WikiIslam

99 names of Allah: Difference between revisions

Page Discussion

99 names of Allah (view source)

Revision as of 20:13, 24 February 2021

2,140 bytes added ,  24 February 2021
no edit summary
[unchecked revision][checked revision]
No edit summary
 
(35 intermediate revisions by 2 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
The Quran talks about "beautiful names of Allah" and the hadiths further specify that there is exactly 99 names. Muslims are supposed to learn these names of Allah, but there is a problem, because Muhammad didn't offer the full list of these names. Islamic scholars had to rely on ijtihad to find these names in the Quran and sunnah and different scholars came up with different lists. Out of the supposed 99 names of Allah, they together found at least 276 names.
{{QualityScore|Lead=1|Structure=2|Content=3|Language=2|References=3}}
The Quran talks about "beautiful names of Allah" and the hadiths further specify that there is exactly 99 names. Muslims are supposed to learn these names of Allah, but Muhammad didn't offer the full list of these names. Islamic scholars had to rely on [[ijtihad]] (independent judgement) to find these names in the Quran and sunnah and different scholars came up with different lists. Out of the supposed 99 names of Allah, they altogether found at least 276 names.


==The phrase "beautiful names of Allah" mentioned in the Quran==
==The phrase "beautiful names of Allah" mentioned in the Qur'an==
The Quran says that Allah has beautiful names (الأسماء الحسنى, ''al-asmaa' ul-husnaa''), but doesn't specify what these names are and how many.
The Quran says that Allah has beautiful names (الأسماء الحسنى, ''al-asmaa' ul-husnaa''), but doesn't specify what these names are and how many.
{{Quote|{{Quran|7|180}}|And to Allah belong '''the best names''' (الأسماء الحسنى), so invoke Him by them. And leave [the company of] those who practice deviation concerning His names. They will be recompensed for what they have been doing.
{{Quote|{{Quran|7|180}}|And to Allah belong '''the best names''' (الأسماء الحسنى), so invoke Him by them. And leave [the company of] those who practice deviation concerning His names. They will be recompensed for what they have been doing.
Line 10: Line 11:
{{Quote|{{Quran|59|24}}|He is Allah, the Creator, the Inventor, the Fashioner; to Him belong '''the best names''' (الأسماء الحسنى). Whatever is in the heavens and earth is exalting Him. And He is the Exalted in Might, the Wise.
{{Quote|{{Quran|59|24}}|He is Allah, the Creator, the Inventor, the Fashioner; to Him belong '''the best names''' (الأسماء الحسنى). Whatever is in the heavens and earth is exalting Him. And He is the Exalted in Might, the Wise.
}}
}}
حسنى (husnaa) is translated as "beautiful", "best", "excellent" or "finest" <ref>http://quranx.com/7.180</ref>. The phrase "beaufiful names of Allah" and the word pig (خنزيير) were both mentioned exactly 4 times in the Quran - for more word count "miracles" click [[Word Count Miracles in the Qur'an|here]].
==Hadith==
==Hadith==
There are many hadith claiming Allah has 99 names, this is one of them from Sahih Bukhari:
There are many hadith claiming Allah has 99 names, this is one of them from Sahih Bukhari:
Line 17: Line 16:


Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said, "Allah 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.}}
Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said, "Allah 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.}}
Some apologetic sources (including Wikipedia) claim that according to the hadith, there are ''at least'' 99 names. But the hadith doesn't say "at least". It says simply ninety-nine (تِسْعَةً وَتِسْعِينَ) and even adds that it's one hundred minus one, which seems to emphasize, that it is exactly 99 and not 100 or more. And the hadith also says that who memorizes all these names would go to paradise - such a task would be hard in the time of Muhammad, considering that in that time the ummah was [[Muhammad and illiteracy|illiterate]]. And even today, as we'll see, it seems impossible to find the 99 names.
Some apologetic sources (including Wikipedia) claim that according to the hadith, there are ''at least'' 99 names. But the hadith doesn't say "at least". It says simply ninety-nine (تِسْعَةً وَتِسْعِينَ) and adds that it's one hundred minus one, which seems to emphasize, that it is exactly 99 and not 100 or more. And the hadith also says that who memorizes all these names would go to paradise - though it is not know which these 99 are.


