The Existence of God

Attributes of God The Attributes and the Great Name of God The Quran tells us: “God has the most excellent names.” (7:180). This has been mentioned at three other places in the scriptures. “His are the finest names” (17:110). “His are the most excellent names” (20:8). “His are the most excellent names” (59:24). Here, “names” have the extended meaning of attributes, that is, all the best attributes inhere specifically in God. How many divine attributes are there? We learn from a hadith that they number 99. Some scholars say there is a greater number, i.e., about one thousand (Tafsir Ibn Kathir, vol. 2, p. 269). But the issue of number here is relative to the limitations of the human vocabulary. The words in human language are finite, while the being of God is infinite. God’s attributes are, therefore, in reality unlimited. The ninety nine best names are, as it were, a major sampling of God’s infinity of attributes. The Ninety Nine Names of God There is a tradition which has been recorded in different books of Hadith. According to Sahih al-Bukhari: “Abu Hurayra has recorded that the Prophet of Islam observed—God has ninety nine names, one less than a hundred. Those who have counted these words will enter Paradise.” (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith No. 2736)