A Brief Encyclopedia of the Most Beautiful Names of God

Author's Name: Prof. Dr. Aqil Hussein Aqil

This book is a summary of what was written in “The Encyclopedia of the Most Beautiful Names of God and Their Effect on Man’s Succession on Earth,” which was published in 2008 by its author, Dr. Aqeel Hussein Aqeel, with new additions that the author arrived at based on three points:

1- The significance of the beautiful names, meaning the significance of these names on the self, which gives the meaning of relative synonymy and what they contain of contrast in terms of meaning, i.e. what indicates attributes, actions, and names with implicit significance.
2- Adhering to the beautiful names. Adhering to these names here means believing in them, obeying them, and emulating their meanings and contents. Then, supplicating to Allah with them and praising Him in them.
3- Supplication by the Most Beautiful Names. The author considers it an obligation for the benefit of the servants of God, as the Most Beautiful Names of God carry meanings of the greatest blessings. Here, there is an explanation of the relationship “between the absoluteness of the names and the hadith of the Messenger of God (PBUH).” These ninety-nine specific names among His countless names mean that everything in this universe is relatively and quantitatively comparable to creation. Therefore, counting must also be relative to His countless names, provided that the number is limited.

In this book, the author responds to the opinions, statements, and calls by some to delete some of the Most Beautiful Names of Allah, claiming that they do not meet the conditions; to be less than ninety-nine, saying: "...the Most Beautiful Names of Allah are too great to be counted or encompassed by any creature, as evidenced by what Allah has kept for Himself of them when He willed in His will for reasons that He did not inform any of His creation. They may be infinite in light of the Qur'an and Sunnah, and thus agreement is reached with what is stated in the Qur'anic text absolutely, whether the name is explicit, an attribute, a verb, or it came implicitly. As for the names that Allah, the Most High, has kept for Himself, independent reasoning is cut off. We are left with the Qur'anic text and the Prophetic Sunnah, as they are an open door to competing in independent reasoning to know the Most Beautiful Names of Allah... Therefore, the matter does not require deletion; rather, it calls for further research for the sake of what the content of His names, which are countless, may He be glorified."

In his explanation of the Most Beautiful Names of Allah, the author relies on the most important encyclopedic books in this field, including “Tafsir al-Shaarawy,” “The Methodology of Imam Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya,” “In Explaining the Most Beautiful Names of Allah,” “The Great Dictionary of al-Tabarani,” “Sahih al-Bukhari,” “The Compendium of the Rulings of the Qur’an – by al-Qurtubi,” and other important sources in grammatical interpretation, such as “Lisan al-Arab,” “Al-Furuq al-Lughawiyya,” “Al-Muhit fi al-Lugha,” etc., which gives the work a special value, scientific, literary, and religious at the same time, and is worthy of being reviewed.