Important Notes to Understand Allaah’s Names and Attributes
1. Allaah’s Beautiful Names come under the 3rd category of Tawheed:
a. Tawheed of Lordship
b. Tawheed of Worship
c. Tawheed of Allaah’s Names and Attributes
2. All of Allaah’s Names are Beautiful and Perfect
Aayaat:
وَلِلَّهِ الْأَسْمَاءُ الْحُسْنَىٰ فَادْعُوهُ بِهَا ۖ وَذَرُوا الَّذِينَ يُلْحِدُونَ فِي أَسْمَائِهِ ۚ سَيُجْزَوْنَ مَا كَانُوا يَعْمَلُونَ
And (all) the Most Beautiful Names belong to Allah , so call on Him by them, and leave the company of those who belie or deny (or utter impious speech against) His Names. They will be requited for what they used to do. [‘Aaraaf :180]
قُلِ ادْعُوا اللَّهَ أَوِ ادْعُوا الرَّحْمَٰنَ ۖ أَيًّا مَّا تَدْعُوا فَلَهُ الْأَسْمَاءُ الْحُسْنَىٰ
Say (O Muhammad): "Invoke Allah or invoke the Most Beneficent (Allah), by whatever name you invoke Him (it is the same), for to Him belong the Best Names [al Israa’ 17:110]
Allaah’s Names do not contain any defects.
Allaah’s Name ‘Al Hayy’ ‘The Living’ includes perfect life not preceded by absence or followed by death.
Allaah’s Name ‘Al ‘Aleem’ ‘The All-Knowing’ includes perfect knowledge – not preceded by ignorance nor followed by forgetfulness.
Shaykh Muhammad Amaan al Jaami said that if a characteristic involves both perfection and imperfection, then only the perfection aspect of the characteristic is applied to Allaah.
There is a hadeeth that mentions الشر ليس إليك ‘Evil cannot be attributed to Allaah’
3. Combining Allaah’s Names increases their Beauty and Perfection.
In the Qur’aan certain names are paired with others.
For example, العزيز الحكيم The All-Mighty, the All-Wise.
العزيز The All-Mighty – is Allaah’s Might (with no oppression, tyranny or evil) combined with الحكيم The All-Wise - His Wisdom (with no disgrace or humiliation)
4. Allaah’s Names are both Proper Nouns and Descriptions.
They are proper nouns as they refer to Him and they are descriptions as they refer to the meanings. For example, al Hayy, al Qadeer, al ‘Azeez are all Names of Allaah that refer back to Him. However, each name has a separate meaning. The Name is not just a name without meaning. As-Samee’ means the All-Hearing, so Allaah ‘Hears’. Some deviant sects negate the meanings for Allaah’s Names and say that Allaah is All-Hearing without ‘hearing’. Everything in existence has more than one attribute or description.
5. The Names sometimes include a ruling related to it.
Some Names include three matters:
a. An established Name. E.g. السميع as-Samee’ The All-Hearing
b. An established Attribute included in the meaning of the Name. E.g. السمع hearing.
c. An established ruling and implication. E.g. Allaah Hears all secret talk.
Some Names only include two matters:
a. An established Name. E.g. الحي al Hayy The Living
b. An established Attribute included in the meaning of the Name. E.g. الحياة Life
6. Allaah’s Names are fixed and cannot be invented.
We cannot say that something is a Name of Allaah but there is no proof for it. Neither can we say that this is not a name when Allaah Says it is. We need to stick to the Qur’aan and Sunnah.
Shaykh Muhammad Amaan al Jaami mentions that if Allaah is described with doing a specific action it does not mean that you can make that action into a Name of Allaah. For example, Allaah is described as being the Best of Planners. Allaah ‘plans’. (The verb is ‘plan’ and the noun or derived name from that verb could be ‘the planner’). But it is not correct to derive a name from an action without proof that the Name exists in the Qur’aan or Sunnah.
7. Allaah’s Names are not limited to a set number.
The hadeeth mentioning 99 Names does not prove there are only 99. The list of Names was added to the hadeeth collected in at Tirmidhee and was not originally from the hadeeth of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم.
Shaykh Muhammad bin Saalih al ‘Uthaymeen listed 81 names from the Qur’aan and 18 names from the Sunnah making a total of 99 names in his book Qawaa’idul Muthlaa.
The Hadeeth is:
“Allaah has ninety-nine names and whoever believes in their meanings and acts accordingly will enter Paradise; and Allaah is Witr (One) and loves al witr.” (Bukhaaree no. 6410; Muslim no. 2677)
The hadeeth mention أحصاها which can mean ‘count them; memorize them; know them; believe in them; act upon them’ etc. an Najdi in his book (p38-39) an Nahj al Asmaa mentions that this means to memorize them, call upon Allaah using these Names and praise Allaah by using these Names.
