Friday, 19 August 2011

He wants to know the names and attributes of Allaah that are mentioned in the Qur’aan and Sunnah

 

Praise be to Allaah, I have memorized 98 of the names of Allaah, and I hope that you can believe what you are reading, because I cannot find more than 98 names in the dhikrs for morning and evening. I asked some colleagues at work whose knowledge of Islam I trust, and I could not get a definitive answer from them. I hope that you could do me the honour of sending to me all the beautiful names of Allaah, and that you can tell me of the attributes of Allaah which are not regarded as being among those names, so that I can benefit others and dispel this widespread mistake.

Praise be to Allaah.

Knowledge of the names and attributes of Allaah is of major
importance in the life of the Muslim. Through them the Muslim may come to
know about his Creator, may He be exalted, and through this knowledge he may
attain all aspects of Tawheed. 

In the answer to question no.
4043 we have explained the
importance of knowing the names of Allaah, may He be exalted. Please refer
to this question. 

Secondly: 

The names of Allaah are not limited to a specific number.
There is a saheeh report from which some people understand that Allaah has
only ninety-nine names. This report was narrated bu al-Bukhaari (2736) and
Muslim (2677) from Abu Hurayrah (may Allaah be pleased with him), and says
that the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him) said: “Allaah has ninety-nine names, one hundred less one. Whoever
learns them will enter Paradise.” 

Al-Nawawi (may Allaah have mercy on him) narrated that the
scholars were unanimously agreed that the names of Allaah are not limited to
this number. In the answer to question no.
41003 we have quoted the evidence
that they cannot be limited to this number, as well as the comments of the
scholars refuting those who say that the names of Allaah are limited to this
number. 

In the answer to question no.
48964 you will find a detailed
discussion of the guidelines concerning the names that may correctly be
applied to Allaah, may He be exalted. 

The hadeeth which is narrated by al-Tirmidhi, listing these
ninety-nine names is a da’eef (weak) hadeeth. It was classed as da’eef by
Imam al-Tirmidhi (may Allaah have mercy on him) himself and others. 

Al-Tirmidhi (may Allaah have mercy on him) said, after
narrating the hadeeth: 

This is a ghareeb hadeeth (i.e., it is weak, as is the
apparent meaning of his words here). It was narrated to us by more than one
person from Safwaan ibn Saalih, but we only know of it through Safwaan ibn
Saalih, and he is thiqah (trustworthy) according to the scholars of hadeeth.
This hadeeth was also narrated by more than one person from Abu Hurayrah,
from the Prophet , but in many reports we do not know of any saheeh
isnaad mentioning the names except this hadeeth. Adam ibn Abi Iyaas narrated
this hadeeth with another isnaad from Abu Hurayrah from the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), in which he mentioned the names
of Allaah, but its isnaad is not saheeh. 

Sunan al-Tirmidhi, 5/530 – 532 

The hadeeth was also classed as da’eef by al-Haafiz ibn Hajr
in al-Talkhees al-Habeer, 4/172. He also narrated that Ibn
Hazm, al-Bayhaqi and others classed it as da’eef. 

And it was classed as da’eef by Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah
(may Allaah have mercy on him) in Majmoo’ al-Fataawa, 22/482. 

Many scholars have striven to derive the names of Allaah from
the Qur’aan and Sunnah. One of these scholars is Shaykh Muhammad ibn Saalih
al-‘Uthaymeen, in his book al-Qawaa’id al-Muthla fi Sifaat Illaahi wa
Asmaa’ihi’l-Husna. In this book he lists the names of Allaah in the
Qur’aan and Sunnah according to his findings. You can find these names in
his book by clicking on the following link: 

 

Thirdly: 

With regard to the attributes of Allaah, may He be exalted,
they are more than can be listed here. In the answer to question no.
39803
we have discussed this matter in more detail. Please refer to this
question. 

In the book mentioned above, Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may
Allaah have mercy on him) has discussed some useful principles concerning
the attributes of Allaah, may He be exalted, which you will find by clicking
on the following link: 

 

With regard to striving to learn them according to what is
narrated in the Qur’aan and Sunnah, some scholars have striven to list the
attributes that are mentioned in the Qur’aan and Sunnah. One of the best
books that have been written on this topic is the book of Shaykh ‘Alawi ibn
‘Abd al-Qaadir al-Saqqaaf: Sifaat Allaah ‘azza wa jall al-Waaridah
fi’l-Kitaab wa’l-Sunnah. You can read this book on his site by clicking
on the following link: 

 

And Allaah knows best.

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