Arabic speaking societies.
Because the names of God themselves are reserved to God and their use as a person's given name is considered religiously inappropriate, theophoric names are formed by prefixing the term
''ˁabd'' (عَبْدُ: "slave/servant of") to the name in the case of male names;
This distinction is established out of respect for the sanctity of Divine names, which denote attributes (of love, kindness, mercy, compassion, justice, power, etc.) that are believed to be possessed in a full and absolute sense only by God, while human beings, being limited creatures, are viewed by Muslims as being endowed with the Divine attributes only in a limited and relative capacity. The prefixing of the definite article would indicate that the bearer possesses the corresponding attribute in an exclusive sense, a trait reserved to God.
Quranic verse 3:26 is cited as evidence against the validity of using Divine names for persons, with the example of ''Mālik ul-Mulk'' (مَـٰلِكُ ٱلْمُلْكُ: "Lord of Power" or "Owner of all Sovereignty"):
The two parts of the name starting with
''ˁabd'' may be written separately (as in the previous example) or combined as one in the transliterated form; in such a case, the vowel transcribed after ''ˁabdu'' is often written as u when the two words are transcribed as one: e.g., ''Abdur-Rahman'', ''Abdul-Aziz'',
''Abdul-Jabbar'', or even
''Abdullah'' (عَبْدُ ٱللّٰه: "Servant of God"). (This has to do with Arabic case vowels, the final u vowel showing the normal "quote" nominative case form.)
Examples of Muslim theophoric names include:
* Rahmān, such as ''
Abdul Rahman Al-Sudais
Abdul Rahman Ibn Abdul Aziz al-Sudais ( ar, عَبْدُ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ بْنُ عَبْدِ ٱلْعَزِيزِ ٱلسُّدَيْسِ, ʻAbd ar-Raḥman ibn ʻAbd al-ʻAziz as-Sudais), better known as Al-Sudais, is one of the nine i ...
'' (عَبْدُ ٱلْرَّحْمَان ٱلْسُّدَيْس): Imam of the Grand Mosque of Makkah, KSA
* Salām, such as ''
Salam Fayyad
Salam Fayyad ( ar, سلام فياض, ; born 1951 or 12 April 1952) is a Jordanian-Palestinian politician and former Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority and Finance Minister.
He was Finance Minister from June 2002 to November 2005 and ...
'' (سَلَام فَيَّاض): Palestinian politician
* Jabbār, such as ''
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Kareem (alternatively spelled Karim or Kerim) ( ar, کریم) is a common given name and surname of Arabic origin that means "generous", "noble", "honorable". It is also one of the Names of God in Islam in the Quran.
Given name Karim
* Karim A ...
'' (كَرِيم عَبْدُ ٱلْجَبَّار): American basketball player
* Hakīm, such as
''Sherman "Abdul Hakim" Jackson'' (عَبْدُ ٱلْحَكِيم—''ˁabdu ʼl-Ḥakiym''): American Islamic Studies scholar
* Ra'ūf, such as ''
Ra'ouf Mus'ad'' (رَؤُوف مُسَعد): Egyptian-Sudanese novelist
* Mālik, such as ''
Mālik bin ʼAnas'' (مَـٰالِك بِن أَنَس): classical
Sunni Muslim
Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word ''Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagree ...
scholars after whom the
Maliki
The ( ar, مَالِكِي) school is one of the four major schools of Islamic jurisprudence within Sunni Islam. It was founded by Malik ibn Anas in the 8th century. The Maliki school of jurisprudence relies on the Quran and hadiths as primary ...
school of
fiqh
''Fiqh'' (; ar, فقه ) is Islamic jurisprudence. Muhammad-> Companions-> Followers-> Fiqh.
The commands and prohibitions chosen by God were revealed through the agency of the Prophet in both the Quran and the Sunnah (words, deeds, and ...
was named
* Abdul Muqtedar as in
''Muhammad Abdul Muqtedar Khan'' (مُحَمَّد عَبْدُ ٱلمُقْتَدِر خَان): Indian-American academic
Use in Baháʼí sources
Baháʼí sources state that the 100th name was revealed as "
Baháʼ" ( ar, بهاء "glory, splendor"), which appears in the words
Bahá'u'lláh and Baháʼí. They also believe that it is the greatest name of God.
The
Báb
The Báb (b. ʿAlí Muḥammad; 20 October 1819 – 9 July 1850), was the messianic founder of Bábism, and one of the central figures of the Baháʼí Faith. He was a merchant from Shiraz in Qajar Iran who, in 1844 at the age of 25, claimed ...
wrote a noted pentagram-shaped
tablet
Tablet may refer to:
Medicine
* Tablet (pharmacy), a mixture of pharmacological substances pressed into a small cake or bar, colloquially called a "pill"
Computing
* Tablet computer, a mobile computer that is primarily operated by touching the s ...
with 360
morphological derivation
Morphological derivation, in linguistics, is the process of forming a new word from an existing word, often by adding a prefix or suffix, such as For example, ''unhappy'' and ''happiness'' derive from the root word ''happy.''
