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.[8] 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.[9] However, 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 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.
The Most Merciful (in major affairs)/[11] The Beneficent/ All-Compassionate/ Most Gracious/
Quran: Beginning of every Surah (chapter) except one, and numerous other places. The first Ayah (verse) of Surah ar-Raḥman (Surah 55) consists only of this name.
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),[a]Abu Abdillah ar-Razi, Ibn Taymiyya, Al-Nawawi, Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani,[14]Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya[15] and Ibn Rajab,[16] 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.[17][18] The basis of these rulings was the Hadith, which contains a supplication as narrated in Hisn al-Muslim:
أَسْأَلُكَ بِكُلِّ اسْمٍ هُوَ لَكَ سَمَّيْتَ بِهِ نَفْسَكَ أَوْ أَنْزَلْتَهُ فِي كِتَابِكَ أَوْ عَلَّمْتَهُ أَحَدًا مِنْ خَلْقِكَ أَوْ اسْتَأْثَرْتَ بِهِ فِي عِلْمِ الْغَيْبِ عِنْدَكَ
"I beg You by every Names that is Yours, which You have named Yourself with, or revealed in Your Book, or taught to any of Your creation, or (which you) kept them secret to Yourself in the mysterious knowledge of Yours."
Another Hadith contains a supplication, with multiple chains of transmitters:
اَللَّهُمَّ إِنِّيْ أَعُوْذُ بِرِضَاكَ مِنْ سَخَطِكَ، وَبِمُعَافَاتِكَ مِنْ عُقُوْبَتِكَ، وَأَعُوْذُ بِكَ مِنْكَ، لاَ أُحْصِيْ ثَنَاءً عَلَيْكَ أَنْتَ كَمَا أَثْنَيْتَ عَلَى نَفْسِكَ
“O Allah, indeed I seek refuge in Your blessing from Your wrath, and I seek refuge in Your salvation from Your torment, and I seek refuge in You from You. I cannot limit the amount of praise to You. You are as You praise Yourself."
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.[14][16][17][15] 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.[15]
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 (haram) 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.
قُلِ ٱدْعُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ أَوِ ٱدْعُوا۟ ٱلرَّحْمَـٰنَ ۖ أَيًّۭا مَّا تَدْعُوا۟ فَلَهُ ٱلْأَسْمَآءُ ٱلْحُسْنَىٰ ۚ وَلَا تَجْهَرْ بِصَلَاتِكَ وَلَا تُخَافِتْ بِهَا وَٱبْتَغِ بَيْنَ ذَٰلِكَ سَبِيلًۭا
Say, ˹O Prophet,˺ “Call upon Allah or call upon the Most Compassionate—whichever you call, He has the Most Beautiful Names.” Do not recite your prayers too loudly or silently, but seek a way between.
Another verse references the Most Beautiful Names:
وَلِلَّهِ ٱلْأَسْمَآءُ ٱلْحُسْنَىٰ فَٱدْعُوهُ بِهَا ۖ وَذَرُوا۟ ٱلَّذِينَ يُلْحِدُونَ فِىٓ أَسْمَـٰٓئِهِۦ ۚ سَيُجْزَوْنَ مَا كَانُوا۟ يَعْمَلُونَ
Allah has the Most Beautiful Names. So call upon Him by them, and keep away from those who abuse His Names.1 They will be punished for what they used to do.
A cluster of more than a dozen Divine epithets which are included in such lists is found in Surah 59.
هُوَ ٱللَّهُ ٱلَّذِى لَآ إِلَـٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ ۖ عَـٰلِمُ ٱلْغَيْبِ وَٱلشَّهَـٰدَةِ ۖ هُوَ ٱلرَّحْمَـٰنُ ٱلرَّحِيمُ ٢٢ هُوَ ٱللَّهُ ٱلَّذِى لَآ إِلَـٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ ٱلْمَلِكُ ٱلْقُدُّوسُ ٱلسَّلَـٰمُ ٱلْمُؤْمِنُ ٱلْمُهَيْمِنُ ٱلْعَزِيزُ ٱلْجَبَّارُ ٱلْمُتَكَبِّرُ ۚ سُبْحَـٰنَ ٱللَّهِ عَمَّا يُشْرِكُونَ ٢٣ هُوَ ٱللَّهُ ٱلْخَـٰلِقُ ٱلْبَارِئُ ٱلْمُصَوِّرُ ۖ لَهُ ٱلْأَسْمَآءُ ٱلْحُسْنَىٰ ۚ يُسَبِّحُ لَهُۥ مَا فِى ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ ۖ وَهُوَ ٱلْعَزِيزُ ٱلْحَكِيمُ ٢٤
He is Allāh—there is no god ˹worthy of worship˺ except Him: 'Ālim al-ghayb wa'l-shāhadah (Knower of the seen and unseen). He is ar-Raḥmān (the Most Compassionate), ar-Raḥīm (the Most Merciful). He is Allāh—there is no god except Him: al-Malik (the King), al-Quddūs (the Most Holy), as-Salām (the All-Perfect), al-Muʾmin (the Source of Serenity), al-Muhaymin (the Watcher), al-ʿAzīz (the Almighty), al-Jabbār (the Supreme in Might), al-Mutakabbir (the Majestic). Glorified is Allāh far above what they associate with Him. He is Allāh: al-Khāliq (the Creator), al-Bāriʾ (the Inventor), al-Muṣawwir (the Shaper). He ˹alone˺ has the Most Beautiful Names. Whatever is in the heavens and the earth ˹constantly˺ glorifies Him. And He is al-ʿAzīz (the Almighty), al-Ḥakīm (All-Wise).
In a hadith narrated by Sahih al-Bukhari, it is mentioned that Allah has 99 names.
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
In another hadith, this fact is also mentioned again.
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
Attributes
Islamic tenets has detailed descriptions about to differentiate names with attributes (Arabic: صِفَة, romanized: ṣifāh 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",[3] or "fundamental mercy".[21] 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.[22] Another example is name of al-ʿAliyy contains several attributes, such as "heightness" and "above all".[3]
This ruling is because the naming of God are limited by the evidences from Qur'an and Hadith in Sunni Islam.[4] Thus, postulating the tenet in Islam's creed that essentially, the name-bearing of God are different from attributes of God.
