الحمد لله نحمده ونستعينة ونستغفره، ونعوذ بالله من شرور أنفسنا، ومن سيئات أعمالنا ، وأشهد أن لا إله إلا الله وحده لا شريك له ، وأشهد أن سيدنا محمداً عبده ورسوله ، اللهم صلِّ وسلم وبارك على سيدنا محمد وعلى آله وأصحابه  ومن تبعه إلى يوم الدين.

If someone meets you and asks you, who you are, can you introduce yourself in a way that such a person would know you as would be your very close friends.  If so, what would you say:  It is most likely that you start by stating your name.  Since your name will not be sufficient, you will be adding more information to allow the person to know your values, your skills, your passions, your abilities, your accomplishments, etc. 

Every human being is eager to know who is the creator of this universe, whom we call God? The Question is how can we know who God is?   The only way to find the answer is for God to introduce himself to us.  This is the primary purpose of the revelation to inform us of the creator of the universe.  Any claimed revelation that does not clearly define for us who God is cannot be true revelation.

In a previous talk entitled “Seeking the Divine Truth is Less than ½ Hr”, I suggested that any supposedly divine book must give us in its first page the answer to two main questions:  Who is God and what is the purpose of the revelation.   Since we believe that the Quran is the only authentic revelation of God, we should expect to have the answer to these key questions in the first page, and this is exactly what the Quran offers.

The answers to these two key questions are provided in first page of the Quran, in 94 words that included 25 words answering who God is and 14 words answering what the purpose of the revelation is.  In these few words, God informs us of His proper name which is Allah and then expands by providing us with 4 key attributes.  These 94 words are in the first page of the Quran, and they read, I marked in red God’s name, His key attributes, and the purpose of the revelation.

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ (١) ٱلۡحَمۡدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ ٱلۡعَـٰلَمِينَ (٢) ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ (٣) مَـٰلِكِ يَوۡمِ ٱلدِّينِ (٤) إِيَّاكَ نَعۡبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسۡتَعِينُ (٥) ٱهۡدِنَا ٱلصِّرَٲطَ ٱلۡمُسۡتَقِيمَ (٦) صِرَٲطَ ٱلَّذِينَ أَنۡعَمۡتَ عَلَيۡهِمۡ غَيۡرِ ٱلۡمَغۡضُوبِ عَلَيۡهِمۡ وَلَا ٱلضَّآلِّينَ (٧)

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

الٓمٓ (١) ذَٲلِكَ ٱلۡڪِتَـٰبُ لَا رَيۡبَ‌ۛ فِيهِ‌ۛ هُدً۬ى لِّلۡمُتَّقِينَ (٢)

1. 1. In the name of Allah, the Rahman, the Merciful.
2. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds.
3. the Rahman, the Merciful
4. Master of the Day of Judgment.
5. You alone we worship, and upon You alone we call for help.
6. Guide us to the straight path.
7. The path of those You have blessed, not of those against whom there is anger, nor of those who are misguided.

In the name of Allah, the Rahman, the Merciful.

1. Alif, Lam, Meem.
2. This is the Book in which there is no doubt, a guide for the righteous.

The rest of the Quran elaborates and emphasizes the attributes of God whose proper name is Allah.  I am not translating Al-Rahman because it is a very encompassing attribute that needs more explanations from the rest of the Quran.

But one point that is important to note, these 94 words that can be written in less than 3 lines represent a very clear and concise message from Owner of the universe to every employee in his kingdom. 

1. First, it introduces the Sender, His name (Allah), His Character (Rahman Rahim) and His authority (The Lord of the universe and the master of Judgement) so the employee can take the message seriously.
2. Second, it informs the employee what the Owner wants from him. (Worship no one but Him and seek help from no one but Him)
3. Third, it gives the rating criterion for the employee performance (three ratings: blessed by the Owner, the Owner angry from him, or a misguided employee).
4. Fourth, It gives the employee where he can find the operating manual to ensure we securing the being blessed rating (The operating manual attached with the letter).

