Notis: Det följande är en reproduktion av artiklen God's beautiful Names and attributes- Allah-Ar-Rahman-Ar-Rahim.

By: A. Salmawy

Much has been written lately by some believers about the ‘Asmaa Al-Hosna’ or God’s beautiful names. Primarily, this group of believers are saying that God’s beautiful names are only those in the Quran, and consequently in our Salat we should use the name Allah Al-Kabeer and not the traditional Allah Akbar. The claim is that Kabeer is one of the names of God in the Quran while Akbar is not.

They also say that only the names that are in the Quran can be used to call on God. This has been repeated by various articles mainly in the Journal of Submission.

The purpose of this article is to demonstrate that these claims are a result of a lack of understanding of the Quran, and also to demonstrate that these believers have in fact abused and corrupted the meaning of a number of Quranic verses.

1 - In his recent article in the JOS, the author starts his article by saying:

‘Of course God is not limited to any fixed number of names and attributes’ …… but soon enough he contradicts himself by saying: ‘……and therefore the only valid conclusion must be that God has stated ALL these names in the Quran’ !!!!

How can he claim that God is not limited to a fixed number of names and then conclude that all these names are in the Quran???

To arrive at this paradoxical conclusion he abuses the meaning of a clear Quranic truth, that being that the Quran is complete and fully detailed. He states that since the Quran is complete and fully detailed then, and in his own words, he says: ‘these names must be in the Quran, it can’t be otherwise’.

The corruption in the meaning of the completeness and detail of the Quran stems from the fact that the Quran is complete and fully detailed regarding all the Law of God that we must follow for our salvation. The Quran is not fully detailed when it comes to demonstrating God’s greatness or attributes. This is simply because God’s attributes and greatness is infinite, it cannot be contained in a book.

It is ironic that the author refers to verses such as 6:103, 42:11 and 112:4 that demonstrate that it is beyond the human being to comprehend the greatness of God, then he insists that we should limit our understanding of God’s attributes to the names that are mentioned in the Quran !!!!

There is no doubt that God’s attributes are a thousand million more than those included in the Quran, and which are mentioned in the way of a sample. Some of these untold attributes we may be able to understand and a million others beyond our comprehension.

2 - Another Quranic truth that has been abused by these writers is 112:4. This glorious verse asserts that nothing can be compared to God. From this truth they have arrived at a corrupted deduction stating that only superlative adjectives may be associated with God’s name and not any comparative adjectives. As a result they claim that the superlative ‘Al-Kabeer’ (The Great) is the correct name to be used in our Salat and not the comparative ‘Akbar’ (Greater).

Sadly, and by making such a claim they have shown their total ignorance with the Quran.

First, they have shown their ignorance to the fact that in the Quran God compares Himself to other things.

On the one hand, God uses the superlative name ‘Qareeb’ (near) for Himself. This is found in 2:186, 11:61, and 34:50. In these verses there is no comparison between God and others.

However, if we read 50:16:

"We created the human, and We know what he whispers to himself. We are nearer to him than his jugular vein."

In this verse, God uses the comparative (nearer) to describe His position in comparison with the nearness of the jugular vein.

The same word ‘Aqrab’ (nearer), which is the comparative form of ‘Qareeb’ (near) is also used in 56:85.

Other verses where God speaks of Himself in the comparative mode are:

- ‘Best Provider’ 5:114, 22:85, 23:72, 34:39, and 62:11
- ‘Best Supporter’ 3:150
- ‘Best Schemer’ 3:54
- ‘Best Judge’ 7:87,10:109, 12:80, 6:57
- ‘Most Accurate Reckoner’ 6:62
- ‘Best Forgiver’ 7:155

All these comparisons in actual fact demonstrate the true meaning of 112:4 and which they have failed to understand.

The meaning of the words ‘nothing can be compared to God’ (112:4), does not mean that if one compares anything to God one is inevitably thrown into hell………..after all God draws many comparisons as was shown, it simply means that in any comparison, God will always be the triumphant.

You can make a million comparisons, day and night, but in every one the name of God will emerge as the clear victor. That is the meaning of 112:4.

3 - The next important matter that has been put forward to them, and which they have never been able to provide a convincing answer to, is the following:

The Student of the Quran will be able to witness the difference between two types of Quranic commandments:

Command #1

"Glorify the name of your LORD, THE MOST HIGH" 87:1

"You shall glorify the name of your Lord, THE GREAT" 56:74

Command #2

"Extol (magnify) your Lord" 74:3, 17:111 and others.

In command 1, God commands us to use SPECIFIC NAMES (The Most High and the Great).

However, in command 2, NO SPECIFIC name is indicated.

In command 1 God is telling us to use specific names, however in command 2 God is saying MAGNIFY the Lord, to magnify anything you make it larger. Hence, if you magnify KABEER (Great) you make it AKBAR (Greater).

If God wants us to use the word Al-KABEER, He would have specifically told us so, in the same way He told us to use the names THE MOST HIGH as in 87:1, or THE GREAT as in 56:74.

The command in 17:111 is to magnify or make larger……….AKBAR is greater than KABEER.

For that issue they have no answer.

4 - Again, they still have not provided a clear explanation to the fact that the command to magnify the Lord is pre-Quranic……..it appears in the Old Testament and the oldest books of Jewish prayers.

If calling upon God can ONLY be done by using the names mentioned in the Quran only, then we must conclude that before the revelation of the Quran (1400 years ago) it was not possible for believers to call upon God by any names !!

It is expected that someone may claim that the specific command to magnify or extol God is a Quranic command and must be executed using Quranic words and names from the Quran. That is wrong too! The command to magnify God has appeared in the older scripture dating back to the Torah and probably before. One of the Prayer books that lists prayers from as far back as the days of Jacob or before show that the reader in the morning service takes the scroll of the Law and says:

"Magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together"

(The Authorised Daily book of Prayer, 25th edition, Eyreand Spottiswoode ltd., 1957, page 66)

The command of God to the people of Israel to magnify His name is obviously pre-Quranic.

The Jews had no Quran to extract God’s names from, however they were still obeying God and magnifying His name without having to wait for the names that would appear in the Quran centuries later.!

5 - Verse 7:180 commands us to call God by the beautiful names. It DOES NOT say that these beautiful names are ONLY in the Quran. To insist on that is but a corruption of the meaning of the verse, as this would add the word ONLY to 7:180. To add or subtract one word to the meaning of any Quranic verse is a corruption.

A well known example of a similar corruption of the meaning of the Quran by adding one word, is what we witnessed in the corruption of the meaning of 39:45.

"When God alone is mentioned, the hearts of those who do not believe in the Hereafter shrink with aversion. But when others are mentioned besides Him, they become satisfied."

The corrupt interpreters added the word (gods) after the word "others" to make it […….but when other (gods) are mentioned besides Him…..] instead if using the word others by itself as per the original Quran.

The attempt to limit the Beautiful names of God in 7:180 to ONLY to those in the Quran is a similar corruption to the one given above, and which changed the meaning drastically by adding the word ONLY to the text. To impose a limitation to the meaning of a Quranic verse, and which does not exist in God’s words, is a grave corruption and is a man-made innovation .

Surely if God wants to indicate that ONLY the beautiful names of the Quran are the ones to be used, He would have specifically said so.

To God belongs all the beautiful names in all languages,

all scriptures,

and at all time.

God be praised