Tafsir Asma Allah al-Husna lil-Zajjaj
- Author died
- 311 AH
- Editions
- Dār al-Thaqāfah al-ʿArabiyyah
Tafsir Asma Allah al-Husna (Arabic: تفسير أسماء الله الحسنى, lit. 'Interpretation of the Most Beautiful Names of Allah') is an early Arabic linguistic and theological treatise on the Ninety-Nine Names of God by the grammarian and lexicographer Abu Ishaq al-Zajjaj (d. 311 AH / 923 CE) .
Composition and Transmission
The book originated when the Maliki judge Isma'il ibn Ishaq requested that al-Zajjaj explain the names of God; al-Zajjaj dictated the work to him, and it was subsequently copied into manuscript form . The grammarian Abu Ali al-Farisi read the complete text back to al-Zajjaj in a single sitting . The surviving transmission is recorded through Abu Bakr Abd Allah ibn Muhammad al-Hanbali, who read it to al-Farisi and transcribed it directly from his autograph copy .
Textual Basis and Scope
The work is organized around the prophetic tradition narrated by Abu Hurayrah: إِنَّ لِلَّهِ تِسْعَةً وَتِسْعِينَ اسْمًا مِائَةً إِلَّا وَاحِدَةً، مَنْ أَحْصَاهَا دَخَلَ الْجَنَّةَ ("Indeed, Allah has ninety-nine names, one hundred minus one; whoever enumerates them enters Paradise") . Al-Zajjaj relies on the specific listing of names transmitted via al-Walid ibn Muslim from Shu'ayb ibn Abi Hamzah from Abu al-Zinad from al-A'raj from Abu Hurayrah .
Content and Method
Al-Zajjaj opens with a linguistic analysis of the phrase man ahsaha ("whoever enumerates them"), noting that Arabic uses pebbles (al-hasa) as an expression of multitude and counting, and discussing the theological meaning of entering Paradise as safety from punishment and attainment of reward . He addresses whether the supreme name Allah is counted within the list, details its linguistic morphology (ilah versus lah), and argues that it is non-derived (ghayr mushtaq), rejecting its derivation from the root w-l-h .
The text systematically treats each of the ninety-nine divine names, providing concise semantic definitions, etymologies, and grammatical derivations based on classical Arabic usage . Methodologically, the work is characterized by brevity and simplicity of phrasing . Al-Zajjaj held that one may not call upon God except by names with which He has described Himself . In citing evidence, he did not consistently provide textual proof for every name, nor did he restrict admissible textual proofs solely to forms where the attribute appears as an explicit noun, occasionally including names derived from verbal or genitive constructions .
Reception and Editions
The treatise is regarded as one of the earliest specialized linguistic authorities on the divine names . It served as a direct precursor to Ishtiqaq Asma Allah by his student Abu al-Qasim al-Zajjaji and is frequently cited by later exegetes and theologians, including al-Qurtubi and Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani . Modern scholars note that al-Zajjaj accepted the validity of the specific hadith listing of the ninety-nine names and at times interpreted certain divine names by only some of their meanings .
The work has been edited and published by Ahmad Yusuf al-Daqqaq .
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