Names Of God In The Qur'an

Names of God in Islam () are 99 names that each contain Attributes of God in Islam, which are implied by the respective names.

These names usually denote his praise, gratitude, commendation, glorification, magnification, perfect attributes, majestic qualities, and acts of wisdom, mercy, benefit, and justice from Allah, as believed by Muslims. These names are commonly called upon by Muslims during prayers, supplications, and remembrance, as they hold significant spiritual and theological importance, serving as a means for Muslims to connect with God. Each name reflects a specific attribute of Allah and serves as a means for believers to understand and relate to the Divine.

Some names are known from either the Qur’an or the hadith, while others can be found in both sources, although most are found in the Qur’an. Additionally, Muslims also believe that there are more names of God besides those found in the Qur'an and hadith and that God has kept knowledge of these names hidden with himself, and no one else knows them completely and fully except him.

List of names

Different sources give different lists of the 99 names. The most commonly known list is based on the one found in the '' Jamiʿ at-Tirmidhi'' (9th century) that was narrated by al-Walid ibn Muslim, which is the most commonly known. However, al-Tirmidhi comments on his list: "This (version of the) hadith is ''gharib'' nusual it has been narrated from various routes on the authority of Abu Hurayrah, but we do not know of the mention of the Names in the numerous narrations, except this one." Other hadiths, such as those of al-Bukhari, Sahih Muslim, Ibn Majah, al-Hakim al-Tirmidhi or Ibn ʿAsākir, have variant lists. Various early Muslim exegetes, including Jaʿfar al-Sadiq, Sufyan ibn `Uyaynah, Ibn Hazm, al-Qurtubi, and Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, have given their own versions of lists of 99 names.

al-Tirmidhi's list

Based on al-Tirmidhi's list above, the names for which there is no evidence, as specified by Sheikh Abd al-Muhsin al-Abbad, Sheikh Ibn Uthaymeen, and others, are as follows:

Comparisons of other lists

Hidden names

There is no universal agreement among Islamic exegesis scholars about the number of names of God, since it was only Ibn Hazm who argued a limitation of 99 names. Instead, Islamic scholars such as al-Khattabi, al-Qurtubi, Abi Bakr bin Thayyib, Ibn al-'Arabi (not Ibn Arabi), Abu Abdillah ar-Razi, Ibn Taymiyya, Al-Nawawi, Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya and Ibn Rajab, have stated that Allah has an infinite number of names. While there are rulings that only a few names and their attributes are revealed and known in the Qur'an and Hadiths, the uncountably unrevealed names and their attributes are only known by Allah Himself. The basis of these rulings was the Hadith, which contains a supplication as narrated in Hisn al-Muslim:

Another Hadith contains a supplication, with multiple chains of transmitters:

In the established Islamic creed about the unrevealed names of Allah, the majority of fatwas say it is obligatory for a Muslim to believe in the existence of the unrevealed names and their attributes, but it is forbidden for Muslims to try to search for them without literal evidences from the Qur'an and authentic Hadiths. In the creed of Islamic eschatology, the hidden names are believed to be hidden from anyone but Allah, and will only be revealed personally to Muhammad during Judgement Day.

In textual sources

According to Muslims, the names of God must be established by evidence and direct reference in the Qur'an and hadiths (the concept of ''tawqif''). Thus, it is impermissible ( h''aram'') for Muslims to give Allah names except with what He has named Himself in the Qur'an or in authentic Hadiths.

The Quran

The Quran refers to God's ''Most Beautiful Names'' (''al-ʾasmāʾ al-ḥusná'') in several Surahs. Gerhard Böwering refers to Surah 17 (17:110) as the ''locus classicus'' to which explicit lists of 99 names used to be attached in tafsir.

A cluster of more than a dozen Divine epithets which are included in such lists is found in Surah 59.

Hadith

In a hadith narrated by Sahih al-Bukhari, it is mentioned that Allah has 99 names.In another hadith, this fact is also mentioned again.

Attributes

Islamic tenets has detailed descriptions about to differentiate names with attributes ( plural of sˤi.faːt), which has literal abilities of their owns. Examples of the attributes are the name of "ar-Rahman" contains the attributes "mercifulness in general", or "fundamental mercy". According to Sahih Bukhari and Muslim, God has 100 kinds of ''rahmah'' (grace/godsend), whereas only one of them already revealed to this world, while the other 99 still withheld for the afterlife. One of the ''rahmah'' which was sent to the world are sufficient to fulfil the needs of all creatures until the Judgement Day; including humans, Jinns, and even non-sentients such as animals, so the parents of animals would not trample their babies under their foots or wasting. Another example is name of al-ʿAliyy contains several attributes, such as "heightness" and "above all".

