ALLAAH’S NAME.
Allaah (Subhaanahu Wa Ta’aala) has names and they are “Husna”. Every name of Allah implies a perfect attribute.
Allaah is “Al-Ismul-A’zam” the greatest name which contains all the divine attributes and the sign of the essence and cause of all existence. Allah does not resemble any of His creation. The word Allah refers to Allah’s name only, nothing else can assume this name or share it.
The name Allah contains meanings that indicate the non-resemblance of Allah to anything else. They are as follows…
1. Wujud — Being: Allah exists.
2. Qidam — Existence from all eternity: He is before the before. He did not become. He always was.
3. Baqa — Existence to all eternity: He has no end. The Last is He.
4. Wahdaniyya –Uniqueness: He is unique in Essence, Single in Quality. He has neither opposite nor parallel. All creation is in need of Him. All creation has become by the order of “BE”
5. Mukhalafatuni-I-hawadith — Transcendence: He is the creator bearing no resemblance to the created.
6. Qiyam bi-nafsihi — Self-subsistence : He has no need of space, but space needs Him.
THE PERMANENT ATTRIBUTES OF ALLAAH.
Allah is perfection. The extent of this perfection is infinite. The greatest name of Allah, contains eight essentials indicating His perfections. They are as follows…
1. HAYYAN – Life: Being Alive, being Eternal, never ceasing to be.
2. ILM – Knowledge: Allah has knowledge of all things; there is nothing unknown to Him.
3. SAMI’I – Hearing : Allah hears; There is nothing that He does not hear.
4. BASAR – Sight : Allah sees; there is nothing unseen to Him.
5. IRADA – Will : Allah does whatever He wills, and thus He is always praise as “The doer of whatever He wills”.
6. QUDRA – Power : There is nothing for which Allah lacks capacity. He always prevails.
7. KALAM – Speech : Allah speaks, though not with a voice like ours, nor with the sound we make.
8. TAKEEN – Creativity : Allah has created everything that exists, and He goes on creating. If He wishes. He destroys, Nothing can oppose His command.
GENERAL CLASSIFICATION OF ALLAAH’S NAME
FIRST CLASSIFICATION
1. There are names which imply beautiful attributes – Asmaa ul Jalal (Rahman, Raheem, Wadud, Lateef, etc) which make a person love Allah more.
2. Asmaa ul Jamal – Names which imply “might” attributes (Aziz, Qawy, Adheem, Qadeer, Qahhar, Jabbar,etc) It brings fear and magnification.
SECOND CLASSIFICATION
1. Allaah’s names indicate transitive attributes – Actions of Allah to the creation like As Samee. Al Khaaliq Ar-Razzaq. While some imply intransitive attributes Like As-Samad, Al Aziz, Al Qawwi, As-Salaam, Al-Awwal, Al-Aakhir, Al-hayy.
THIRD CLASSIFICATION
The 99 Names can be divided into 3 groups which are: JALAL “MAJESTY”, JAMAL “BEAUTIFUL and KAMAL “PERFECTION”.
The attributes of Allah that fall under the name of Jalal are known to us through His infinite and divine Majesty which are apparent through His creation throughout the universe.
The attributes of Jamal, on the other hand, become evident with their plentiful blessings, which we respond to with gratitude.
The Kamal names reveal works of art that have been created with perfection and wisdom.
The names that are mainly Jalal and Jamal are also symmetry in the names: He‘s both, merciful and wrathful, beautiful and majestic, forgiving and just, and so on.
The response to divine Jalal is fear, and the response to jamal is hope.
In a well known tradition it says ―Iman lies between khawf and Raja – “that faith is situated between fear and hope”
This implies that a correct relationship with Allah, is to understand all His names in a manner appropriate to each.
“When I want to talk to Allah I say prayers and when I want Him to talk to me I recite Qur’an”- Ali(RA)
By Bashir Habeeb A
English 