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wa-li-llāhi l-ʾasmāʾu l-ḥusnā fa-dʿūhu bihā wa-dharū lladhīna yulḥidūna fī ʾasmāʾihī sa-yujzawna mā kānū yaʿmalūna
To Allah belong the Best Names, so supplicate Him by them, and abandon those who commit sacrilege in His names. Soon they shall be requited for what they used to do.
— Ali Quli Qarai
Surah al-‘Araf – Verse 180
180 . “And to Allah belong the most beautiful names, so call on Him by them, and leave those who blaspheme His names. Soon they shall be requited for what they were doing.”
The Qur’ānic phrase /’asmā’ul husnā/ has been mentioned three times in the whole Qur’ān, which are: the verse under discussion, Surah Al-’Isrā’, No. 17, verse 11. and Surah Tāhā, No. 20, verse 8. All the names of Allah are beautiful, and He possesses all the Virtues and Names. Yet, in Islamic literature, emphasis has been laid on 99 Names. It has been narrated that whoever calls on Allah by these names, his prayer will be answered, if it be the will of Allah (s.w.t.).
In this holy verse, the Qur’ān points to the situation of the inhabitants of Heaven and explains their qualities. In order that people come out of the row of the hellish persons, at first it invites them to pay a careful attention to the Beautiful Names of Allah, when it says:
The purpose of ‘the beautiful names’ is the attributes of Allah which are wholly good and wholly ‘beautiful’. The objective meaning of ‘calling on Allah’ by the Beautiful Names is not only to utter those names simply by the tongue, and to say, for example, O’ knower of the Unseen, O’ Almighty, and O’ the Most Merciful of all merciful, but, in fact, the purpose is that we try to settle these qualities in our selves as much as possible. In other words, we should have His attributes and make our manner similar to that of Allah with our limited attempt.
Upon the commentary of this verse, there has been cited a tradition from Imam Sādiq (as) who has said:
This statement points to the fact that there is a strong ray from those divine attributes reflected in their beings, and that the cognition of them helps to the cognition of His Pure Essence. Then the Qur’ān warns people to avoid perverting the Names of Allah and to leave those who blaspheme them. It says:
The objective meaning of ‘blaspheming His Names’, here, is that we do not pervert their pronunciations and their concepts. We also should not qualify Him with the attributes which are not suitable to Him, like the action of the Christians who believe in Trinity, or that we adapt His attributes to His creatures.