In this talk, we are focusing on who is God.   The Proper name of God is Allah, we know that Allah is the actual name of God because He said so.  He said:

إِنَّنِىٓ أَنَا ٱللَّهُ لَآ إِلَـٰهَ إِلَّآ أَنَا۟ فَٱعۡبُدۡنِى وَأَقِمِ ٱلصَّلَوٰةَ لِذِڪۡرِىٓ (١٤)

“Verily, I am Allah. There is no god but Me, so worship Me, and establish prayers for My remembrance.” (Taha 20:14).

God’ name Allah was revealed to all prophets, so it is not new.   Even before the revelation was received by Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), the name Abdul Allah that means “the slave of Allah” was used by the Arabs.  The name of the Prophet’s father was Abdul Allah.   In the middle east, some Christians are called Abdul Allah because God’s name Allah is used in the bible, in fact in the first verse in the Bible.  

“فِي الْبَدْءِ خَلَقَ اللهُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضَ.” (سفر التكوين 1: 1)

“In the beginning Allah created the heavens and the earth.”  (Genesis 1:1)

Unfortunately, in most English translations, proper names are translated, and thus Allah is replaced by God. This is improper because the uniqueness of the name Allah is ignored.  Unlike the word god which has gender “god and goddess” and is subject to plurality “gods”, Allah is a word that has no gender and is not subject to plurality.  This makes Allah an ideal word to describe the one genderless supreme being.   It is fascinating that throughout history, no human being ever called himself Allah. Though many have themselves gods and lords.

Why it is very important to know who Allah is.  The answer is very simple, you will never obey Allah unless you love Him and you will never Love Allah unless you know Him  

Without Allah informing us of His attributes, no one will ever know who Allah is.  In fact, in spite of the many attributes that Allah provided for us in the Quran and the Prophet (PBUH) identified, no one in the universe knows the true reality of Allah.   Even the angels do not know the reality of Allah.  The reason is that no creation has seen Allah because no creation has the physical strength to withstand looking at Allah.   When Prophet Musa asked Allah to see Him, Allah did not tell him that He cannot be seen but He told him that no one will survive if he looks at Him.  Allah demonstrated this to Prophet Musa by exposing Himself to the mountain and the mountain collapsed instantly.  

وَلَمَّا جَآءَ مُوسَىٰ لِمِيقَـٰتِنَا وَكَلَّمَهُ ۥ رَبُّهُ ۥ قَالَ رَبِّ أَرِنِىٓ أَنظُرۡ إِلَيۡكَ‌ۚ قَالَ لَن تَرَٮٰنِى وَلَـٰكِنِ ٱنظُرۡ إِلَى ٱلۡجَبَلِ فَإِنِ ٱسۡتَقَرَّ مَڪَانَهُ ۥ فَسَوۡفَ تَرَٮٰنِى‌ۚ فَلَمَّا تَجَلَّىٰ رَبُّهُ ۥ لِلۡجَبَلِ جَعَلَهُ ۥ دَڪًّ۬ا وَخَرَّ مُوسَىٰ صَعِقً۬ا‌ۚ فَلَمَّآ أَفَاقَ قَالَ سُبۡحَـٰنَكَ تُبۡتُ إِلَيۡكَ وَأَنَا۟ أَوَّلُ ٱلۡمُؤۡمِنِينَ (١٤٣)

“And when Musa (Moses) came at Our appointed time and place, and his Lord spoke to him, he (Musa) said: “O my Lord! Show me (Yourself), that I may look upon You.” Allah said: “You cannot see Me, but look at the mountain; if it stands still in its place, you will see Me.” So, when his Lord appeared to the mountain, He made it collapse to dust, and Musa (Moses) fell down unconscious. Then when he recovered, he said: “Glory be to You, I turn to You in repentance, and I am the first of the believers.” (A-Araf 7:143)

Is it impossible to see Allah?  The answer is no, but only those who are righteous and secure their place in paradise, Allah will provide them with the physical attributes that  allow them to see Allah as He promised:

وُجُوهٌ۬ يَوۡمَٮِٕذٍ۬ نَّاضِرَةٌ (٢٢) إِلَىٰ رَبِّہَا نَاظِرَةٌ۬ (٢٣)

“Many faces that day will be glowing, (22) Looking towards their Lord.”  (Al-Qiyama 75:22-23)

No happiness will ever match the happiness of those people who will be blessed by seeing Allah without barrier and enjoy His beauty that can never be described.  May Allah bless us to be of them. 

