God's beautiful names

Allah's beautiful names ( Arabic أسْمَاءُ الله الْحُسْنَى, DMG asmāʾ Allāh al-ḥusnā 'The Most Beautiful Names of God') are names that appear in the Koran and are used by Muslims as synonyms for " Allah ". Each of these names stands for a quality of the monotheistic God in Islam . They are also called the 99 names of God .

Statements in the Koran and in the Hadith

The basis for the Islamic teaching of the beautiful names of God is the statement in the Koran: “And God has beautiful names - call on him with them! And do not pay attention to those who deny his names! For what they did will be rewarded ” - Sura 7 : 180.

According to a hadith narrated by Abu Huraira , the Prophet Mohammed said:

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

“Verily God has ninety-nine names, one less than a hundred. Whoever enumerates them goes to paradise. "

- Saḥīḥ des Buḫārī , Volume 3, Book 50, No. 894

list

If you count all the names for God mentioned in the Koran , you get well over a hundred. Hence, there are different lists of these 99 names that differ from each other. So z. B. also counts Allah himself in some lists, but not in others. According to the Islamic view, the hundredth name of God is unpronounceable and unknown to people.

The most widespread list follows in particular a hadith according to Abū Huraira that Muhammad ibn ʿĪsā at-Tirmidhī classified as unsafe and can accordingly also be found in large parts of the Tafsir literature (especially on 13: 110) and theological compendia in the corresponding sections on the theory of attributes. One of the more frequent deviations is the quotation of "Allah" as the first name, whereby the 66th and 67th name (al-wāḥid, al-aḥad = the one, only) are usually merged.

No.	Arabic	DMG romanization	(approximate) meaning
1	الرحمن	ar-Raḥmān	the merciful
2	الرحيم	ar-Raḥīm	the merciful
3	الملك	al-Malik	the king
4th	القدوس	al-Quddus	the Saint
5	السلام	as- Salam	the peace
6th	المؤمن	al- Muʾmin	the keeper of security
7th	المهيمن	al-Muhaymin	the protector and guardian
8th	العزيز	al-ʿAzīz	the sublime, the venerable
9	الجبار	al-Ǧabbar	the strong one
10	المتكبر	al-Mutakabbir	the distinguished, the proud
11	الخالق	al-Ḫāliq	the creator
12	البارئ	al-Bariʾ	the creator
13	المصور	al-Muṣawwir	the one who forms (who gives every thing its form)
14th	الغفار	al-Ġaffār	the pardon
15th	القهار	al-Qahhār	the conqueror of everything
16	الوهاب	al-Wahhāb	the giver and lender
17th	الرزاق	ar-Razzāq	the supplier
18th	الفتاح	al-Fattāḥ	the opener
19th	العليم	al-ʿAlīm	the omniscient
20th	القابض	al-Qābiḍ	who withholds the gifts at His discretion
21st	الباسط	al-Bāsiṭ	but who also grants these gifts sufficiently and generously
22nd	الخافض	al-Ḫāfiḍ	the humiliator of the haughty and unjustly proud
23	الرافع	ar-Rāfiʿ	the exalter of the humble and humble
24	المعز	al-Muʿizz	the lender of real honor
25th	المذل	al-Muḏill	the humble one of the oppressors of their fellow men
26th	السميع	as-Samīʿ	the hearer
27	البصير	al-Baṣīr	the seeing one
28	الحكم	al-Ḥakam	the judge
29	العدل	al-ʿAdl	the fair
30th	اللطيف	al-Laṭīf	who grasps the finest in all dimensions, the sensitive, the kind
31	الخبير	al-Ḫabīr	the knowledgeable, the one who knows the smallest calculations of the heart
32	الحليم	al-Khalim	the forgiving, the compassionate
33	العظيم	al-ʿAẓīm	the great, the sublime
34	الغفور	al-Ġafūr	the one who forgives again and again
35	الشكور	aš-Šakūr	the grateful
36	العلي	al-ʿAlī	the highest
37	الكبير	al-Kabīr	the great
38	الحفيظ	al-Ḥafīẓ	the preserver, the preserver
39	المقيت	al-Muqīt	the nourishing
40	الحسيب	al-Ḥasīb	the calculator
41	الجليل	al-Khalil	the majestic one
42	الكريم	al-Karīm	the honorable, the generous
43	الرقيب	ar-Raqīb	the watchful one
44	المجيب	al-Muǧīb	the hearer of the prayers
45	الواسع	al-Wāsiʿ	the ubiquitous
46	الحكيم	al-Ḥakīm	the wise
47	الودود	al-Wadūd	the loving one who embraces everything with his love
48	المجيد	al-Maǧīd	the glorious
49	الباعث	al-Bāʿiṯ	who will bring people back to life on Judgment Day
50	الشهيد	aš-Shahīd	the witness
51	الحق	al-Ḥaqq	the true
52	الوكيل	al-Wakīl	the trustworthy, the helper and guardian
53	القوى	al-Qawwiyy	the strong
54	المتين	al-Matin	the firm, the permanent, the only really strong one
55	الولى	al-Waliyy	the protector of everyone who needs his protection and guidance
56	الحميد	al-Ḥamīd	the prize-worthy, to whom all thanks belong
57	المحصى	al-Muḥṣī	the one who records everything
58	المبدئ	al-Mubdiʾ	the beginning, the originator of everything created out of nothing
59	المعيد	al-Muʿīd	the repeater who will bring everything back to life
60	المحيى	al-Muḥyī	the life giver
61	المميت	al-Mummy	the killer (in whose hand death is)
62	الحي	al-Ḥayy	the living one
63	القيوم	al-Qayyūm	the one standing alone, the eternal one
64	الواجد	al-Wāǧid	the one who gets and finds everything
65	الماجد	al-Māǧid	the glorious
66	الواحد	al-Wāḥid	the one
67	الأحد	al-Aḥad	one and only
68	الصمد	aṣ-Ṣamad	who is independent of everything and everyone
69	القادر	al-Qādir	the powerful
70	المقتدر	al-Muqtadir	the one that determines everything
71	المقدم	al-Muqaddim	the leading one
72	المؤخر	al-Muʾaḫḫir	the suspect
73	الأول	al-Awwal	the first without a beginning
74	الأخر	al-Aḫir	the last without end
75	الظاهر	aẓ-Ẓāhir	the revealed, to the existence of which everything created clearly indicates
76	الباطن	al-Bāṭin	the hidden one that nobody can really understand
77	الوالي	al-Wālī	the only and absolute ruler
78	المتعالي	al-Mutaʿālī	the pure, the tall
79	البر	al-Barr	the good
80	التواب	at-Tawwāb	the one who accepts the repentance of his servants
81	المنتقم	al-Muntaqim	the righteous reward
82	العفو	al-ʿAfuww	the forgiver of sins
83	الرؤوف	ar-Raʾūf	the compassionate one
84	مالك الملك	Mālik al-Mulk	the holder of (royal) sovereignty / power
85	ذو الجلال والإكرام	Ḏū l-ǧalāl wa-l-ikrām	the one to whom majesty and honor are due
86	المقسط	al-Muqsiṭ	the impartial judge
87	الجامع	al-Ǧāmiʿ	the gatherer who will gather all people on Judgment Day
88	الغني	al-Ġanī	the rich man who doesn't need anyone
89	المغني	al-Muġnī	the lender of riches
90	المانع	al-Māniʿ	the rejecter, the obstacle
91	الضار	aḍ-Ḍārr	the damaging
92	النافع	an-Nāfiʿ	the benefit giver
93	النور	an-nūr	the light
94	الهادي	al-Hādī	the management giver
95	البديع	al-Badīʿ	the creator of the new
96	الباقي	al-Bāqī	the one who remains forever
97	الوارث	al-Wariṯ	the only heir, for apart from him nothing is permanent
98	الرشيد	ar-Rašīd	the leader
99	الصبور	aṣ-Ṣabūr	the patient one

