Notis: Det följande är en reproduktion av artiklen "Magnify GOD".

By Ashraf Salmawy
London, England

In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

Calling on God with the MOST BEAUTIFUL NAMES is a requirement as per our Quran. 7:180

Not long ago, we read for a gentleman from San Francisco who expressed his opinion as; "Obviously and very simply, these MOST BEAUTIFUL names are the ones that God called Himself in the Quran. How could it be any simpler, or more truthful?, he continued to say." In doing so he was echoing an idea that was introduced by the editor of the Journal of Submission without much thought about it.

A simple analysis of that opinion can easily be done as follows;

FIRST: 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 !!

SECOND: 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. The command to magnify God has appeared in the older scripture dating back to the Torah and before. One of the Prayer books that appeared at the time 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 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.!

THIRD: 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 the corruption of the meaning of the Quran by adding one words, is what we witnessed in 39:45 in the Sunni�s interpretation. They added the word (gods) to make it (other gods) instead if using the word others by itself as per the original Quran.

The attempt to add the word (ONLY) to 7:180 is very similar to the example given above. It corrupts the meaning of the verse and the message of the Quran. It 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.

FOURTH: The Student of the Quran will be able to witness the difference between the commandment in 87:1 and 56:74 on one hand and the commandment in 74:3, 17:111, 2:185 and 22:37 on the other.

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"

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

However, in command two, NO SPECIFIC name is indicated. For anyone to claim that he/she got the correct name and everyone else is wrong or committing idol-worship is only a reflection of his/her misunderstanding of the Quran and the message.

In brief, the order in the Quran to magnify or extol God is older than the revelation of the Quran itself. Those who want to limit the words that praise the Almighty to the words of any one scripture or one word of their choice, have not grasped the spirit of the Quran or Islam (Submission) and failed to understand God�s plan which may be summarized in God�s call on all the Human and Jinns to worship him ALONE.

To God belongs all the beautiful names in all languages, all scriptures and at all the time.

God be praised

Ashraf Salmawy.