Although Allah provided us with many of His attributes, we will remain challenged with truly knowing Allah because of our limitations in comprehending the extent of any of His attributes.  This is why Allah said:

لَيۡسَ كَمِثۡلِهِۦ شَىۡءٌ۬‌ۖ وَهُوَ ٱلسَّمِيعُ ٱلۡبَصِيرُ (١١)

“There is nothing like Him, and He is the All-Hearer, the All-Seer”.  (Ash-Shura 42:11)

As our eyes have physical limitations seeing everything in front of us and our ears have physical limitation hearing every sound around us, our mind has physical limitations comprehending Allah’s true attributes. However, in spite of our limitation, we can still reach reasonable knowledge about Allah through studying the attributes that He identified for us. These attributes of Allah are called (ٱلۡأَسۡمَآءُ ٱلۡحُسۡنَىٰ) that can be translated as glorious names or most beautiful names.  The term (ٱلۡأَسۡمَآءُ ٱلۡحُسۡنَىٰ) came 4 times in the Quran.  The first is in Surat Al-Araf in which Allah commanded that we call Him with them and condemned those who blaspheme in them.  Allah says:   

وَلِلَّهِ ٱلۡأَسۡمَآءُ ٱلۡحُسۡنَىٰ فَٱدۡعُوهُ بِہَا‌ۖ  وَذَرُواْ ٱلَّذِينَ يُلۡحِدُونَ فِىٓ أَسۡمَـٰٓٮِٕهِۦ‌ۚ سَيُجۡزَوۡنَ مَا كَانُواْ يَعۡمَلُونَ (١٨٠)

“For Allah, there are the Glorious Names, so call on Him by them, and leave the company of those who blaspheme His Names. They will be requited for what they used to do.” (Al-Araf 7:180) 

Before discussing these glorious names and how can you identify them, let me first discuss the ways that draws Allah’s condemnation when using the names to ensure that we avoid them.  The action verb used in the verse that brings Allah’s condemnation is (يُلۡحِدُونَ) which has been translated as blaspheme, deviate in the matter of names, profane the names, belie the names, etc.  Linguistically, the term implies deviation from the aim and avoidance of the straight position. This deviation occurs in five ways:

1. Addressing a person with the names of Allah.
2. Calling others with names that are modified slightly from Allah’s names as the idolators used to do, they called their idols Al-Lat which is modified form Ilah and Al-Uzay which is modified form Al-Aziz and Manat that is modified form the name Al-Manan.
3. Calling Allah with a name that neither He, Allah, nor the Prophet (PBUH) identified for us. Examples, names that are used for others such as father and son.
4. Calling Allah with a name without knowing its meaning.
5. Calling Allah with a name whose meaning is proper but is not befitting for Allah. As example, while Allah created everything, it is improper to call Him using the name ‘The Creator of the worms and monkeys. What is appropriate is to call Him with names in the Quran such as the creator of Heavens and earth.

We all know the hadeath of the Prophet (PBUH) in which he (PBUH) said: 

إن لله تسعة وتسعين اسمًا، مائةً إلا واحدًا، من أحصاها دخل الجنة

“Allah has ninety-nine names, one hundred minus one, whoever “Ahsaha” will enter Paradise.”

Ibn Abbas said: The word “Ahsaha” involves two elements, the first is to learn the names from the Quran and the sunnah and the second is to apply them.  

Similar interpretation of the term Ahsaha was given by other scholars who said that the word “Ahsaha” means “apply them”, “submit to them”, “seek away to make them part of your character”.  

