Prof. Ahmad At-Tayyeb, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Ash-Sharif explains Allah’s Most Beautiful Names via some of the episodes of his Ramadan TV Talk this year. During the first episode of his Ramadan TV Talk, "The Grand Imam Talk", HE explained that some viewers may question the importance of approaching such a topic about the significance of Allah’s Holy Names amid the turmoil, anxiety and fear that the international arena is witnessing nowadays. They might wonder how far a program like this can contribute to alleviating the physical and psychological pressures people are suffering from everywhere! His Eminence answered such a question by pointing out that contemplating the Most Beautiful Names of Allah Almighty and invoking Him by such Holy Names and divine attributes may be the only remaining hope for those who believe in Him. It might be the way to fortify their resolution and enhance their power of endurance as they would cling to patience in the face of the turmoil of life and its ups and downs, security and fear, peace and wars, grace and misery, poverty and wealth, health and disease, i.e., its fortunes and misfortunes. His Eminence added that “invoking Allah by His Most Beautiful Names is an act of worship that Allah has prescribed upon us as mentioned in the Holy Qur’an: “To Allah belong the Most Beautiful Names. So, invoke Him by them, and stay away from the ones who abuse His Names. They will soon be punished for what they have done”. (Qur’an, 7:180). Allah Almighty also says, "Call on Allah or call on the Most Merciful! Whichever name you call, [remember that] to Him belong the Most Beautiful Names”. (Qur’an, 17:110)    

This is also referred to in a sound hadith related by both Imam Al- Bukhari and Muslim: "Allah Almighty has ninety-nine Names, i.e. one hundred minus one, and whoever recognizes them all will go to Paradise." Thus, the above-mentioned holy verse contains a clear divine order for the believers to call their Lord by His Most Beautiful Names and to ask Him to answer their invocation and to alleviate their suffering and misfortune. The Grand Imam referred to another point that many of us may not be heedful about, even those who are aware of the importance of the subject of knowing Allah’s Most Beautiful names, i.e., that such names are the only cognitive windows without which we would not have known Allah, nor recognized His attributes and actions.  Suppose you have not heard about such names through the Holy Qur’an, which you believe to be a divine revelation that does not contain any falsehood; and suppose that you have not heard about such attributes of Allah as: the One, the Capable, the Determiner, the All-Knowing, the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing, the Most Forgiving, the Sovereign, the Peace, the Dominant, etc. Without such names and attributes, how could one get to know the qualities of his Lord Whom he cannot see or perceive by any means of mental or sensory perception? This is due to the fact that Allah’s presence is evident in everything, yet He is unseen and cannot be perceived by the limited human minds, senses, and knowledge. The Grand Imam added, “This is why Allah’s Most Beautiful Names are considered the only windows through which minds can realize the attributes of their Creator by knowing His Names, qualities, and actions including creation and livelihood, life and death, along with His operating and governing  all the matters pertaining  to His creatures”. HE also pointed out that there are various deep scholarly interpretations of the holy verse and the hadith in hand, and therefore some of them may be difficult for non-specialists to understand.  So, we will select from such interpretations what is easy to understand through referring to general broad guidelines before we begin to review these names one by one and elaborate on how they show the greatness of Allah Almighty and to point out which of them can also be good attributes that should characterize Allah’s worshipers likewise. We will also highlight the manifestations of these Names along with their moral significance with which believers should cling and arm themselves in their war against the whims of the ego and the delusion of the devil.

The Grand Imam referred to the scholars’ view about the interpretation of the occasion for which the above-mentioned verse was revealed: “To Allah belong the Most Beautiful Names”. (Qur’an, 7:180) It was revealed when some of the atheists of Mecca heard a Muslim man saying in his prayers: “O the Most Merciful, O the Most Compassionate.” The atheist said, “Does Muhammad and his Companions not claim to worship one Lord? Why then is he invoking two Lords? Therefore, Allah Almighty revealed this verse: “To Allah belong the Most Beautiful Names”. (Qur’an, 7:180) The Grand Imam pointed out that the meaning of the Arabic adjective ḥusnā is derived from the noun ḥasan, which means (beauty and splendor). They are key words in understanding and comprehending, and even uttering, such Most Beautiful Names of Allah Almighty.  Another important point about such Names is the fact that they belong to Allah and are confined to Him only as apparent from the grammatical structure of the verse itself as the predicate, the phrase “to Allah” preceded the predicate, the phrase “belong the Most Beautiful Names”. Those well-versed in Arabic understand that this inversion shows that such Names are confined to Allah Almighty and belong to Him alone. The same structure is used in another verse: “You have your religion, and I have mine”. (Qur’an, 109:6)

 In addition, the Grand Imam explained that the statement “So, invoke Him by them,” means ask Allah by them all because each name is appropriate for certain invocations. For example, one can say, “O the Most Merciful, have mercy on me!”, “O the Sustainer, give me sustenance!”, “O the Guide, guide me to the right path!”, or “O the All-forgiving, forgive me” etc.    Moreover, among Allah’s Most Beautiful Names there are general names such as, the Owner of all Sovereignty, the Honorable, and the Subtle, with which one can generally invoke Allah, asking Him for any of His Blessings without allocating a particular requested favor or need. Nevertheless, it is not appropriate to invoke Allah by  one of these Names in a way that contradicts its meaning; for example, one should not say,  “O the Sustainer, guide me!” , or “O the Most Merciful, take revenge on those who have wronged me!”. Rather, it would be more appropriate to say, "O the Almighty, the Exalted in Might, take revenge on those who have wronged me,” and so on. 

 He also explained the meaning of “Stay away from the ones who abuse His Names”. (Qur’an, 7:180) pointing out that it refers to those atheists and polytheists who abuse Allah’s Names and practice deviation concerning them, i.e., they pervert some of Allah’s Names and rather gave such names to their idols and deities such as “Allāt” which is taken from “Allah”, and “Al-ˁUzza” which is derived from “Al ˁAziz” (the Exalted in Might), and “Manāt” which is derived from “Al-Mannān” (the Bountiful) etc. This warning similarly includes any change to one of these divine names or attributes, whether by adding to them, omitting or switching their meanings, such as calling Allah “the Great Engineer”, or “ the Lord of Hearts”, etc., although it is hoped that Allah Almighty will not blame His servants in case they have committed such transgressions unintentionally or unknowingly .  

The Grand Imam of Al-Azhar pointed out that the scholars of Tawḥeed (speculative theology) warned that abusing Allah’s Names is not only limited to the distortions made by the polytheists and using some of them as names for their own  deities, but it also  includes, as the general warning in the verse shows,  anyone who calls Allah a name that is not worthy of Him, or who attributes to Him any of the qualities of human beings, angels, animals, plants or other creatures, or any other description that might allude, even slightly or indirectly, to a similarity between Allah’s attributes and those characteristic of  His creatures. All such forms of deviation come under the description of abusing the Names of Allah Almighty, in one way or another, and they contradict with the disassociation of Allah Almighty from all that does not go in line with His Divine Names and His sublime attributes. It is noteworthy that ˀAhlu-Sunnati wal-Jamāˁah consensually agree that the attributes of Allah Almighty are not likened to His creatures and there is no resemblance at all".