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Foundations

What are the 99 names of Allah?

The Prophet ﷺ said: Allah has 99 names — whoever learns them enters Paradise. The list is drawn from the Qurʾan. The classical scholars treated each name as a door: understand it, embody it, address Allah through it.

10 passages from 6 books in the library

The 99 names of Allah are the beautiful names by which He is known and addressed; the Prophet ﷺ said whoever learns them enters Paradise. The classical scholars treated each name as a door to be understood and embodied, not merely counted. As one passage relates, when the worshippers "recognized His complete attributes and beautiful names, they did not hesitate" in devotion — and a shaykh taught that on the spiritual path "the 99 names become" the very means of drawing near. To know the names is to know how to call upon Him.

Drawn from the classical sources below — in the scholars' own words.

Where the answer comes from

The classical approach.

These passages are drawn from 6 books by Ibn al-Qayyim — part of the classical Sunni tradition that carries over a thousand years of reflection on the Qurʾān, the authentic Sunnah, and the consensus of the early community. Nothing below is a paraphrase. The words are the scholars' own, translated from the original Arabic manuscripts.

Read them closely. If a passage doesn't sit right, open the full book in the library and listen to the chapter around it. Context in the classical tradition is everything.

Cover of Volume One
Volume One
Ibn al-Qayyim · Madārij al-Sālikīn

14th century · Damascus, Syria
Madārij al-Sālikīn — the classical map of the spiritual journey — and a vast body of work on the soul, love, the traps of the ego, and the nature of the heart.
More on Ibn al-Qayyim → · Provenance →

  1. "Similarly, the name "Al-Hakim" (The Wise) implies the establishment of praiseworthy and intended ends for His actions, placing things in their proper places, and executing them in the best manner. Denying this is a denial of this name and its necessities, and the same applies to all His beautiful names. Chapter: When these two principles are established, the name of اللّٰه signifies all the Beautiful Names and the Highest Attributes through three types of indications."

  2. "Thus, it is understood that His name, اللّٰه, encompasses all the meanings of the Beautiful Names, indicating them in general, while the Beautiful Names provide detail and clarification of the divine attributes from which the name of اللّٰه is derived. The name of اللّٰه indicates that He is the one worshipped, adored by the creations out of love, reverence, submission, and seeking refuge in Him for needs and calamities."

  3. "For this reason, اللّٰه the Exalted attributes all the Beautiful Names to this great name, as He says, "And to اللّٰه belong the Beautiful Names" from سُورَة الأَعْرَاف. It is said: The Merciful, the Compassionate, the Holy, the Peace, the Mighty, the Wise are among the names of اللّٰه, and it is not said that اللّٰه is among the names of the Merciful or the Mighty, and so on."

Cover of Volume Two
Volume Two
Ibn al-Qayyim · Madārij al-Sālikīn

14th century · Damascus, Syria
Madārij al-Sālikīn — the classical map of the spiritual journey — and a vast body of work on the soul, love, the traps of the ego, and the nature of the heart.
More on Ibn al-Qayyim → · Provenance →

  1. "Furthermore, hope increases one's knowledge of اللّٰه, His names, and their meanings, and strengthens their connection to them. The hopeful person is attached to اللّٰه's beautiful names, worships through them, and calls upon Him with them. اللّٰه says in سُورَة الأَعْرَاف: "To اللّٰه belong the most beautiful names, so call upon Him by them." Therefore, one should not neglect invoking Him with these names, which are the greatest means of supplication."

