Ṭāhā

اللَّهُ لآ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ هُوَ لَهُ الاَسْمَاءُ الْحُسْنَي

8. “Allah, there is no god but He. To Him belong the Most Beautiful Names.”

Through the contents of the abovementioned verses an epitome of knowledge about the Sender of the Qur’an was delivered by referring to Allah’s four attributes. They are: His Creative Power, His Sovereignty, His Ownership, and His Omniscience. And, perhaps, it is for the same reason that the Qur’an in this holy verse says:

The objective meaning of ‘the Most beautiful Names’ is the different attributes of Allah (s.w.t.) all of which are good and are beautiful. We know that Allah is: The Knower, The Powerful, The Sustainer, The Just, The Benevolent, The Generous, and The Merciful. Besides them, He has also many more good epithets similar to them. The purpose of calling Allah by these Names is not only that we utter them simply by the tongue, and we say, for example, O The knower, O The Powerful, O The Most Merciful of all merciful, but, in fact, we must settle these epithets in our selves as much as we can.

We must try to obtain a ray from His Knowledge, a reflection from His Power, and a piece of His All-Embracing Mercy and practice them in ourselves and our society. In other words, we ought to be endowed with His Attributes and be characterized by His character, so that, under the light of this knowledge and power, and this justice and mercy, we can drive out ourselves and the society wherein we live from the row of infernal people. However, there are some details about ‘the Most Beautiful Names’ recorded in the books of tradition and commentary, compiled by both Sunnites and Shi‘ites, a substance of which will be offered here, as follows:

No doubt the phrase ‘the Most Beautiful Names’ means ‘good names’, and we know that all the names of Allah contain some good meanings, therefore all His Names are the Most Beautiful Names. They are irrespective of those which are the affirmed qualities of His Pure Essence, like: The Knower, The Powerful; or those which are negative qualities of His Holy Essence, like: The Most Holy; and those which are the attributes of acts each of which denotes to one of His acts, like: The Creator, The All-Forgiving, The Beneficent, and The Merciful.

On the other hand, no doubt the attributes of Allah are not countable, because His accomplishments are infinite. For each of His accomplishments a Name and an Attribute can be chosen. But, as it is understood from Some Islamic traditions, some of His attributes are more significant than the others, and, perhaps, the phrase ‘the Most Beautiful Names’ is an indication to this particular group. Among the traditions we have received from the Prophet (S) and the Immaculate Imams (Ahlul-Bayt) (as) this meaning has repeatedly been said that there are 99 Names for Allah and whoever calls Him by these Names his prayer will be answered, and whoever counts them will enter Paradise.

An example of the abovementioned traditions is the one that Sadugh has narrated in his book, entitled Tauhid, from Imam Sadiq (as) from Ali-ibn-Abitalib (as) from the Prophet (S) who said:

“Verily there are ninety nine Names for Allah, the Blessed and Exalted. He who counts them will enter Paradise”. ⁷

Again, in the book of Tauhid, it is narrated from Imam Ali-ibn-Musa-r-Rida (as), from his fathers, from Ali-ibn-Abitalib (as) who said:

“Verily there are ninety nine Names for Allah, Almighty and Glorious. He who invocates by them it will be answered from him, and he who counts them will enter Paradise”. ⁸

In the books of Bukhari, Muslim, Tarmathi, and some other sources of traditions compiled by the Sunnite scholars, this very meaning has also been cited about the Names of Allah, saying that whoever calls Allah by these ninety-nine Names his prayer will be answered, and whoever counts them will enter Paradise.⁹ Some Islamic traditions denote that these ninety-nine Names are found in the Qur’an. For example, a tradition narrated by Ibn-Abbas indicates that the Prophet (S) said:

“There are ninety nine Names for Allah. Whoever counts them will enter Paradise, and they are in the Qur’an.” ¹⁰

Therefore, some of the Islamic scholars have tried to extract these Names and Attributes from the Qur’an, but the Names of Allah mentioned in the Qur’an are more than ninety nine Names. So, the Most Beautiful Names may be among them, and thus, there are more than ninety nine Names in the Qur’an concerning Allah. Whatever is more important here, and we must be specially careful of it, is that the purpose of calling Allah by these Names, or counting the most Beautiful Names of Allah, is not that whoever utters these Names by the tongue, and with no attention to their contents and concepts, he merely pronounces them will be successful and prosperous, or his invocation will be answered.

But the aim is that the person believes in these Names and Attributes, and then he tries to reflect a ray of their meanings in his self; i.e., he should settle in himself some parts of the concepts of the Attributes: The Knower, the Powerful, the Beneficent, the Merciful, the Clement, All-Forgiving, the Strong, the Everlasting, the Self-Sufficient, The Sustainer, and the like of them. It is sure that such a person both will enter Paradise and his invocation will be answered and will gain any goodness.

However, whatever was said makes it manifest that if, besides these Names, some more Names are mentioned for Allah in some traditions or in supplications, and even in some supplications¹¹ the number of His Names has reached to one thousand, it does not contrast to what was explained in the above, because the Names of Allah are infinite and, like the unending accomplishments of His Essence, they are unlimited, although a number of these Names and Attributes have a kind of preference.

And, also, when we recite in some traditions, like the one recorded in Usul-i-Kafi, Imam Sadiq (as), commenting on the verse under discussion, has said: “By Allah, we are the Most Beautiful Names (of Allah)”,¹² it shows that a strong ray of these divine epithets has reflected in their selves, and their knowledge helps them to the knowing of His Pure Essence. Also, some Islamic literatures indicate that all the Most Beautiful Names are summarized in ‘pure monotheism’. This is because all His attributes return to His Pure Essence, The One.

Fakhr-i-Razi, in his commentary book, points to a matter which, in one respect, is important. He says that all the Attributes of Allah return to two facts: either to His Omniscience, or the need of others to His Pure Essence.