This ruling is because the naming of God are limited by the evidences from Qur'an and Hadith in Sunni Islam. Thus, postulating the tenet in Islam's creed that essentially, the name-bearing of God are different from attributes of God. Nevertheless, Salafi scholar al-Uthaymin stated the principal ruling of giving attributes to God is similar with the verdict about giving name to God; that is forbidden to gave attributes without evidence from Qur'an and Sunnah. One of the disputed name of God among the Islamic academic is "al-Hannan", Since it is considered as one of the attribute of "ar-Rahman" name in Maryam , not because al-Hannan is a name itself.

Both Ibn Taymiyya in his work, ''The Treaty of Tadmur'', and Ibn al-Qayyim have published their statements claiming to be refuting Jahmiyya, and al-Juwayni respectively; as Jahmiyya scholars and al-Juwayni rejected the existence of the attributes of God and consider that the names of God are just semantics without any substances in them. References from:
* Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal no. 3712. graded authentic by Shaikh Albani in ''Silsilah Ash-Sahihah'' no. 3528

Sahih Bukhari. Bukhari no. 4712.


Sahih Muslim no. 1118
* Sharh al-Qawa' Ied al-Muthla p. 134-135, by Muhammad ibn Salih Al-Uthaymin, first print, published by Dar al-Athar in 2001.

Sharh ar-Risala att-Tadmuriyyah li Shaykh al-Islaam Ibn Taimiyyah, by Shaikh Dr. Yusuf Al-Ghafish
* Sharh Al-'Aqida As-Safariyaniyya, by Muhammad ibn Salih Al-Uthaymin, published by Madar ul-Watan KSA, second printing in 2010, pp. 202-203.
* Dar'u Ta'arudhi Al-'Aqli wan Naqli, 5/ 248 (Maktabah Shamila).
* Asas at-Taqdiis, pp. 147-148.
* Al-Ibana ‘an Usl ad-Diyanah, page. 443.
The statements of both Ibn Taymiyya and Ibn al-Qayyim became the ruling which was established by Saudi Council of Senior Scholars, as they stated that each of God's name contains multiple attributes. Salafi scholars such as Ibn Baz did not consent to the interpretation of the attributes of God. Moreover, Walid Muhammad Abdullah Muhammad al-'Ali, an exegesis professor of Islamic University of Madinah, has quoted Ibn al-Qayyim's concern regarding the importance of names and attributes of God as part of the Tawhid (oneness of God) which is the first article of The Six Articles of Faith.

Sufi and Shia mysticism

There is a tradition in Sufism 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." More than 1000 names of God are listed in the Jawshan Kabir (—literally "the Great Cuirass") invocations. Sufi mystic Ibn Arabi surmised that the 99 names are "outward signs of the universe's inner mysteries".

Ibn Arabi (26 July 1165 – 16 November 1240) did not interpret the names of God as mere epithets, 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 assigned angels to the different names of God. Accordingly, the good angels as a whole are a manifestation of God's Names of Beauty. Shaitan (''shayatin'') on the other hand are a manifestation of God's Names of majesty, such as "The Haughty".

Theophoric given names

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:
* Raḥmān, such as '' Abdul-Raḥman Al-Sudais'' (عَبْدُ ٱلْرَّحْمَان ٱلْسُّدَيْس): Imam of the Grand Mosque of Makkah, KSA
* Salām, such as '' Salam Fayyaḍ'' (سَلَام فَيَّاض): Palestinian politician
* Jabbār, such as '' Kareem Abdul-Jabbar'' (كَرِيم عَبْدُ ٱلْجَبَّار): American basketball player
* Ḥakīm, such as ''Sherman "Abdul Ḥakim" 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 scholars after whom the Maliki school of fiqh was named
* Abdul Muqtedar as in ''Muḥammad 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" ( "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 wrote a noted pentagram-shaped tablet with 360 morphological derivation of the word "Baháʼ" used in it.

According to Baháʼí scholar ‘Abdu’l-Hamíd Ishráq-Khávari, Bahāʾ al-dīn al-ʿĀmilī adopted the Persian poetic pen name "Bahāʾ" after being inspired by the words of the fifth Twelver Imam, Muhammad al-Baqir, and the sixth Imam, Ja'far al-Sadiq, who stated that the greatest name of God was included in either the '' Duʿāʾu l-Bahāʾ'', a dawn prayer for Ramadan, or the ''ʾAʿmal ʿam Dawūd''. In the first verse of the '' duʿāʾu l-Bahāʾ'', the name "Bahāʾ" appears four times.

See also

* ''The 99'', a comic book based on the 99 names of God in Islam
* '' Basmala''
* List of Arabic theophoric names
* Names of God
* Names of God in Zoroastrianism
* Names of God in Christianity
* Names of God in Judaism
* Names of God in Sikhism
* '' Sahasranama'', the Hindu lists of 1000 names of God
* " The Nine Billion Names of God", a short story by Arthur C. Clarke

Appendix

Footnotes

References

Bibliography

* 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
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