==The popular list==
==The popular list==
===Source===
===Source===
The most popular list of 99 names of Allah among Muslims (which is also used on Wikipedia) seems to be a list from a weak (da'if) hadith from the collection of Tirmidhi.
The most popular list of 99 names of Allah among Muslims (which is also used on the English Wikipedia) seems to be a list from a weak (da'if) hadith from the collection of Tirmidhi.
{{Quote|{{Al Tirmidhi||6|45|3507}} (weak)|Abu Hurairah narrated that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said:
{{Quote|{{Al Tirmidhi||6|45|3507}} (weak)|Abu Hurairah narrated that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said:


Line 31: Line 30:


===The list===
===The list===
The list (which is based on a weak hadith) probably looks attractive, because it contains references to the Quran. However it gets less amazing when you find out that in some of these references the word is not actually present in the Arabic Quran. When there is more verses containing the name, only one exemplary verse is mentioned. But if there is more verses and none of them actually mentions the name, all of them are mentioned in the list with the addition "(it's not there)".
The list (which is based on a weak hadith) is attractive at first blush, because it contains references to the Quran, but the list loses it charm when one discovers that in some of these references the word is not actually present in the Arabic Quran. When there is more verses containing the name, only one exemplary verse is mentioned. But if there is more verses and none of them actually mentions the name, all of them are mentioned in the list with the addition "(it's not there)".
{| border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" class= "wikitable sortable"
{| class="wikitable sortable" border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5"
!Num.
!Num.
!In Arabic
!In Arabic
Line 87: Line 86:
|23||الرافع||''ar-raafee''||The Exalter||The Raiser||{{Quran|56|3}} (it's not there)||
|23||الرافع||''ar-raafee''||The Exalter||The Raiser||{{Quran|56|3}} (it's not there)||
|-
|-
|24||المعز||''al-muiz''||The Giver of Honor||The Honored||{{Quran|3|26}} (it's not there)||المعز also means "The Goat"
|24||المعز||''al-muiz''||The Giver of Honor||The Honored||{{Quran|3|26}} (it's not there)||
|-
|-
|25||المذل||''al-mudhil''||The Giver of Dishonor||The Humiliating <ref>https://www.almaany.com/en/dict/ar-en/%D9%85%D8%B0%D9%84/</ref>||{{Quran|3|26}} (it's not there)||
|25||المذل||''al-mudhil''||The Giver of Dishonor||The Humiliating <ref>https://www.almaany.com/en/dict/ar-en/%D9%85%D8%B0%D9%84/</ref>||{{Quran|3|26}} (it's not there)||
|-
|-
|26||السميع||''al-samii''||The Hearing||The Hearing||{{Quran|2|127}}||
|26||السميع||''as-samii''||The Hearing||The Hearing||{{Quran|2|127}}||
|-
|-
|27||البصير||''al-baseer''||The All-Seeing||The Seeing||{{Quran|4|58}}||
|27||البصير||''al-baseer''||The All-Seeing||The Seeing||{{Quran|4|58}}||
Line 101: Line 100:
|30||اللطيف||''al-lateef''||The Subtly Kind||The Kind||{{Quran|22|63}}||
|30||اللطيف||''al-lateef''||The Subtly Kind||The Kind||{{Quran|22|63}}||
|-
|-
|31||الخبير||''ar-khabeer''||The All-aware||The Informed <ref>https://www.almaany.com/en/dict/ar-en/%D8%AE%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%B1/</ref>||{{Quran|6|18}}||
