Asma’ al-Ilahiyyah (The Divine Names of Allah)
The Most Merciful — Ar-Raḥmān
Allah — Allah
The Sovereign King — Al-Malik
The Most Compassionate — Ar-Raḥīm
The Giver of Peace — As-Salām
The Most Pure / Most Holy — Al-Quddūs
The Protector / Overseer — Al-Muhaymin
The Giver of Security — Al-Mu’min
The Compeller — Al-Jabbār
The Almighty — Al-‘Azīz
The Creator — Al-Khāliq
The Supremely Great — Al-Mutakabbir
The Fashioner — Al-Muṣawwir
The Creator (from nothing) — Al-Bāri’
The All-Dominant — Al-Qahhār
The All-Forgiving — Al-Ghaffār
The Provider — Ar-Razzāq
The Great Bestower — Al-Wahhāb
The All-Knowing — Al-‘Alīm
The Opener — Al-Fattāḥ
The Expander — Al-Bāsit
The Withholder — Al-Qābid
The Exalter — Ar-Rāfi‘
The Abaser — Al-Khāfiḍ
The Humiliator — Al-Mudhill
The Giver of Honor — Al-Mu‘izz
The All-Seeing — Al-Baṣīr
The All-Hearing — As-Samī‘
The Utterly Just — Al-‘Adl
The Judge — Al-Ḥakam
The All-Aware — Al-Khabīr
The Most Subtle — Al-Laṭīf
The Most Magnificent — Al-‘Aẓīm
The Most Forbearing — Al-Ḥalīm
The Most Appreciative — Ash-Shakūr
The Most Forgiving — Al-Ghafūr
The Greatest — Al-Kabīr
The Most High — Al-‘Aliyy
The Sustainer — Al-Muqīt
The Protector — Al-Ḥafīẓ
The Majestic — Al-Jalīl
The Reckoner — Al-Ḥasīb
The Watchful — Ar-Raqīb
The Most Generous — Al-Karīm
The All-Encompassing — Al-Wāsi‘
The One Who Responds — Al-Mujīb
The Loving — Al-Wadūd
The All-Wise — Al-Ḥakīm
The Resurrector — Al-Bā‘ith
The Most Glorious — Al-Majīd
The Absolute Truth — Al-Ḥaqq
The Ever-Present Witness — Ash-Shahīd
The All-Powerful — Al-Qawiyy
The Trustee / Disposer of Affairs — Al-Wakīl
The Protecting Friend — Al-Walī
The Most Firm — Al-Matīn
The All-Encompassing / The Reckoner — Al-Muḥṣī
The Most Praiseworthy — Al-Ḥamīd
The Restorer — Al-Mu‘īd
The Originator — Al-Mubdi’
The Self-Subsisting — Al-Qayyūm
The Ever-Living — Al-Ḥayy
The Possessor of Glory — Al-Mājid
The Finder / Perceiver — Al-Wājid
The One — Al-Aḥad
The Unique — Al-Wāḥid
The All-Powerful — Al-Qādir
The Self-Sufficient — Aṣ-Ṣamad
The All-Determiner — Al-Muqtadir
The One Worthy of Worship — Al-Ma‘būd
The Delayer — Al-Mu’akhkhir
The Advancer — Al-Muqaddim
The Last — Al-Ākhir
The First — Al-Awwal
The Hidden — Al-Bāṭin
The Manifest — Aẓ-Ẓāhir
The Most Exalted — Al-Muta‘ālī
The Governor / Patron — Al-Wālī
The Accepter of Repentance — At-Tawwāb
The Avenger — Al-Muntaqim
The Pardoner — Al-‘Afuww
The Owner of both worlds — Mālik al-Mulk
The Most Kind — Ar-Ra’ūf
The Possessor of Majesty and Honor — Dhū al-Jalāl wa al-Ikrām
The Gatherer — Al-Jāmi‘
The Utterly Just — Al-Muqsiṭ
The Self-Sufficient — Al-Ghaniyy
The Enricher — Al-Mughnī
The Preventer — Al-Māni‘
The One Who Causes Harm — Aḍ-Ḍārr
The Benefactor — An-Nāfi‘
The Light — An-Nūr
The Guide — Al-Hādī
The Incomparable Originator — Al-Badī‘
The Everlasting — Al-Bāqī
The Guide to the Right Path — Ar-Rāshid
The Most Patient — Aṣ-Ṣabūr
The Bestower of Blessings — Al-Mun‘im
The Sustainer / Lord — Ar-Rabb
The Healer — Ash-Shāfī
The All-Sufficient — Al-Kāfī
The One Who Spoke (to Moses) — Al-Kalīm
The Ruler — Al-Ḥākim
The Close Friend — Al-Khalīl
The All-Knowing — Al-‘Ālim
The Most Exalted — Ar-Rafī‘
The Bearer of Glad Tidings — Al-Bashīr
The Warner — An-Nadhīr
The Helper — An-Nāṣir
The Protector — Al-Ḥāfiẓ
Asma’ al-Ilahiyyah
(Divine Names of Allah)
The number of Asma’ al-Ilahiyyah is eleven thousand.