Example 1: If a person says ‘Yaa Rahmaan yaa Raheem’ (O Most Merciful One, O Bestower of Mercy) he remembers Allaah’s Attribute of ‘mercy’ and he believes that it is from Allaah’s Attributes so he hopes for His Mercy and does not despair from His Forgiveness.
Example 2: If a person says ‘as Samee al Baseer’ (The All Hearing, the All Seeing). He knows that Allaah Hears him and Sees him and that nothing is hidden from Him. So he fears Allaah secretly and openly and he knows that Allaah is Watching him in every situation.
Example 3: If a person says ‘Ar Razzaaq’ (The Provider) he believes that Allaah will take care of his provisions and that he will receive the provision at the appointed time so he trusts in this and he knows that there is no Provider except for Him.
8. Deviation from the Correct Belief in Allaah’s Names
Ilhaad is mentioned in the aayah in Surah al ‘Araaf 7:180. This deviation is straying from the obligatory manner of believing in the Names. Some of this deviation can be shirk, kufr or less than that. Ilhaad is:
a. To reject some of the Names or some of the related Attributes or resulting rulings. This is what the People of ‘Ta’teel’ from the Jahmiyyah Sect do.
b. To liken Allaah to His creation ‘tashbeeh’.
c. To ascribe a Name to Allaah that He did not name Himself with. E.g. the Christians call Allaah ‘the Father’. The Philosophers call Allaah ‘The Root Cause of Everything’ العلة الفاعلة.
d. To derive names of idols from the linguistic roots of Allaah’s Names. E.g. the polytheists called their idols ‘al ‘Uzza’ derived from Allaah’s Name al ‘Azeez, and the name of their idol ‘al Laat’ from Allaah’s Name al Ilaah.
9. Some words which are Names of Allaah can be used for the creation.
However the reality of the meaning is vastly different when used for the creation. There is no comparison.
For e.g. Allaah is al Haleem, The Forbearing. The word ‘haleem’ has also been used to describe the Prophet Ibraaheem in the Qur’aan [9:114]
10. Translation Point
Allaah’s Names must be kept in their original Arabic. The meaning of the Names can be conveyed but that meaning cannot be used as a perfect Translation of the Name which is then used instead of the Original Arabic.
It is not allowed to say that ‘The Most High’ for example is Allaah’s ‘Name’. The Arabic name الأعلى al-A’laa must be used and the English is just an explanation of that name.
The above notes were taken from the following sources:
- Exemplary Foundations Concerning the Beautiful Names and Attributes of Allaah, by Muhammad Ibn Saalih al ‘Uthaymeen. Translated by Moosa Richardson. 2003. TROID.
- القواعد المثلى في صفات الله وأسمائه الحسنى مجموع فتاوى مجلد ۳ ص 265 محمد بن صالح العثيمين
- الصفات الإلهيه محمد أمان بن علي الجامي
- شرح أسماء الله الحسنى في ضوء الكتاب والسنه سعيد بن علىبن وهف القحطاني
5. النهج الأسمى في شرح أسماء الله الحسنى محمد الحمود النجدي 2011
Inseparable Names –
Allaah’s Beautiful and Perfect Names
Extracted from Ibnul
Qayyim’s بدائع الفوائد
(1/177)
“And from them are those which cannot be used alone. They
come in (opposing) pairs such names as المانع
al Maani’ The Preventer, الضار ad Daar The Harmer, المنتقم al Muntaqim The One
who takes Revenge. [1] So
it is not allowed to mention only one name of the pair without the other.
So المانع The
Preventer is paired with المعطي The Giver,
And الضار The Harmer is paired with النافع The One who Benefits
And المنتقم The One who takes revenge is paired with العفو The Pardoner
And المذل The Debaser is paired with المعز The Granter of Honour.
Perfection and completeness comes in mentioning both names
as a pair (of opposites) because the intent is that Allaah alone in His
Lordship and managing the creation and directing them is the One Who Gives and
Withholds, benefits and harms, forgives and takes revenge.
As for praising Him with ‘Withholding, Revenge, and Harm’
alone then this is not befitting. These (inseparable) paired names act as one
name and cannot be separated from each other. Therefore these names cannot be
mentioned alone without the other and they cannot be used for Allaah without
being in a pair. Such that if a person said ‘O Debaser!’, ‘O Harmer’, ‘O
Witholder’ it would not be considered praise of Allaah until their opposites
are mentioned.”
Translator’s Note:
The inseparable names that are authentic include the following eight
names in four pairs:
1.
اللأول الآخر
The First, The Last
2.
الظاهر الباطن The Most High, The Closest One
3.
القابض الباسط
The Withholder, The Granter of Extensive Provision
4.
المقدم المؤخر
The One Who Gives Precedence, The Delayer
[1]
Translator’s Note: These three names are not listed in ‘Uthaymeen’s Qawaai’d al
Muthlaa and do not have any direct evidence for them. They have been derived
from Allaah’s actions which is not a method which has been acceptable in
finding Allaah’s Names.