|31||الخبير||''al-khabeer''||The All-aware||The Informed <ref>https://www.almaany.com/en/dict/ar-en/%D8%AE%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%B1/</ref>||{{Quran|6|18}}||
|-
|-
|32||الحليم||''ar-haleem''||The Forbearing||The Forbearing||{{Quran|2|235}}||
|32||الحليم||''al-haleem''||The Forbearing||The Forbearing||{{Quran|2|235}}||
|-
|-
|33||العظيم||''al-'azeem''||The Great||The Great||{{Quran|2|255}}||
|33||العظيم||''al-'azeem''||The Great||The Great||{{Quran|2|255}}||
|-
|-
|34||الغفور||''ar-ghafoor''||The Much Forgiving||The Forgiving||{{Quran|2|173}}||The list already contains Ghaffar, which means the same.
|34||الغفور||''al-ghafoor''||The Much Forgiving||The Forgiving||{{Quran|2|173}}||The list already contains Ghaffar, which means the same.
|-
|-
|35||الشكور||''al-shakoor''||The Grateful||The Thankful||{{Quran|35|30}}||
|35||الشكور||''ash-shakoor''||The Grateful||The Thankful||{{Quran|35|30}}||
|-
|-
|36||العلى||''al-aliyy''||The Sublime||The Exalted||{{Quran|4|34}}||
|36||العلى||''al-aliyy''||The Sublime||The Exalted||{{Quran|4|34}}||
|-
|-
|37||الكبير||''ar-kabeer''||The Great||The Great||{{Quran|13|9}}||Not ''akbar'' (اكبر) - the Greatest??
|37||الكبير||''al-kabeer''||The Great||The Great||{{Quran|13|9}}||Not ''akbar'' (اكبر) - the Greatest??
|-
|-
|38||الحفيظ||''al-hafeez''||The Preserver||The Preserver||{{Quran|11|57}}||
|38||الحفيظ||''al-hafeez''||The Preserver||The Preserver||{{Quran|11|57}}||
Line 137: Line 136:
|48||المجيد||''al-majeed''||The Glorious||The Glorious||{{Quran|11|73}}||
|48||المجيد||''al-majeed''||The Glorious||The Glorious||{{Quran|11|73}}||
|-
|-
|49||الباعث||''al-baaith''||The Resurrector||The Resurrector||{{Quran|22|7}} (it's not there)|
|49||الباعث||''al-baaith''||The Resurrector||The Resurrector||{{Quran|22|7}} (it's not there)||
|-
|-
|50||الشهيد||''ash-shaheed''||The Witness||The Witness||{{Quran|4|166}}||
|50||الشهيد||''ash-shaheed''||The Witness||The Witness||{{Quran|4|166}}||
Line 205: Line 204:
|82||العفو||''al-'afuu''||The Pardoner||The Pardoner||{{Quran|4|43}}||
|82||العفو||''al-'afuu''||The Pardoner||The Pardoner||{{Quran|4|43}}||
|-
|-
|83||الرؤف||''ar-rauf''||The Kind||The ||{{Quran|9|117}}||
|83||الرؤف||''ar-rauf''||The Kind||The Kind||{{Quran|9|117}}||
|-
|-
|84||مالك الملك||''maalik ul-mulk''||The Owner of all Sovereignty||The Owner of all Dominion||{{Quran|3|26}}||
|84||مالك الملك||''maalik ul-mulk''||The Owner of all Sovereignty||The Owner of all Dominion||{{Quran|3|26}}||
Line 231: Line 230:
|95||البديع||''al-badee''||The Originator||The Originator||{{Quran|2|117}}||
|95||البديع||''al-badee''||The Originator||The Originator||{{Quran|2|117}}||
|-
|-
|96||الباقي||''al-baaqi''||The Immutable||The Remaining||{{Quran|55|27}} (it's not there)||"And there '''will remain''' the Face of your Lord..."
|96||الباقي||''al-baaqi''||The Immutable||The Remaining||{{Quran|55|27}} (it's not there)||"And there '''will remain''' the Face of your Lord..." - not a name.
|-
|-
|97||الوارث||''al-waarith''||The Heir||The Heir||{{Quran|15|23}}||It's in plural
|97||الوارث||''al-waarith''||The Heir||The Heir||{{Quran|15|23}}||It's in plural
Line 240: Line 239:
|}
|}