The first two names are found in the Basmala ("In the name of the Most Merciful and Merciful").

Significance in Islamic mysticism and popular belief

In Islamic mysticism, the beautiful names of God are linked to the concept of the "acceptance of the divine character traits" ( taḫalluq bi-aḫlāq Allāh ) by the mystic. In doing so, the mystic should visualize the various names of God and try to appropriate the properties represented by them. The question of how people can realize this concept is the subject of al-Ghazālī's treatise al-Maqṣad al-asnā fī šarḥ asmāʾ Allāh al-ḥusnā ("The most brilliant aim in explaining the most beautiful names of God"). Nadschm ad-Dīn al-Kubrā (d. 1221) imagined the process in such a way that the mystic passed through the various places of appearance ( maḥāḍir ) of God during his mystical ascent and then involuntarily the names of God ( al-ʿAlī , rabbī , al- Qādir , al-Aḥad ) so that he praises him with it. In this way he then incorporates the associated attributes of God into himself.

In Islamic popular belief , these names of God are used several times in amulets in the form of prayer sayings up to the present day.

literature

Louis Gardet: Article "al-Asmāʾ al-Ḥusnā" in The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition Vol. I, pp. 714-717.

Individual evidence

↑ See e.g. B. Gardet, 714 with documents u. a. at al-Ghazālī .
↑ See William C. Chittick : The Sufi Path of Knowledge: Ibn al-'Arabi's Metaphysics of Imagination . State Univ. of New York Press, Albany, NY, 1989. pp. 283-286.
↑ See Fritz Meier : Die Fawāʾiḥ al-ǧamāl wa-fawātiḥ al-ǧalāl of Naǧm ad-Dīn al-Kubrā, a presentation of mystical experiences in Islam from around AD 1200. Steiner, Wiesbaden 1957. p. 78, arab. Text no.61.
↑ Alexander Fodor: Amulets from the Islamic World . Catalog of the Exhibition held in Budapest, in 1988, Eötvös Loránd University Chair for Arabic Studies, Budapest 1990, p. 101, fig. 188 and passim .

[1] See e.g. B. Gardet, 714 with documents u. a. at al-Ghazālī .

[2] See William C. Chittick : The Sufi Path of Knowledge: Ibn al-'Arabi's Metaphysics of Imagination . State Univ. of New York Press, Albany, NY, 1989. pp. 283-286.

[3] See Fritz Meier : Die Fawāʾiḥ al-ǧamāl wa-fawātiḥ al-ǧalāl of Naǧm ad-Dīn al-Kubrā, a presentation of mystical experiences in Islam from around AD 1200. Steiner, Wiesbaden 1957. p. 78, arab. Text no.61.

[4] Alexander Fodor: Amulets from the Islamic World . Catalog of the Exhibition held in Budapest, in 1988, Eötvös Loránd University Chair for Arabic Studies, Budapest 1990, p. 101, fig. 188 and passim .