Transliteration:( Wa lillaahil Asmaaa 'ul Husnaa fad'oohu bihaa wa zarul lazeena yulhidoona feee Asmaaa'ih; sa yujzawna maa kaanoo ya'maloon )
413. Reason for its Revelation:
Abu Jahl would say that Hazrat Muhammad صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم at that Allah Almighty is One, but he calls upon Allah Almighty, and Ar Rahman (the Merciful) - meaning he is calling upon two. In reply, Allah Almighty revealed this verse. It is stated in the Hadith Shareef that Allah Almighty has ninety nine qualitative names. He who remembers Him by any one of these, he will enter Paradise. It should be remembered that the names of Allah Almighty are and the Holy Prophet| one thousand. The true meaning of the above Hadith Shareef is that remembering Allah Almighty by these names is the means of obtaining Paradise, it does not mean that Almighty only has ninety-nine names.
414. It should be remembered that Allah Almighty does not have a name, but a translation of the true Master, as if this is His attribute of praise. Thus, He can be addressed as Allah Almighty, but not Raam, Parbhoo, etc. (like the translation of Sattaar is conniver of the faults).
415. From this we learn to remember Allah Almighty with those names which are not worthy of His high rank and status, or its one meaning is good while the other is evil and not permissible. Do not refer to him as MIA, do not address Him as Raam, Krishan, etc. The truth of the matter is Allah Almighty's names are real, factual and can only be understood through the Laws of Islam.
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180. And (all) the Most Beautiful Names belong to Allah, so call on Him by them, and leave the company of those who belie His Names. They will be requited for what they used to do.
Abu Hurayrah narrated that the Messenger of Allah said,
(Verily, Allah has ninety-nine Names, a hundred less one; whoever counts (and preserves) them, will enter Paradise. Allah is Witr (One) and loves Al-Witr (the odd numbered things),) The Two Sahihs collected this Hadith. We should state that Allah’s Names are not restricted to only ninety-nine. For instance, in his Musnad, Imam Ahmad recorded that `Abdullah bin Mas`ud said that the Messenger of Allah said;
(Any person who is overcome by sadness or grief and supplicates, `O Allah! I am Your servant, son of Your female servant. My forelock is in Your Hand. Your decision concerning me shall certainly come to pass. Just is Your Judgement about me. I invoke You by every Name that You have and that You called Yourself by, sent down in Your Book, taught to any of Your creatures, or kept with You in the knowledge of the Unseen that is with You. Make the Glorious Qur’an the spring of my heart, the light of my chest, the remover of my grief and the dissipater of my concern.’ Surely, Allah will remove his grief and sadness and exchange them for delight.) The Prophet was asked “O Messenger of Allah! Should we learn these words†He said,
(Yes. It is an obligation on all those who hear this supplication to learn it.) Al-`Awfi said that Ibn `Abbas said about Allah’s statement,
(and leave the company of those who belie His Names) “To belie Allah’s Names includes saying that Al-Lat (an idol) derived from Allah’s Name.†Ibn Jurayj narrated from Mujahid that he commented,
(and leave the company of those who belie His Names) “They derived Al-Lat (an idol’s name) from Allah, and Al-`Uzza (another idol) from Al-`Aziz (the All-Mighty).†Qatadah stated that Ilhad refers to associating others with Allah in His Names (such as calling an idol Al-`Uzza). The word Ilhad ﴿used in the Ayah in another from﴾ means deviation, wickedness, injustice and straying. The hole in the grave is called Lahd, because it is a hole within a hole, that is turned towards the Qiblah (the direction of the prayer).
141. Here the present discourse is nearing its end. Before concluding, people are warned in a style which combines admonition with censure against some basic wrongs. People are here being warrned particularly against denial combined with mockery which they, had adopted towards the teachings of the Prophet (peace be on him).
142. The name of a thing reflects how it is conceptualized. Hence, inappropriate concepts are reflected in inappropriate names, and vice versa. Moreover, the attitude a man adopts towards different things is also based on the concepts he entertains of those things. If a concept about a thing is erroneous, so will be man’s relationship with it. On the other hand. a right concept about a thing will lead to establishing, the right relationship with it. In the same way, as this applies to relationships with worldly objects, so it applies to relationships with God. If a man is mistaken about God – be it about His person or attributes – he will choose false words for God. And the falsity of concepts about God affects man’s whole ethical attitude. This is understandable since man’s whole ethical attitude is directly related to man’s concept of God and God’s relationship with the universe and man. It is for this reason that the Qur’an asks man to shun profanity in naming God. Only the most beautiful names befit God, and hence man should invoke Him by them. Any profanity in this respect will lead to evil consequences.
The ‘most excellent names’ used of God express His greatness and paramountcy, holiness, purity, and the perfection and absoluteness of all His attributes. The opposite trend has been termed ilhad in this verse. The word ilhad literally means ‘to veer away from the straight direction’. The word is used, for instance, when an arrow misses the mark and strikes elsewhere. (See Raghib al-Isfahani, al-Mufradat, q.v. ilhad – Ed.) The commitment of ilhad in naming God mentioned in the verse consists of choosing names which are below His majestic dignity and which are inconsistent with the reverence due to Him; names which ascribe evil or defect to God, or reflect false notions about Him. Equally blasphemous is the act of calling some creature by a name which befits God alone, The Qur’anic exhortation in the above verse to ‘shun those who distort God’s names’ implies that if misguided people fail to see reason, the righteous should not engross themselves in unnecessary argumentation with them. For such men will themselves suffer dire consequences.
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