The Second Principle
Created: September 21, 2021 2:56 AM
The Second Principle
****_Asmaullahi taala a’lam wa wassaf_ which means Allah’s names are both names and attributes
The names of Allah the exalted are both names in the sense that they refer to the single being that is Allah, and attributes in the sense that each name contains a different meaning which is unique to that name, which differs one name from another.
Synonyms are a good example : house-home, sad-upset, they mean the exact same thing ??
Elaboration
The importance of knowing this principle
- If we were to say that all of Allah’s names has the same meaning, this would be an example of taktyil, denying Allah’s names. Because denying Allah’s names is …, but we believe each name is the same thing.
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Jahmiyah : we dont affirm these different names for Allah
Reason : the idea that if i say that there is more than 1 name there is more than 1 God.
Mu’tazilah : we affirm the names but they all mean the same thing
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Allah azza wa jalla described himself with many names, and as for the argument for the Mu’tazilah, such reasoning is not found in the language of the arabs, thus not accepted.
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Knowing this principle also will inshaAllah let you have a correct understanding unlike the previous groups mentioned above.
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Hamza Yusuf (Mutaqqalimun) : aql over revelation, he ridiculed people who take preceedence of the revelation over aql. Their people argue that how can the tool (aql) that is used to understand the revelation is ‘below’ the revelation?
Shaikh ___ gives a really simple answer in the form of analogy that if you comes up to a man, in a sick condition and asks where is a good doctor, once you go to the doctor and he perscribed you to take medicine 3x a day, do you go back to the man and confirms whether what the doctor said is true? No right, the man is not more knowledgeable than the doctor.
Evidences
- QS Yunus: 107 & Al-Qaf: 58
- In the both ayahs Allah mentions 2 names : Ghafur & Rahim, but in the second ayah, Allah uses the same name al-Ghafur, but instead of using the name Ar-Rahim, he uses the attributes version of Ar-Rahim by adding the word ‘dzuw’ which in Arabic means ‘the one who posesses something’ or ‘having the attribute of’ thus the word become an attribute.
- There are many examples, for example, the name Al-Qawwy means the one who is powerful, but the wor dzul Quwwah means the possesor of power.
- The School of Thoughts
- If you brought this matter to different schools of thoughts, they will all agree that you cannot say a someone is alim without knowledge etc.
- Through this we udnerstand the mistakes of the people who take the meanings away from Allah. They said Allah is samiun but is not hearring, basirun but not seeing, azizun but has not izzah. They said that that if there are many names, there must be different Gods. The shaik said that this reasoning is sick.
- The intellect itself if used properly would never clash with the Qur’an & Sunnah. If in reality you finf your intellect clashing, the Qur’an & Sunnah is obviously more correct & takes preceedence because they call for sound reasoning.
- QS A-A’la 1-5
Certain names are not the name of Allah
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Ad-Dahr means time
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We know that Ad-Dahr is not one of Allah’s names and why might people think it’s one of Allah’s names becaus of the following hadith :
https://www.abuaminaelias.com/dailyhadithonline/2012/03/31/do-not-curse-lord-of-time/
- 1st Evidence
It is not from the names of Allah because it has no meaning, in other words it it Jamid(?). Nouns in Arabic can be divided into 2, al-Jamid wal Musytak. Al-Musytak is mahamilla ma’na, it carries a meaning to it. It is not just a word for something. As for ad-Dahr it is simply a name for time and a passage of time.
- 2nd Evidence
When Allah rebuked those who rejects the ressurection.
Al-Jathiyah (45:24)
If Ad-Dahr was the name of Allah, then what they meant here would be true, because Allah is time. However, Allah rebuked them, which shows Ad-Dahr is not the name of Allah, and what Ad-Dahr here means is the passage of time.
- The explanation for the hadith above :
The hadith does not tell us that Ad-Dahar is a name of Allah.
1. The people who curse Ad-Dahar, they meant to curse time, not Allah. They never intended/meant to curse Allah.
2.