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The Ninety-Nine Beautiful Names of God
Al-Ghazali on the Ninety-nine Beautiful Names of
God Al-Maqsad
al-Asna fi Sharh Asma’ Allah al-Husna Al-Ghazali; Translated by David Burrell and Nazih Daher The Islamic Texts Society (1995) ISBN 0946621314 Paperback Index 205 pp. Price$31.99
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In this work, here presented in a complete English edition for the first time, the problem of knowing God is confronted in an original and stimulating way. Taking up the Prophet’s teaching that ‘Ninety-nine Beautiful Names’ are truly predicated of God, the author explores the meaning and resonance of each of these divine names, and reveals the functions they perform both in the cosmos and in the soul of the spiritual adept. Although some of the book is rigorously analytical, the author never fails to attract the reader with his profound mystical and ethical insights, which, conveyed in his sincere and straightforward idiom, have made of this book one of the perennial classics of Muslim thought, popular among Muslims to this day.
David Burrell is Theodore M. Hesburgh Professor of Philosophy and Theology at the University of Notre Dame, USA. Nazih Daher is Chairman of the Department of Asian and African Languages at the Foreign Service Institute of the United States Department of State.
This volume won a British Book Design and Production Award in 1993.
Other Titles in the Fons Vitae Al-Ghazali series: Al-Ghazali- Faith in Divine Unity and Trust in Divine Providence - Al-Ghazali's 'Deliverance from Error' - Al-Ghazali's 'Path to Sufism' - Al-Ghazali's 'Marvels of the Heart'
Islamic Texts Society Al-Ghazali series: Letter to a Disciple - On Disciplining the Soul and Breaking the Two Desires - The Ninety-Nine Beautiful Names of God - Invocations and Supplications: Book IX of the Revival of the Religious Sciences - The Remembrance of Death and the Afterlife: Book XL of the Revival of the Religious Science
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Excerpt from: Al-Ghazali on the Ninety-nine Beautiful Names of God
Aim of The Book
In the Name of God the Infinitely Good, the Merciful
Praise be to God, alone in His majesty and His might, and unique in His
sublimity and His everlastingness, who clips the wings of intellects well short
of the glow of His glory, and who makes the way of knowing Him pass through the
inability to know Him; who makes the tongues of the eloquent fall short of
praising the beauty of His presence unless they use the means by which He
praises Himself, and use His names and attributes which He has enumerated. And
may blessings be upon Muhammad, the best of His creatures, and on his companions
and his family.
Now, a brother in God—great and glorious—to answer whom is a religious duty, has
asked me to elucidate the meanings of the most beautiful names of God. His
questions were incessant, and made me take one step forward and another
backward, hesitating between heeding his inquiry and so satisfying the duty of
brotherliness, or declining his request by following the way of caution and
deciding not to venture into danger, for human powers fall far short of
attaining this goal.
How else could it be? For two things deter a discerning person from plunging
into such a sea. First of all, the matter itself represents a lofty aspiration,
difficult to attain and uncertain of accomplishment. For it is at the highest
summit and represents the farthest of goals, such that minds are bewildered by
it and the sight of intellects falls far short of its principles, not to mention
its farthest reaches. How could human powers follow the way of investigation and
scrutiny regarding the divine attributes? Can the eyes of bats tolerate the
light of the sun?
The second deterrent: declaring the essence of the truth of this matter all but
contradicts whatever the collectivity has hitherto believed. Now weaning
creatures from their habits and familiar beliefs is difficult, and the threshold
of truth is too exalted to be broached by all or to be sought after except by
lone individuals. The nobler the thing sought after the less help there is.
Whoever mixes with people is right to be cautious; but it is difficult for one
who has seen the truth to pretend not to have seen it. For one who does not know
God—great and glorious— silence is inevitable, while for one who knows God most
high, silence is imposed. So it is said: ‘for one who knows God, his tongue is
dulled’. But the sincerity of the original request, together with its
persistence, overcame these excuses. So I asked God—great and glorious—to
facilitate what is right and be liberal in rewarding by His graciousness and His
benevolence and His abundant generosity; for He is the liberal and generous One,
indulgent to His servants.
THE BEGINNING OF THE BOOK
We have seen fit to divide the discussion in this book into three parts. Part
One will treat preliminary and introductory matters; Part Two, goals and
objectives; Part Three supplementary and complementary matters. The chapters of
the first part will consider the goals in an introductory and preparatory way,
while the chapters of the third part are attached to them so as to complement
and complete them. But the core of what we are seeking is contained in the
middle part.
As for the first part, it includes (1) explaining the truth of what is to be
said concerning the name, the named, and the act of naming, (2) exposing the
errors into which most groups have fallen regarding this matter, and (3)
clarifying whether it is permitted for those names of God which are close to one
another in meaning—like al-Azim (the Immense), al-Jalil (the Majestic), and al-Kabir
(the Great)—to be predicated according to a single meaning so that they would be
synonymous, or must their meanings differ? Furthermore, (4) it explains about a
single name which has two meanings: how does it share these two meanings? Is it
predicated of both of them, as a general predicate of the things it names [as
‘animal’ is said of a lion and a lamb], or must it be predicated of one of them
in particular? Finally, (5) it explains how man shares in the meaning of each of
the names of God—great and glorious.
The second part includes (1) the clarification of the meaning of the ninety-nine
names of God and (2) the explanation how the people of the Sunna reduce them all
to an essence with seven attributes, and (3) how the doctrine of the
Mu’tazilites and the philosophers reduces them to a single essence without
multiplicity.
The third part explains (1) that the names of God most high exceed the
ninety-nine by divine instruction, and explains (2) how it is permissible to
describe God most high by whatever may qualify Him even if no permission or
divine instruction be found—so long as it is not prohibited. Finally, it
explains (3) the advantage of the enumeration and specification of the one
hundred-minus-one names.
A Selection from the Table of Contents
| 1. | Explaining the Meaning of ‘Name’, ‘Named’, and ‘Act of Naming’. |
| 2. | Explanation of Names Close in Meaning to One Another. |
| 3. | On the One Name which Has Different Meanings. |
| 4. | On Explaining that a Man’s Perfection and Happiness Consist in Being Moulded by the Moral Qualities of God. |
| 5. | On Explaining the Meaning of God’s Ninety-nine Names. |
| 6. | An Explanation of How these Many Names Resolve to the Essence. |
| 7. | An Explanation of How these Attributes Resolve to a Single Essence, according to the School of the Mu’tazilites and the Philosophers. |
| 8. | Explaining that the Names of God Are Not Limited to Ninety-nine. |
| 9. | Explaining the Benefits of Enumerating Ninety-nine Names Specifically. |
| 10. | Are the Names and Attributes Applied to God Based on Divine Instruction, or Permitted on the Basis of Reason? |
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