Learning the Names and Attributes of Allah is a crystal manifestation of spirituality and closeness to Allah in Islam. Muslim’s Faith in Allah will stay incomplete if he/she does not seek to enlighten his mind with exploring the meanings and ranges of Theses Names. Allah said in Surah Gafar, Aya 60 ”And your Lord has proclaimed, “Pray to Me, and I will respond to you. But those who are too proud to worship Me will enter Hell forcibly.” (وَقَالَ رَبُّكُمُ ادْعُونِي أَسْتَجِبْ لَكُمْ ۚ إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يَسْتَكْبِرُونَ عَنْ عِبَادَتِي سَيَدْخُلُونَ جَهَنَّمَ دَاخِرِينَ). without knowing about His greatness and majesty, we can’t embody true servitude (ʿubūdiyyah) and humble ourselves to Him.
Al-Malik الملك
The King and Owner of Dominion
The One with absolute Dominion, and the One Whose Dominion is clear of imperfection. These attributes describe His Grandeur, Glory, Majesty, and His governance and regulations of the universe’s affairs. He is the One who directs all the affairs to do with creations and commands going from the heavens to the earth. To Him belong all the creations that is owned by Him and in contentious need of Him. There is nothing above Him, and He is alone. Nothing is happening unless it is approved and ordered by Allah. No can can go against His Will. He has the ruling power to have kingship.
Al-Quddus القدوس
The Most Sacred / The Most Holy
The One Who is pure from any imperfection and clear of children and adversaries. Allah سُبْحَٰنَهُۥ وَتَعَٰلَىٰ is Al-Quddus (in Arabic: ٱلْقُدُّوسُ), meaning the most pure or the most holy. He is so far removed from any imperfection and does not suffer from any shortcomings. The mere mention of being free from defects borders on insult as it implies the possibility of imperfection. He transcends all that we perceive as perfection, and all sublime attributes belong to Him The One who is glorified by the hearts and tongues of creations. If we understand the reflections of His Name ”Al-Quddus”, we must try to worship in the most correct ways. We need to cleanse ourselves where Allah سُبْحَٰنَهُۥ وَتَعَٰلَىٰ looks, which is in our hearts and our actions.
As-Salam السلام
The One Who is clear of every imperfection
The Most Perfect, The Source of Peace, The Giver of Blessings. It is close to ”Al-Quddos” meaning, but for ”As-Salam”, it means that Allah is clear from any imperfections that might happen in the future. Also, Allah is As-Salam (in Arabic: ٱلْسَّلَامُ); He is the One who grants peace and security to all His creation. Allah is above and beyond all weaknesses and inflictions. The source of peace and security for mankind. Breaking away from As-Salam brings disturbance and destruction to oneself. It is because He is free of any defect that the one who is with Him experiences tranquility. On the other hand, the necessity of His name ”As-Salam” is that His slaves are safe from any unjust actions made by Allah. We are enjoying the peace of Allah, meaning we are out of the circle of evil, injustice and contradictions of wisdom.
The most amazing thing about studying the Names of Allah is that we try to reflect the attributes of His name onto our deeds. If Allah is ”As-Salam’, then we will try to be fair and just with people and all other creatures of Allah. We pray to worship Allah seeking perfection while worshiping. The Prophet Muhammed was making Dua and saying ”O Allah, help me to remember You, to give You thanks, and to perform Your worship in the best manner”, and we say Ameen and that Allah will accept our Dua.
