al-Nu'ut al-Asma wa al-Sifat
- Author died
- 303 AH
- Editions
- مكتبة العبيكان
al-Nu'ut al-Asma wa al-Sifat (The Epithets, Names, and Attributes; Arabic: كتاب النعوت الأسماء والصفات) is a hadith work compiled by the traditionist al-Nasa'i (215–303 AH / 829–915 CE; born 214 AH according to an alternate report) devoted to prophetic traditions and scriptural texts concerning the divine names and attributes of God .
Context and Transmission
The book forms part of al-Nasa'i's comprehensive compendium al-Sunan al-Kubra . While al-Nasa'i compiled a condensed version titled al-Mujtaba (or al-Sunan al-Sughra), several specialized sections present in the larger collection—such as Kitab al-Nu'ut, Kitab al-Manaqib, Kitab al-Siyar, Kitab al-Tafsir, and Fada'il al-Qur'an—were not included in the smaller work .
The text of Kitab al-Nu'ut has been preserved through the direct transmission of al-Nasa'i's Egyptian student, the hadith scholar Abu al-Qasim Hamza ibn Muhammad al-Kinani, who studied and read the work with him in Egypt . Major hadith commentators and catalogers, including al-Mizzi, referenced and cited the specific narrations of this book under its designation in al-Sunan al-Kubra .
Structure and Methodology
The work opens with the Quranic verse: وَلِلَّهِ الأَسْمَاءُ الْحُسْنَى فَادْعُوهُ بِهَا ("And to Allah belong the best names, so invoke Him by them") and opens its first chapter with the prophetic tradition stating that God has ninety-nine names .
It is arranged topically into distinct chapters (abwab), each organized around a specific divine name, attribute, or Quranic phrase, including:
- Dhikr Asma' Allah Tabaraka wa-Ta'ala (Mention of the Names of God, Blessed and Exalted)
- al-Awwal wa al-Akhir wa al-Zahir wa al-Batin (The First, the Last, the Manifest, and the Hidden)
- al-Rahim, al-Hamid al-Majid, al-Halim al-Karim, al-'Azim al-Halim, al-A'la, and al-'Ali al-'Azim
- al-Sami' al-Qarib and al-Sami' al-'Alim
- Dhu al-Jalal wa al-Ikram and Dhu al-'Izzah
- Chapters covering divine speech (Kalimat Allah), supplications invoking God by His attributes, and specific scriptural descriptions such as the divine countenance (al-Wajh)
Throughout the collection, al-Nasa'i applies his critical method of comparing chains of transmission (asānīd), highlighting narrator disagreements (khilāf), and pointing out variations between parallel transmissions of the same hadith .
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