Beginners guide to Islam (Vol-01)

Tawheed Asma was-Sifaat (توحيد الأسماء والصفات)

"Tawheed Asma was-Sifaat" (توحيد الأسماء والصفات) is to confirm that Allah has beautiful names and attributes of His own and to ascribe the names and attributes of Allah as proven in the Quran and Sunnah to Allah alone and not to compare His names and attributes with any creation. Allah mentions:

[7:180]

وَلِلَّهِ ٱلْأَسْمَآءُ ٱلْحُسْنَىٰ فَٱدْعُوهُ بِهَا وَذَرُوا۟ ٱلَّذِينَ يُلْحِدُونَ فِىٓ أَسْمَٰٓئِهِۦ سَيُجْزَوْنَ مَا كَانُوا۟ يَعْمَلُونَ

"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."

We must believe, without any kind of doubt, in the names of Allah that He and His messenger ﷺ conveyed to us themselves, and the attributes of His that are mentioned in the Quran and Sunnah. We cannot change or add-substract to any of these, nor can we attempt to explain the nature of these. We must remain limited to that which Allah allowed us to know. This is the way of the companions and of the true Muslims. Believing Allah to be the one and the unique one in these 'Names and Attributes' is "Tawheed Asmaa was-Sifaat". Allah says:

[42:11]

لَيْسَ كَمِثْلِهِۦ شَىْءٌ

"there is nothing whatever like unto Him."

Sheikh Muhammad Bin Ibrahim Bin Abdullah at-Tujayri writes in his book
"مختصر الفقه الإسلامي في ضوء القرآن والسنة" :

"Believing in the 'Names and Attributes' of Allah is based on three principles. They are:

1.We must believe Him to be one and unique in His names and attributes. Which implies that no creation is to be ever compared to His 'Divine Names and Attributes'.

2.The names and attributes that Allah and His Messenger ﷺ mentioned of Him, we must believe without any doubts and we must leave what is not mentioned. The gest of it is to not introduce any name or attribute that is not found in Quran and Sunnah.

3.We must leave the interest to know about the nature of His names and attributes and we must stay away from changing, adding or subtracting them and making any analogy to them in any manner whatsoever. The names and attributes are to be taken exactly as mentioned, literally and not metaphorically."

Now the question may be, "Is there a difference between 'Names' and 'Attributes' or are they the same?" Indeed, there is a clear difference. Each name of Allah entails an attribute, eg: "Ar-Rahman" (الرحمان) is the name of Allah and it establishes the attribute of mercy. On the other hand, names of Allah cannot be selected from each Sifaat (attribute), eg: speaking is an attribute of Allah, but addressing Allah as "The Speaker" (مُتَکَلِّم) is not permissible. The name selected is not valid because we do not find Allah or the Messenger (ﷺ) calling Allah by such name. This is the fundamental difference between 'Names' and 'Attributes'.

There is confusion among people about the number of names Allah (may He be glorified) has, whether they are specific or numerous. There are two opinions regarding the number of names of Allah:

1. The names of Allah are not limited to a certain number, we know limited number of His names and the rest are in His knowledge.  This view is correct and acceptable. Mentioned in an authentic Hadith:

اللَّهُمَّ إِنِّي عَبْدُكَ وَابْنُ عَبْدِكَ وَابْنُ أَمَتِكَ نَاصِيَتِي بِيَدِكَ مَاضٍ فِيَّ حُكْمُكَ عَدْلٌ فِيَّ قَضَاؤُكَ أَسْأَلُكَ بِكُلِّ اسْمٍ هُوَ لَكَ سَمَّيْتَ بِهِ نَفْسَكَ أَوْ عَلَّمْتَهُ أَحَدًا مِنْ خَلْقِكَ أَوْ أَنْزَلْتَهُ فِي كِتَابِكَ أَوِ اسْتَأْثَرْتَ بِهِ فِي عِلْمِ الْغَيْبِ عِنْدَكَ

"O Allah, I am Your slave, and the son of Your male slave, and the son of your female slave. My forehead is in Your Hand (i.e. you have control over me). Your Judgment upon me is assured, and Your Decree concerning me is just. I ask You by every Name that You have named Yourself with, revealed in Your Book, taught any one of Your creation, or kept unto Yourself in the knowledge of the unseen that is with You."

From this, it becomes apparent that Allah has more names than what has been revealed to us.

2. Names of Allah are specific and the exact number is ninety nine. This view is not acceptable. The evidence provided by those who follow this view is the Hadith:

حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو الْيَمَانِ، أَخْبَرَنَا شُعَيْبٌ، حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو الزِّنَادِ، عَنِ الأَعْرَجِ، عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ، أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم قَالَ ‏ "‏ إِنَّ لِلَّهِ تِسْعَةً وَتِسْعِينَ اسْمًا مِائَةً إِلاَّ وَاحِدًا، مَنْ أَحْصَاهَا دَخَلَ الْجَنَّةَ ‏"‏‏.‏ ‏

Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said, "Allah has ninety-nine names, i.e. one-hundred minus one, and whoever knows them will go to Paradise."

Though the Hadith is authentic, no way from this Hadith is proven that Allah only has 99 names and no more than that. The language puts no restriction to a specific number nor does it imply that Allah can have no more than 99 names. The Hadith only mentions the virtue of His 99 names that is well known to us (revealed to us by Allah). The Hadith doesn't provide any evidence of Allah's names being limited to 99 names only. It has been agreed upon by the scholars.

In  "الفتوى الحموية الكبرى" by Imam Ibn Taymiyyah (May Allah have mercy upon his soul), he comments on the Hadith :

"The virtues of these 99 names from among the numerous names of Allah, the Most High are: Whoever counts them, preserves them and acts according to the demands of the name will enter Paradise."

[All praise and gratitude be to Allah. I have been able to write about the Islamic understanding of God (we call Him 'Allah'). In the last few chapters, I wrote about our (muslim) belief regarding Allah and His oneness. To summerize all that I have written in the past chapters, I will be adding a short commentary on Sura Ekhlas. May Allah make us among those who have believed and established themselves on Imaan.]