In Islam, God is believed to have 99 Names, known as the 99 Names of God, ʾasmāʾu llāhi l-ḥusnā. There is no universal agreement among Muslims as to what exactly counts as a name of God, and what does not. Additionally, while some names are only in the Quran, and others are only in the hadith, there are some names which appear in both. Different sources give different lists of the 99 names. The following list is based on the one found in the 9th century. Other hadith, such as those of al-Bukhari, Sahih Muslim, Ibn Majah, al-Hakim al-Tirmidhi or Ibn ʿAsākir, have variant lists. Al-Tirmidhi comments on his list: "This hadith is gharib ; it has been narrated from various routes on the authority of Abu Hurairah, but we do not know of the mention of the Names in the numerous narrations, except this one." Various early Muslim exegetes, including Jaʿfar al-Sadiq, Sufyan ibn `Uyaynah, Ibn Hazm, al-Qurtubi, Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, have given their own versions of lists of 99 names.
Theophoric given names
The Arabic names of God are used to form theophoric given names commonly used in Muslim cultures throughout the world, including non-Arabic speaking societies. Because the names of God themselves are reserved to God and their use as a person's given name is considered religiously inappropriate, theophoric names are formed by prefixing the term ˁabd to the name in the case of male names; in the case of female names, the prefix amat is used in place of ˁabd. This distinction is established out of respect for the sanctity of Divine names, which denote attributes that are believed to be possessed in a full and absolute sense only by God, while human beings, being limited creatures, are viewed by Muslims as being endowed with the Divine attributes only in a limited and relative capacity. The prefixing of the definite article would indicate that the bearer possesses the corresponding attribute in an exclusive sense, a trait reserved to God. Quranic verse 3:26 is cited as evidence against the validity of using Divine names for persons, with the example of Mālik ul-Mulk : The two parts of the name starting with ˁabd may be written separately or combined as one in the transliterated form; in such a case, the vowel transcribed after ˁabdu is often written as u when the two words are transcribed as one: e.g., Abdur-Rahman, Abdul-Aziz, Abdul-Jabbar, or even Abdullah. Examples of Muslim theophoric names include:
By what they said to Sahih Bukhari Hadith: There is another Sahih Muslim Hadith: The Quran refers to God's Most Beautiful Names in several Surahs. Gerhard Böwering refers to Surah 17 as the locus classicus to which explicit lists of 99 names used to be attached in tafsir. A cluster of more than a dozen Divine epithets which are included in such lists is found in Surah 59. Sunni mystic Ibn Arabi surmised that the 99 names are "outward signs of the universe's inner mysteries".
Islamic mysticism
There is a tradition in Sufism to the effect the 99 names of God point to a mystical "Most Supreme and Superior Name". This "Greatest Name of God" is said to be "the one which if He is called by it, He will answer." The Greatest name of God is 'I Am' According to a hadith narrated by Abdullah ibn Masud, some of the names of God have also been hidden from mankind. More than 1000 names of God are listed in the Jawshan Kabir invocations. The influential Sunni mystic Ibn Arabi did not interpretate the names of God as mere epithets, but as actual attributes paring the universe both in created and possible forms. By these names, the divine traits disclose for humans, whose divine potential is hidden, can learn to become a reflection of such names. However, such reflections are limited; the divine traits do not equal the divine essence of the names. Influenced by the metaphysical teachings of Ibn Arabi, Haydar Amuli assigned angels to the different names of God. Accordingly, the good angels as a whole are a manifestation of God's Names of Beauty. Evil angelson the other hand are a manifestation of God's Names of majesty, such as "The Haughty".
