Names of God in Islam
Names of God in Islam are names that each contain Attributes of God in Islam, which are implied by the respective names. 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.
Allāh is the Arabic word referring to God in Abrahamic religions, thought to be derived by contraction from al-ʾilāh, which means "the god", and is related to El and Elah, the Hebrew and Aramaic words for God. Whether or not Allah can be considered as the personal name of God became disputed in contemporary scholarship. In Islamic usage and indoctrination, Allah was the God's most unique, proper name, and referred to as Lafẓ al-Jalālah. Those who claimed that Allah was the personal name of God also denied that this name was a derivative name. Some Muslims may use different names as much as Allah, for instance Rabb, Rahman or "God" in English. The Quran refers to the attributes of God as "most beautiful 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. Beside these Arabic names, Muslims of non-Arab origins may also sometimes use other names in their own languages to refer to God, such as Khuda in Persian, Bengali and Urdu. Tangri or Tengri was used in the Ottoman Turkish language as the equivalent of Allah.
In Sufis, often characterised as the inner, mystical dimension of Islam, Hu / means just 'He', or Parvardigar in Persian are used as names of God. derives from the last letter of the word Allah, which is read as when in the middle of a sentence and appears in many verses as in; "La ilaha illa Hu" Al Imran:18 According to the Wahdat al-wujūd interpretetion, the universe was a manifestation of God's -the absolute being- names, and was manifestations or notions with no real existence. Haydar Amuli refused to make any distinction on this matter, arguing that evil beings like Satan were also manifestations of God's imperial names.
Interactions, and Translation
Some of the names attributed to God in Islamic culture are names that create problems in transition from a personal god to a universal and transcendent god in understanding; ٱلْعَظِيمُ lit means "He was, or became, great in his bone, then metaphorically said of anything كَبِير ". The reflections of the efforts to give a transcendent understanding when translating these names into other languages can also be seen in examples such as al-Mutakabbir, al-Jalīl, al-Muntaqim and at-Tawwāb.Islamic theology rejects definitions and expressions that imply a comparison between God and His creations, because He cannot be likened to His creations in any of His attributes. However, it is observed that many of these names are translated as "the most..." in a comparative mode, as in the expression , which is also used as an Islamic slogan. In Islamic theology the concept of shirk refers to the rejection of any partnership in God's will and actions, and encompasses understandings that liken His attributes to those of created beings, and view them as limited.
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 that was narrated by al-Walid ibn Muslim, which is the most commonly known. However, al-Tirmidhi comments on his list: "This hadith is gharib ; 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, 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. Thus, it is impermissible 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 in several Surahs. Gerhard Böwering refers to Surah 17 as the locus classicus to which explicit lists of 99 names used to be attached in tafsir.Another verse references the Most Beautiful Names:
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, 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, 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. 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 which is the first article of The Six Articles of Faith.
Sufi mysticism
There is a tradition in Sufism to the effect the 99 names of God point to a mystical "Most Supreme and Superior Name". This "Greatest Name of God" is said to be "the one which if He is called by it, He will answer." More than 1000 names of God are listed in the Jawshan Kabir invocations. Sufi mystic Ibn Arabi surmised that the 99 names are "outward signs of the universe's inner mysteries".Ibn Arabi 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 on the other hand are a manifestation of God's Names of majesty, such as "The Haughty".