Much has been written lately by some believers about the
‘Asmaa Al-Hosna’ or God’s beautiful names. Primarily, this group of
believers are saying that God’s beautiful names are only those in the
Quran, and consequently in our Salat we should use the name Allah
Al-Kabeer and not the traditional Allah Akbar. The claim is that Kabeer is
one of the names of God in the Quran while Akbar is not.
They also say that only the names that are in the Quran
can be used to call on God. This has been repeated by various articles
mainly in the Journal of Submission.
The purpose of this article is to demonstrate that these
claims are a result of a lack of understanding of the Quran, and also to
demonstrate that these believers have in fact abused and corrupted the
meaning of a number of Quranic verses.
1- In his recent article in the JOS, the author starts his
article by saying:
‘Of course God is not limited to any fixed number of names and attributes’
…… but soon enough he contradicts himself by saying:
‘……and therefore the only valid conclusion must be that God has stated ALL
these names in the Quran’ !!!!
How can he claim that God is not limited to a fixed number
of names and then conclude that all these names are in the Quran???
To arrive at this paradoxical conclusion he abuses the
meaning of a clear Quranic truth, that being that the Quran is complete
and fully detailed. He states that since the Quran is complete and fully
detailed then, and in his own words, he says:
‘these names must be in the Quran, it can’t be otherwise’.
The corruption in the meaning of the completeness and
detail of the Quran stems from the fact that the Quran is complete and
fully detailed regarding all the Law of God that we must follow for our
salvation. The Quran is not fully detailed when it comes to demonstrating
God’s greatness or attributes. This is simply because God’s attributes and
greatness is infinite, it cannot be contained in a book.
It is ironic that the author refers to verses such as
6:103, 42:11 and 112:4 that demonstrate that it is beyond the human being
to comprehend the greatness of God, then he insists that we should limit
our understanding of God’s attributes to the names that are mentioned in
the Quran !!!!
There is no doubt that God’s attributes are a thousand
million more than those included in the Quran, and which are mentioned in
the way of a sample. Some of these untold attributes we may be able to
understand and a million others beyond our comprehension.
2- Another Quranic truth that has been abused by these
writers is 112:4. This glorious verse asserts that nothing can be compared
to God. From this truth they have arrived at a corrupted deduction stating
that only superlative adjectives may be associated with God’s name and not
any comparative adjectives. As a result they claim that the superlative
‘Al-Kabeer’ (The Great) is the correct name to be used in our Salat and
not the comparative ‘Akbar’ (Greater).
Sadly, and by making such a claim they have shown their
total ignorance with the Quran.
First, they have shown their ignorance to the fact that in
the Quran God compares Himself to other things.
On the one hand, God uses the superlative name ‘Qareeb’
(near) for Himself. This is found in 2:186, 11:61, and 34:50. In these
verses there is no comparison between God and others.
However, if we read 50:16:
"We created the human, and We know
what he whispers to himself. We are nearer to him than his jugular vein."
In this verse, God uses the comparative (nearer) to
describe His position in comparison with the nearness of the jugular vein.
The same word ‘Aqrab’ (nearer), which is the comparative
form of ‘Qareeb’ (near) is also used in 56:85.
Other verses where God speaks of Himself in the
comparative mode are:
- ‘Best Provider’ 5:114, 22:85,
23:72, 34:39, and 62:11
- ‘Best Supporter’ 3:150
- ‘Best Schemer’ 3:54
- ‘Best Judge’ 7:87,10:109, 12:80,
6:57
- ‘Most Accurate Reckoner’ 6:62
- ‘Best Forgiver’ 7:155
All these comparisons in actual fact demonstrate the true
meaning of 112:4 and which they have failed to understand.
The meaning of the words ‘nothing can be compared to God’
(112:4), does not mean that if one compares anything to God one is
inevitably thrown into hell………..after all God draws many comparisons as
was shown, it simply means that in any comparison, God will always be the
triumphant.
You can make a million comparisons, day and night, but in
every one the name of God will emerge as the clear victor. That is the
meaning of 112:4.
3- The next important matter that has been put forward to
them, and which they have never been able to provide a convincing answer
to, is the following:
The Student of the Quran will be able to witness the
difference between two types of Quranic commandments:
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" 74:3,
17:111 and others.
In command 1, God commands us to use SPECIFIC NAMES (The
Most High and the Great).
However, in command 2, NO SPECIFIC name is indicated.
In command 1 God is telling us to use specific names,
however in command 2 God is saying MAGNIFY the Lord, to magnify anything
you make it larger. Hence, if you magnify KABEER (Great) you make it AKBAR
(Greater).
If God wants us to use the word Al-KABEER, He would have
specifically told us so, in the same way He told us to use the names THE
MOST HIGH as in 87:1, or THE GREAT as in 56:74.
The command in 17:111 is to magnify or make
larger……….AKBAR is greater than KABEER.
For that issue they have no answer.
4- Again, they still have not provided a clear explanation
to the fact that the command to magnify the Lord is pre-Quranic……..it
appears in the Old Testament and the oldest books of Jewish prayers.
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 !!
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 too! The
command to magnify God has appeared in the older scripture dating back to
the Torah and probably before. One of the Prayer books that lists prayers
from as far back as the days 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 Authorized Daily book of Prayer, 25th edition,
Eyreand Spottiswoode ltd., 1957, page 66)
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.!
5- 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 a similar corruption of the
meaning of the Quran by adding one word, is what we witnessed in the
corruption of the meaning of 39:45.
"When God alone is mentioned, the
hearts of those who do not believe in the Hereafter shrink with aversion.
But when others are mentioned besides Him, they become satisfied."
The corrupt interpreters added the word (gods) after the
word "others" to make it […….but when other (gods) are mentioned besides
Him…..] instead if using the word others by itself as per the original
Quran.
The attempt to limit the Beautiful names of God in 7:180
to ONLY to those in the Quran is a similar corruption to the one given
above, and which changed the meaning drastically by adding the word ONLY
to the text. To impose a limitation to the meaning of a Quranic verse, and
which does not exist in God’s words, is a grave corruption and 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.
To God belongs all the beautiful names in all languages,
all scriptures, and at all time.
God be praised
Ashraf Salmawy.
info@submission.org
