Sharh Asma Allah al-Husna fi Daw al-Kitab wa al-Sunna
- Author died
- 1440 AH
- Editions
- Matba'at Safir
Sharh Asma Allah al-Husna fi Daw al-Kitab wa al-Sunna (Explanation of Allah's Beautiful Names in Light of the Quran and Sunnah) is a concise theological treatise by the Saudi scholar Saeed bin Wahf al-Qahtani (d. 1440 AH / 2018 CE), dedicated to explaining the divine names of God and their textual proofs from the Quran and Prophetic Sunnah .
Background and Composition
Al-Qahtani compiled the divine names accompanied by textual evidence from the Quran or Sunnah and presented the entire list to Abd al-Aziz ibn Abd Allah ibn Baz, the Grand Mufti and head of the General Presidency of Scholarly Research and Ifta in Saudi Arabia . Following Ibn Baz's assessment, al-Qahtani affirmed the names that Ibn Baz approved and excluded those that Ibn Baz rejected or withheld judgment on, eventually collecting more than ninety-nine names established by explicit texts . From these, he selected ninety-nine names to explain within the treatise, while noting that other confirmed names—such as al-Mustaʿan, al-Musaʿʿir, al-Tayyib, and al-Witr—were omitted from this specific commentary .
Structure and Method
The work begins with an introductory theoretical section divided into fifteen thematic chapters (mabahith) outlining the foundational creedal principles governing the divine names and attributes . Among the principles covered are:
- The principle that Allah's names are exclusively dictated by revelation (tauqifiyyah) without room for human rational speculation .
- The three pillars of faith in the divine names: belief in the name, belief in its signified meaning, and belief in its associated effects .
- The categories of descriptions applied to God .
- The three levels of semantic indication (dalalat al-mutabaqah, dalalat al-tadammun, and dalalat al-iltizam) .
- The nature of deviation (ilhad) concerning Allah's names .
- The enumeration (ihsa) of the names as a foundation of knowledge, their intrinsic perfection, and rules regarding single versus paired names .
In the commentary section, the author generally provides concise definitions and explanations for each name, expanding on certain names when required by context . For his explanations, al-Qahtani relied on standard Sunni theological references, drawing particularly from the works of Ibn Taymiyyah, his student Ibn al-Qayyim, and Abd al-Rahman ibn Nasir al-Sa'di .
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