The Divine Names are divided into three stages of descent (levels of manifestation).
First: Asma’ al-Iṭlāqiyyah (Absolute / Non-relational Names)
Second: Asma’ al-‘Ayniyyah (Essential / Identified Names)
Third: Asma’ al-Kawniyyah (Cosmic / Created-order Names)
Asma’ al-Iṭlāqiyyah are those Names of Allah Most High that exist purely for the recognition of Allah Himself. Human beings or created entities have no direct relationship with them. For example, ‘Alīm (The All-Knowing). As ‘Alīm, Allah Most High is Himself aware of His knowledge and the attributes of knowledge. Neither human understanding nor the reach of the intellect can in any way fully comprehend or establish the reality of Allah being ‘Alīm.
This aspect of ‘Alīm is classified as an Ism Iṭlāqī (Absolute Name). At this point, two dimensions of the Absolute Name become established:
• ‘Alīm in relation to the Divine Essence
• ‘Alīm in relation to the Necessary Being (Wājib al-Wujūd)
‘Alīm as Essence is that Divine attribute whose association does not extend to created beings.
‘Alīm as Wājib is that Divine attribute whose association does extend to created beings.
The first association is called the First Descent (Tanzul-e-Awwal).
According to the people of Sufism, the number of Asma’ al-Iṭlāqiyyah is approximately eleven thousand. Of these eleven thousand Absolute Names, the reflection of one aspect is called Laṭīfah Akhfā (the Most Hidden Subtle Faculty), and the reflection of the other aspect is called Laṭīfah Khafī (the Hidden Subtle Faculty).
Thus, in the first association, Thābitah (the Immutable Archetype / Fixed Reality) represents the collective total of Allah Most High’s eleven thousand attributes. By reading the imprint of Thābitah, a possessor of inner secrets witnesses the realm of similitudes (‘Ālam al-Mithāl) of these eleven thousand manifestations.
When Thābitah is attributed to ‘Alīm, it means that created existence maintains a connection with Allah Most High through ‘Alīm, but this connection is not total—it is partial. ‘Alīm as totality refers to Allah Most High’s exclusive and absolute knowledge.
Therefore, when Allah Most High granted humanity knowledge of the Names through Thābitah, humanity acquired a relation to ‘Alīm. This knowledge is called “Ghayb al-Akwān” (the unseen knowledge of created worlds). The acquisition of this knowledge takes place under the attribution of ‘Alīm.
Qānūn (Principle / Law):
If a person empties the mind and turns attention toward this attribution, they can witness all the manifestations of Thābitah. This attribution is, in reality, a form of memory or stored knowledge. If someone attempts to read this memory through Murāqabah (spiritual meditation), it may be accessed through Idrāk-e-Wurūd (inner perception through spiritual influx) or Shuhūd (direct witnessing).
The Prophets, and those who inherit the Prophetic legacy, have accessed this memory through a method of Divinely guided understanding and conveyed comprehension.
Ṭarz-e-Tafhīm
(Method of Comprehension / Mode of Understanding)
Ṭarz-e-Tafhīm can be attained by cultivating the habit of sleeping for one hour, two hours, or at most two and a half hours within the twenty-four hours of day and night, and remaining awake for the rest of the time.
Among the people of Sufism, Ṭarz-e-Tafhīm is also described by the terms “Sayr” (spiritual journeying) and “Fatḥ” (inner opening or spiritual conquest). The meditation of comprehension (Tafhīm) should be practiced after half of the night has passed.
Human habit is such that after waking one sleeps, and after sleeping one wakes. A person spends the day mostly awake and the night asleep, and this pattern becomes a natural demand of temperament. The function of the mind is to perceive. It has become accustomed to performing this function through the eyes. In reality, the eye is nothing other than an extension of the mind itself.
In the waking state, the mind observes, hears, and understands everything in its surroundings. This process continues even in the state of sleep, but the impressions formed are either deep or light. When the impressions are deep, the memory is able to recall them after waking. When the impressions are light, the memory forgets them.
For this reason, we are not fully aware of the entire environment that appears before us during the state of sleep.
The Distributor / Divider — Al-Qāsim
The One with Authority / The Chooser — Al-Mukhtār
The Proof / Clear Evidence — Al-Burhān
The One Who Does Justice — Al-‘Ādil
The Guide to Right Judgment — Ar-Rashīd
The One Who Does Good / The Benefactor — Al-Muḥsin
The Counselor — Al-Mashīr
The Illuminator — Al-Munīr
The Exalted / Weighty in Rank — Ar-Rafī‘
The Established / The One Who Occurs — Al-Wāqi‘
The Truthful — Aṣ-Ṣādiq
The Trustworthy — Al-Amīn
The Pure / Wholesome — Aṭ-Ṭayyib
The Extremely Generous — Al-Jawwād
The Absolutely Pure (free from all defects) — Al-Quddūs
Pure / Sacred — Ṭāhir
Most Pure — Ṣubbūḥ
Perfect / Complete — Kāmil
The One Who Praises — Ḥāmid
The Most Praiseworthy — Maḥmūd
The Bestower of Right Guidance — Rāshid
The Witness / Ever-Present — Shāhid