All of Allah’s Names and Attributes are taken from the Sacred Texts
All of Allah’s Names and Attributes are taken from the Sacred Texts, unlike descriptions (khabr).
Allah has Names (Asmaa), Attributes (Sifaat), Actions (Af’al), and Descriptions (Khabr). Names are most specific. Every Name is an Attribute, every Attribute is an Action, and every Action is a Description. The reverse is not true, so for example, not every Attribute is a Name, but every Name is an Attribute.
Names and Attributes must come from the Quran and Sunnah. An important principle to keep in mind also is that we should not speak about Allah without knowledge.
A khabr is a description of Allah without any negative meaning. So for example in the Quran it says,
Say, “What thing is greatest in testimony?” Say, ” Allah is witness between me and you. [6:19]
This is an example of a khabr that occurs in the Quran, i.e. “shay (thing)”, and this is neither a name nor an attribute.
An example of a Name would be al-Rahmaan, and an Attribute would be Allah’s Speech.
Read MoreAll of Allah's Names are of Majesty and Perfection
All of Allah’s Names and Attributes are Names and Attributes of Majesty and Perfection, and no negative meaning can be derived from them.
“…To Him belong the most beautiful Names” [20:8]
This also necessitates that a being that does not have such Names/Attributes cannot be worthy of worship.
When he said to his father, “O my father, why do you worship that which does not hear and does not see and will not benefit you at all? [19:42]
And,
And the people of Moses made, after [his departure], from their ornaments a calf – an image having a lowing sound. Did they not see that it could neither speak to them nor guide them to a way? They took it [for worship], and they were wrongdoers. [7:148]
Here an important point is made, Allah(swt) shows that one incapable of speaking is unfit for worship. So whoever rejects the attribute of Speech from Allah has actually fallen into the same error as Bani Isra’eel.
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