Imam Al-Ghazali said: “Whoever has no part of the names of Allah other than understanding their meanings and believing in them is ill-fated and of lowly rank.  Those who draw near to Allah are those who adopt share of the meaning of His names and have passionate love to possess the attributes in every way possible”.  

Two points that we need to keep in mind regarding this hadeath:

1. While the Prophet (PBUH) said 99 names, Allah has more than 99 names.
2. The prophet (PBUH) did not specify these 99 names.

You may ask how about the 99 names that we memorize and are posted in display in most of our homes.  The hadith that mentioned 99 specific names is weak because one of the narrators is not-trustworthy, this person is Al-Waleed ibn Muslim (الوليد بن مسلم). This does not mean that all the names are wrong, those who analyzed the list based on the Quran and the authentic hadith say the list includes 80 correct names and proposed other names for what they considered incorrect ones.  One main reason for the difference among scholars regarding some names is that some scholars convert an action that Allah specified that He does into name while others reject this approach.  As example, Allah says:

قُلِ ٱللَّهُمَّ مَـٰلِكَ ٱلۡمُلۡكِ تُؤۡتِى ٱلۡمُلۡكَ مَن تَشَآءُ وَتَنزِعُ ٱلۡمُلۡكَ مِمَّن تَشَآءُ وَتُعِزُّ مَن تَشَآءُ وَتُذِلُّ مَن تَشَآءُ‌ۖ بِيَدِكَ ٱلۡخَيۡرُ‌ۖ إِنَّكَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَىۡءٍ۬ قَدِيرٌ۬ (٢٦

“Say: “O Allah! Owner of the kingdom You give the kingdom to whom You will, and You take away the kingdom from whom You will, and You bestow honor on whom You will, and You humiliate whom You will. In Your Hand is the good. Verily, You are powerful over everything.” (AL-Emran 3:26)

Some scholars used the action verbs “touzz” (تُعِزُّ) “bestow honor and “todhil” (تُذِلُّ) humiliate” and converted them into names as Al-Mu’izz (المعز) “The Bestower of Honors” and Al-Mudhill (المذل) “The Humiliator”.  But those who reject converting the action verbs into names, do not consider these as names of Allah.  Even some of those who consider it acceptable to convert Allah’s action verbs into names make it clear that these two names Al-Mu’izz (المعز) and Al-Mudhill (المذل) should be considered as one combined name to avoid attributing to Allah the action of causing humiliation without attributing to him the action of bestowing the honor.

In the above verse, there is a clearly stated name which is (مَـٰلِكَ ٱلۡمُلۡكِ) “Malik Al-Mulk” which is translated as “Owner of the kingdom’, “Owner of Sovereignty”, “Lord of Kingdom”, “sovereign of the dominion”. 

My recommendation for you is as you read the Quran to create a list of the names that Allah used for Himself. 

I mentioned that the term (ٱلۡأَسۡمَآءُ ٱلۡحُسۡنَىٰ) came 4 times in the Quran, we discussed one, the second verse in which the term mentioned is in Surat Al-Isra.  In this verse Allah demanded moderation in your voice when calling Him with His names: Allah says:   

قُلِ ٱدۡعُواْ ٱللَّهَ أَوِ ٱدۡعُواْ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنَ‌ۖ أَيًّ۬ا مَّا تَدۡعُواْ فَلَهُ ٱلۡأَسۡمَآءُ ٱلۡحُسۡنَىٰ‌ۚ وَلَا تَجۡهَرۡ بِصَلَاتِكَ وَلَا تُخَافِتۡ بِہَا وَٱبۡتَغِ بَيۡنَ ذَٲلِكَ سَبِيلاً۬ (١١٠

“Say: Call on Allah or call on Al-Rahman, by whatever name you call upon Him, for Him belong the Glorious Name. And do not be too loud in your prayer nor too low in it and seek away in between.” (Al-Isra 17:110)

The third time the term came is in Surat Taha:

ٱللَّهُ لَآ إِلَـٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ‌ۖ لَهُ ٱلۡأَسۡمَآءُ ٱلۡحُسۡنَىٰ (٨)

“All, there is no god but He. To Him belong the Glorious Names” (Taha 20:8)

The fourth mention for the term (ٱلۡأَسۡمَآءُ ٱلۡحُسۡنَىٰ) is at the end of Surat Al-Hashr (59) and it came in a list of 16 name of Allah.