===Layers of wrongness===
===Problems===
====It is based on a weak hadith====
====It is based on a weak hadith====
Memorizing the list should make Muslims go to paradise, but since the hadith is unreliable, Muslims cannot rely on going to heaven for memorizing it.
Anybody can realize that it is not wise of Allah to offer Muslims a go to paradise and not to give them a list.
====Some names are not actually beautiful====
====Some names are not actually beautiful====
Some of the names, like "The Harmer", even with apologetic translation by Muslims, doesn't seem to be beautiful.
Some of the names, like "The Harmer", even with apologetic translation by Muslims, doesn't seem to be beautiful.
====Some names are strange====
Why is one of his names "The Believer" (المؤمن)?
====Duplicates====
The verse 55:27 is considered as an instance of both "ذو الجلال والإكرام" and "الجليل". It is not clear what the difference could be between الغفور and الغفار or between "مالك" and "مالك الملك"
====Are they all really names?====
Arabic doesn't use capital letters for names. So a noun could be understood both as a proper noun or as a regular noun. For example the Arabic name Abdullah (عبد الله) could be understood as the name "Abdullah", but it could also be understood literally "slave of god". In the same way some of the "names of Allah" could be simply his characteristics, not names. In the same way we can understand "الله الرحيم" as both "Allah, The Merciful" and "merciful Allah". That is also a reason why finding the names in the Quran by ijtihad cannot result in a conclusive answer.


====Some names are not actually mentioned in the Quran====
====Some names are not actually mentioned in the Quran====
Some of the names in the column "In Arabic" are not actually in the Quran. These names were marked with "(it's not there)" in our table.
Many of the names in the column "In Arabic" are not actually in the Arabic Quran. These names are marked with "(it's not there)" in the table.


Let's analyze, for example, the last name of Allah, الصبور (The Patient).
Looking at, for example, the last name of Allah, الصبور (The Patient).


First, it's supposed to be in the verse 2:153:
First, it's supposed to be in the verse 2:153:
Line 262: Line 267:
{{Quote|{{Quran|3|200}}|O you who have believed, '''persevere and endure''' (اصبروا وصابروا) and remain stationed and fear Allah that you may be successful.
{{Quote|{{Quran|3|200}}|O you who have believed, '''persevere and endure''' (اصبروا وصابروا) and remain stationed and fear Allah that you may be successful.
}}
}}
What? This was a verb and it was a command for the believers, not a name of Allah.
This was a verb and it was a command for the believers, not a name of Allah.


Next verse:
Next verse:
Line 269: Line 274:
Again it's the word الصبر (the patience), not الصبور (the patient one) and it's not a name of Allah. It's just a command for believers to advise each other to be patient.
Again it's the word الصبر (the patience), not الصبور (the patient one) and it's not a name of Allah. It's just a command for believers to advise each other to be patient.


So nowhere in the Quran it mentions الصبور being the name of Allah, that means the 99th name in this list is wrong and therefore the whole list is unreliable. We could analyze many more of these supposed "names" how they are not actually in the Quran. They are even easier ones to debunk, for example The Preventer (المانع) doesn't exist in the verse 67:21, not even a verb derived from the same root منع. Although the word "Preventer" exists in the Quran (50:25 and 68:12), but it is written as مناع, not مانع and it says "preventer of good" about disbelievers.
Nowhere in the Quran is الصبور mentioned as being the name of Allah, that means the 99th name in this list is wrong and therefore the whole list is unreliable. We could analyze many more of these supposed "names" how they are not actually in the Quran. They are easier ones to debunk, for example The Preventer (المانع) doesn't exist in the verse 67:21, and is not a verb derived from the same root منع. Although the word "Preventer" exists in the Quran (50:25 and 68:12), but it is written as مناع, not مانع and it says "preventer of good" about disbelievers.


====One name is enough to raise a thousand questions====
====Other names not mentioned in the list====
Analyzing the list, we see that some of the "names of Allah" don't seem to be proper names, but just simply nouns like "patience". And also sometimes the "name of Allah" is derived from a verb occurring in the Quran. Using the same tactics, we could find many more names of Allah in the Quran.
For example, the verse 8:17 says Allah killed people, so why not take this verb and say that Allah's name is القاتل (al-qaatil, The Killer)?
{{Quote|{{Quran|8|17}}|
And you did not kill them, but it was Allah who killed them. And you threw not, [O Muhammad], when you threw, but it was Allah who threw that He might test the believers with a good test. Indeed, Allah is Hearing and Knowing.
}}


The Qur'an terms Allah as the best of deceivers (''khayru al-makireena''). For obvious reasons, this name is not there in the above list.
The Qur'an also terms Allah as [[Allah the Best Deceiver|The Best of Deceivers]] (''khayru al-makireena''). For obvious reasons, this name is not there in the above list.


