Names of God in Islam

There is no universal agreement among Muslims as to what exactly counts as a name of God, and what does not. Additionally, while some names are only in the Quran, and others are only in the hadith, there are some names which appear in both. Different sources give different lists of the 99 names.

The following list is based on the one found in the Jamiʿ at-Tirmidhi (9th century), which is the most commonly known.^{[citation needed]} Other hadiths, such as those of al-Bukhari, Sahih Muslim, Ibn Majah, al-Hakim al-Tirmidhi or Ibn ʿAsākir, have variant lists. All attribute the original compilation of the list of names to Abu Hurairah.^{[citation needed]} al-Tirmidhi comments on his list: "This (version of the) hadith is gharib [unusual]; it has been narrated from various routes on the authority of Abu Hurairah, but we do not know of the mention of the Names in the numerous narrations, except this one."

Various early Muslim exegetes, including Jaʿfar al-Sadiq, Sufyan ibn `Uyaynah, Ibn Hazm, al-Qurtubi, Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, have given their own versions of lists of 99 names.

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 (haram) for Muslims to give Allah names except with what has been mentioned in the Qur'an or in authentic Hadiths. Based on al-Tirmidhi's list above, the names for which there is no evidence, according to Sheikh Abd al-Muhsin al-Abbad, Sheikh Ibn Uthaymeen, and others, are as follows:

الخافضُ، المعزُّ، المذِل، العَدْلُ، الجَلِيلُ، البَاعِثُ، المُحْصِي، المُبْدِئُ، المُعِيدُ، المُمِيتُ، الوَاجِدُ، المَاجِدُ، الوَالِي، المُقْسِط، المُغْنِي، المَانِعُ، الضَّارُّ، النَّافِعُ، البَاقِي، الرَّشِيدُ، الصَّبُور.

By what they said to Sahih Bukhari Hadith:^[4]

Abu Hurairah reported that God has ninety-nine Names, i.e., one hundred minus one, and whoever believes in their meanings and acts accordingly, will enter Paradise; and God is witr (one) and loves 'the witr' (i.e., odd numbers).

— Sahih Bukhari, Vol. 8, Book 75, Hadith 419

There is another Sahih Muslim Hadith:^[5]

Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said, "God has ninety-nine Names, one-hundred less one; and he who memorized them all by heart will enter Paradise." To count something means to know it by heart.

— Sahih Bukhari, Vol. 9, Book 93, Hadith 489

The Quran refers to God's Most Beautiful Names (al-ʾasmāʾ al-ḥusná) in several Surahs.^[6] 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.^[7] Sunni mystic Ibn Arabi surmised that the 99 names are "outward signs of the universe's inner mysteries".^[1]

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 (الاسْمُ ٱلْأَعْظَم).^[8] This "Greatest Name of God" is said to be "the one which if He is called (prayed to) by it, He will answer."^[9]

According to a hadith narrated by Abdullah ibn Masud, some of the names of God have also been hidden from mankind.^[10] More than 1000 names of God are listed in the Jawshan Kabir (جَوْشَنُ ٱلْكَبِير—literally "the Great Cuirass") invocations.

The influential Sunni mystic 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.^[11] 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".^[12]

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"):

Say: "O God! Lord of Power, You give power to whom You please, and You strip off power from whom You please. You endue with honour whom You please, and You bring low whom You please. In Your hand is all Good." Verily, over all things You have power.

— Quran 3:26

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

Baháʼí sources state that the 100th name was revealed as "Baháʼ" (Arabic: بهاء "glory, splendor"), which appears in the words Bahá'u'lláh and Baháʼí. They also believe that it is the greatest name of God.^[13][14] The Báb wrote a noted pentagram-shaped tablet with 360 morphological derivation of the word "Baháʼ" used in it.^[13]

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.^[13] In the first verse of the duʿāʾu l-Bahāʾ, the name "Bahāʾ" appears four times.^[15]

• 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

• 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).

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Names of God in Islam.

• Al-Rahman al-Rahim. Problems of Interpretation and Translation