Cover of Volume Three
Volume Three
Ibn al-Qayyim · Madārij al-Sālikīn

14th century · Damascus, Syria
Madārij al-Sālikīn — the classical map of the spiritual journey — and a vast body of work on the soul, love, the traps of the ego, and the nature of the heart.
More on Ibn al-Qayyim → · Provenance →

  1. "His forbearance with the mention of the sins and disobedience of His servants, His hearing with the mention of their supplication and request, and His might and knowledge with His decree and destiny. Reflect on the occurrence of His beautiful names in His Book and their connection to creation, command, reward, and punishment. Section: Testifying to the Message with اللّٰه's Testimony for Him Chapter: And from this is His saying, the Exalted: "And those who disbelieve say, 'You are not a messenger.' Say, 'Sufficient is اللّٰه as Witness between me and you, and whoever has knowledge of the Book.'" As اللّٰه says in سُورَة الرَّعْد."

  2. "so the phrase 'God created such and such' is used instead. Since the action is not used, the active name derived from it is not among His beautiful names. The scope of actions is broader than that of names. Therefore, God has attributed actions to Himself without deriving active names from them, such as 'He willed', 'He desired', 'He initiated', without calling Himself 'The Willer', 'The Desirer', or 'The Initiator', just as He did not name Himself 'The Maker', 'The Doer', 'The Perfecter', and other such names."

Cover of Al-Ghunya li-Ṭālibī Ṭarīq al-Ḥaqq — Volume One
Al-Ghunya li-Ṭālibī Ṭarīq al-Ḥaqq — Volume One
Shaykh Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani · Timeless Classics
  1. "location, sitting, or sleeping by saying, I seek refuge in Allah and his perfect words, which no righteous or wicked person can surpass, and in all the beautiful names of Allah, those I know and those I do not know, from the evil of what he created, scattered, and brought forth, from the evil of what descends from the sky and what ascends therein, from the evil of what is scattered on the earth and what emerges from it, from the trials of night and day, and from the visitor of night and day, except a visitor who comes with good, O most merciful of the merciful, and from every creature whose forelock my Lord holds."

  2. "whom He chooses. Blessed and Exalted is He, there is no deity but Him, and to Him belong the most beautiful names. This is not in the sense of the descent of His mercy and reward, as claimed by some groups. It was narrated by Ubadah ibn al-Samit that the Messenger of Allah said, Allah, blessed and exalted, descends every night to the lowest heaven when the last third of the night remains and says, Is there anyone asking so that I may grant his request? Is there anyone seeking forgiveness so that I may forgive him? Is there anyone in distress so that I may relieve his distress? Until the dawn breaks, then"

Cover of The Wholesome Rain of Good Words
The Wholesome Rain of Good Words
Ibn al-Qayyim · Timeless Classics

14th century · Damascus, Syria
Madārij al-Sālikīn — the classical map of the spiritual journey — and a vast body of work on the soul, love, the traps of the ego, and the nature of the heart.
More on Ibn al-Qayyim → · Provenance →

  1. "can resist, and with the might of Allah, which cannot be overcome or opposed, sought of protection. With His most beautiful names, I take refuge against devils and the evil of human and jinn devils, and the evil of the first chapter, proclaimed or concealed, from the evil that emerges at night and hides during the day, and hides at night and emerges during the day, and from the evil of what He created, spread and originated, and from the evil of Iblis and his soldiers, and from the evil of every creature whose forelock you hold. Indeed, my Lord is on a straight path."

Cover of al-Fawāʾid — Points of Benefit, Volume Two
al-Fawāʾid — Points of Benefit, Volume Two
Ibn al-Qayyim · Timeless Classics

14th century · Damascus, Syria
Madārij al-Sālikīn — the classical map of the spiritual journey — and a vast body of work on the soul, love, the traps of the ego, and the nature of the heart.
More on Ibn al-Qayyim → · Provenance →

  1. "The sum of all this is deep understanding of the meanings of His most beautiful names, their majesty and their perfection, and that He alone possesses them, and how they bear upon creation and command. So he becomes one deeply versed in His commands and prohibitions, deeply versed in His decree and destiny, deeply versed in His names and attributes, deeply versed in the ruling of religion and law and in the ruling of the cosmos and its decree. "That is the bounty of God; He gives it to whom He wills, and God is the possessor of immense bounty.""

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