It is differentiat ...
of the word "Baháʼ" used in it.
According to Baháʼí scholar
‘Abdu’l-Hamíd Ishráq-Khávari,
Bahāʾ al-dīn al-ʿĀmilī
Bahāʾ al‐Dīn Muḥammad ibn Ḥusayn al‐ʿĀmilī (also known as Sheikh Baha'i, fa, شیخ بهایی) (18 February 1547 – 1 September 1621) was an Iranian ArabEncyclopedia of Arabic Literature'. Taylor & Francis; 1998. . p. 85. Sh ...
adopted the
Persian poetic pen name "Bahāʾ" after being inspired by the words of the fifth
Twelver Imam,
Muhammad al-Baqir
Muḥammad al-Bāqir ( ar, مُحَمَّد ٱلْبَاقِر), with the full name Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, also known as Abū Jaʿfar or simply al-Bāqir () was the fifth Imam in Shia Islam, succee ...
, and the sixth Imam,
Ja'far al-Sadiq
Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī al-Ṣādiq ( ar, جعفر بن محمد الصادق; 702 – 765 CE), commonly known as Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq (), was an 8th-century Shia Muslim scholar, jurist, and theologian.. He was the founder of th ...
, who stated that the greatest name of God was included in either the ''
Duʿāʾu l-Bahāʾ'', a dawn prayer for
Ramadan
, type = islam
, longtype = Religious
, image = Ramadan montage.jpg
, caption=From top, left to right: A crescent moon over Sarıçam, Turkey, marking the beginning of the Islamic month of Ramadan. Ramadan Quran reading in Bandar Torkaman, Iran. ...
, or the ''ʾAʿmal ʿam Dawūd''.
In the first verse of the ''
duʿāʾu l-Bahāʾ'', the name "Bahāʾ" appears four times.
See also
* ''
The 99
''The 99'' ( ar, الـ99 or ) is a comic book, created by Naif Al-Mutawa and published by Teshkeel Comics, featuring a team of superheroes with special abilities based on the 99 attributes of Allah in Islam but some are virtues encouraged by ...
'', a
comic book
A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...
based on the 99 names of God in Islam
* ''
Basmala
The ''Basmala'' ( ar, بَسْمَلَة, ; also known by its incipit ; , "In the name of Allah"), or Tasmiyyah (Arabic: ), is the titular name of the Islamic phrase "In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful" (Arabic: , ). ...
''
*
List of Arabic theophoric names
This is a list of Arabic theophoric names.
Islamic names
''Abdul'' with names of God
Following are names consisting of the appellation ''abdul'', "servant of", followed by one of the names associated with God in the Qur'an.
*Abdullah
* Abdul Ah ...
*
Names of God
There are various names of God, many of which enumerate the various qualities of a Supreme Being. The English word ''god'' (and its equivalent in other languages) is used by multiple religions as a noun to refer to different deities, or speci ...
*
Names of God in Judaism
Judaism considers some names of God so holy that, once written, they should not be erased: YHWH, Adonai, El ("God"), Elohim ("God," a plural noun), Shaddai ("Almighty"), and Tzevaot (" fHosts"); some also include Ehyeh ("I Will Be").This is th ...
* ''
Sahasranama
' is a Sanskrit term which means "a thousand names".Sir Monier Monier-Williams, ''sahasranAman'', A Sanskrit-English Dictionary: Etymologically and Philologically Arranged with Special Reference to Cognate Indo-European Languages, Oxford Univer ...
'', the Hindu lists of 1000 names of God
* "
The Nine Billion Names of God
"The Nine Billion Names of God" is a 1953 science fiction short story by British writer Arthur C. Clarke. The story was among the stories selected in 1970 by the Science Fiction Writers of America as one of the best science fiction short stories ...
", a short story by
Arthur C. Clarke
Sir Arthur Charles Clarke (16 December 191719 March 2008) was an English science-fiction writer, science writer, futurist, inventor, undersea explorer, and television series host.
He co-wrote the screenplay for the 1968 film '' 2001: A Spac ...
References
* ʾIbrahīm bin ʿAlī al-Kafʿamī (1436–1500 CE)
al-Maqām al-asnā fī tafsīr al-asmāʼ al-ḥusnā Beirut: Dār al-Hādī (1992)
WorldCat listing)
External links
* Al-Rahman al-Rahim
Problems of Interpretation and Translation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Names Of God In Islam
Islam-related lists
Language and mysticism