{{quote |{{Qtt|3|54}}|
{{quote |{{Qtt|3|54}}|
Line 282: Line 292:
'''Literal:''' And they cheated/deceived and Allah cheated/deceived, and Allah (is) the best (of) the cheaters/deceivers.<ref>[{{Reference archive|1=http://iknowledge.islamicnature.com/quran/surah/3/lang/englishliteral/|2=2011-08-25}} 3. Ali-Imran - The Family Of 'Imran (سورة آل عمران) - Revealed in Madinah (English: Literal)] - IslamicNature, accessed August 25, 2011</ref>}}
'''Literal:''' And they cheated/deceived and Allah cheated/deceived, and Allah (is) the best (of) the cheaters/deceivers.<ref>[{{Reference archive|1=http://iknowledge.islamicnature.com/quran/surah/3/lang/englishliteral/|2=2011-08-25}} 3. Ali-Imran - The Family Of 'Imran (سورة آل عمران) - Revealed in Madinah (English: Literal)] - IslamicNature, accessed August 25, 2011</ref>}}


It is quite likely that Allah has been always deceiving everybody including Muslims since this is a superlative ("best of deceivers"). More details [[Allah the Best Deceiver|here]]. The 13th sura in ayat 42 even goes ahead and states that all deception is by Allah.<ref>[https://www.islamawakened.com/quran/13/42/default.htm AYAH ar-Ra`d 13:42]</ref>
We could find many other names of Allah in the Quran. The list doesn't contain the word "Allah" (الله).
 
====Contradictions====
God is just and forgiving at the same time. But absolute justice means punishment of all crimes no matter how small, while absolute forgiveness means to forgive everything and not to punish at all.
 
====Contingency upon creation====
Allah supposedly existed ''before'' he created the world. So his attributes must be indipendent on his creation. But many of the names are relational. God can't effectively be for example "merciful" if there is no creation to be merciful upon. How was he "hearing" when nothing existed except him?
 
==Other lists==
The [https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%A3%D8%B3%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%A1_%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%84%D9%87_%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AD%D8%B3%D9%86%D9%89#%D8%A7%D8%AC%D8%AA%D9%87%D8%A7%D8%AF%D8%A7%D8%AA_%D9%81%D9%8A_%D8%A5%D8%AD%D8%B5%D8%A7%D8%A1%D9%87%D8%A7 Arabic Wikipedia article] contains more than 10 different lists by various Islamic scholars. Some of those lists contain the name "Best of deceivers" (خير الماكرين). The lists together contain 276 names of Allah and one can comfortably assume that there are other lists with more names.
==Beautiful names of Muhammad==
Beautiful names are not limited for Allah. Muhammad also has his portion:
{{Quote|{{Muslim|30|5810}}|
Jubair b. Mut'im reported on the authority of his father that he heard Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) as saying:
 
I am '''Muhammad''' and I am '''Ahmad''', and I am '''al-Mahi''' (the obliterator) by whom unbelief would be obliterated, and I am '''Hashir''' (the gatherer) at whose feet mankind will be gathered, and I am''' 'Aqib '''(the last to come) after whom there will be no Prophet.
}}
 
There are many more such names:
 
*[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Names_and_titles_of_Muhammad Wikipedia: Names and titles of Muhammad]
 
==See also==
 
External:


Most secular and rational scholars suspect Muhammad to have had a mental disorder and that may explain why he saw visions that none of his contemporaries saw viz. Angel Gabriel, Allah's revelations, Hellfire, Heaven, etc. If this is not true, it is likely that Muhammad was receiving verses from Satan instead of Allah. In Christianity, Satan is a well known deceiver and God cannot be a deceiver.<ref>See this debate: [https://answering-islam.org/Shamoun/allah_best_deceiver.htm]</ref> Besides, the Qur'an never told its readers properly how to identify Satan. We wonder why.
*[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/101_Names_of_God Wikipedia: 101 Names of God in Zoroastrianism]


==References==
==References==
<references />
[[Category:Allah]]
[[Category:Sufism]]
[[Category:Supernatural beings]]
IbnPinker
Editors, recentchangescleanup, Reviewers
6,635

edits

Retrieved from "http://wikiislamica.net/wiki/Special:MobileDiff/119705...129367"