هُوَ ٱللَّهُ ٱلَّذِى لَآ إِلَـٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ‌ۖ عَـٰلِمُ ٱلۡغَيۡبِ وَٱلشَّهَـٰدَةِ‌ۖ هُوَ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنُ ٱلرَّحِيمُ (٢٢) هُوَ ٱللَّهُ ٱلَّذِى لَآ إِلَـٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ ٱلۡمَلِكُ ٱلۡقُدُّوسُ ٱلسَّلَـٰمُ ٱلۡمُؤۡمِنُ ٱلۡمُهَيۡمِنُ ٱلۡعَزِيزُ ٱلۡجَبَّارُ ٱلۡمُتَڪَبِّرُ‌ۚ سُبۡحَـٰنَ ٱللَّهِ عَمَّا يُشۡرِڪُونَ (٢٣) هُوَ ٱللَّهُ ٱلۡخَـٰلِقُ ٱلۡبَارِئُ ٱلۡمُصَوِّرُ‌ۖ لَهُ ٱلۡأَسۡمَآءُ ٱلۡحُسۡنَىٰ‌ۚ يُسَبِّحُ لَهُ ۥ مَا فِى ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٲتِ وَٱلۡأَرۡضِ‌ۖ وَهُوَ ٱلۡعَزِيزُ ٱلۡحَكِيمُ (٢٤)

He is Allah, the one besides Him, there is no other God; the All-Knower of the unseen and the seen. He is the Rahman, the Merciful. (22)

He is Allah the one besides Him, there is no other God; the King, the Holy, the Peace, the Faithful, the All-Mighty, the Compeller, the Supreme. Highly exalted is Allah far above all that they associate as partners with Him. (23)

He is Allah, the Creator, the Maker, the Fashioner. To Him belong the Glorious Names. All that is in the heavens and the earth glorify Him. And He is the All-Mighty, the All-Wise. (Al-Hashr 59:22-24)

In the beginning of the talk, I said that I am not translating the name Al-Rahman because it is a very encompassing attribute that needs more explanations form the rest of the Quran.  I gave on April 7, 2019 a talk entitled: “Scientific Analysis of Al-Rahman Al-Rahime.in which I discussed the meaning of Al-Rahman.  The talk is on Youtube that you can check. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SdGKDwSKCw

But as a brief note. Allah started the Quran by saying” In the name of Allah Al-Rahman Al-Rahime”.  Allah is the proper name of God.  Al-Rahman Al-Rahime encompasses all the other names of Allah.  Scholars have classified the attributes associated with the different names into three categories:

The first Category is the “Beautiful attributes (صفات الجمال)” and these names are all summarized by the attribute the Merciful (الرحيم) and comes under this name the other names such as the Forgiver (الغفار), The Gentle (اللطيف), etc.

The other two categories are the “Perfection attributes (صفات الكمال)” and the “Majestic and imposing attributes (صفات الجلال): and these names are all summarized by the name Al-Rahman and comes under this name the other names such as the Creator (الخالق), the Provider (الرزاق) he Compeller (الجبار), the Dominant (القاهر), etc.

At the end I want to emphasize the importance of both learning the names from the Quran and the sunnah and applying them by possessing a share of the meaning of Allah’s names in every way possible, after All Allah has designed you as His vicegerent on earth, as He said:

وَإِذْ قَالَ رَبُّكَ لِلْمَلَائِكَةِ إِنِّي جَاعِلٌ فِي الْأَرْضِ خَلِيفَةً

“And when your Lord told the angels: I am placing a vicegerent (Khalifa) in the earth.”   (Al-Baqara 2:30)

DUA