peace,
i do not believe we should limit Allah to only 99 names. to do this is to say that Allah is the one with 99 names, this would add another name like "the 99 named one" or something similar. this of course would make 100 names. anyway, i do not believe we should say Allah is limited to 99 names. just yesterday i called Allah the Most Awesome when speaking with a brother. would that be incorrect since it is not on the list of 99? surely Allah is the Most Awesome.

wa salaam

I think it's 99 because that is how many attributes are listed in the koran, so those names are the names that he gives to himself.

I know i read that scholars have come up with a lot more they think are in the koran but traditionalist recognize the 99.

It's like the heavenly father, On of Allah's atributes is not the Father so you can't say Allah the Father

salaam alaikum.

i feel where you are coming from though.

First of All we dont limit Allah to 99 names. In quran Allah says I have 99 names who ever Memorizes those and their meanings will be apart of the just on the day of qiyyam.. we arent limiting Allah, Allah gave us that limit.

it is like prayer we pray five times because Allah limits us to five obligatory prayers...

here is something interesting i came across......
"The foremost in the Deen is the acknowledgement of Hu, the Perfection of acknowledging Hu is to testify Hu, the Perfection of testifying Hu is to believe in Hu's Oneness, the Perfection of believing in Hu's Oneness is to regard Hu Pure, and the Perfection of Hu's purity is to deny Hu attributes, because every attribute is a proof that it is different from that to which it is attributed and everything to which something is attributed is different from the attribute. Thus whoever attaches attributes to Allaah recognizes Hu's like, and who recognizes Hu's like regards Hu two; and who regards Hu two recognizes parts for Hu; and who recognizes parts for Hu mistook Hu; and who mistook Hu pointed at Hu; and who pointed at Hu admitted limitations for Hu; and who admitted limitations for Hu numbered Hu." - Imaam `Aliyy, 'Ameeru-l-Mu'mineen, the Qutb of Allaah, from Nahju-l-Balaaghah, Khutbah 1

do you know where in the quran that Allah says Hu has only 99 names?
i personally prefer to do at least 6 prayers a day :), i know only 5 are obligatory though.

peace and love

I think the 99 come from things like the Compasionate the Merciful, the All Knowing, The Judge, The KIng. those are his atriubtes. count em up i guess. that's why people think there are more then 99.

i mean in reality it's good to always keep Allah in your mind, I read where when the Prophet (may peace be upon him) went to the bathroom he would pray and thank Allah for releaving him of waste from his body. We can pray all day. but it's not obligatory, same with fasting, there are more rewards if you do these things but not obligatory.

if all was One we would have no words to describe Allah. but the One. and we would fully understand Allah as being that one. maybe the 99 attributes are only ones that we can understand. Allah is perfect in the way he rules over us.

and awesome might just be another word for his attributes, like if someone was translating it into english in the 90 they might have used awesome. but the Koran is in arabic so until we comand the language of arabic we really can't understand it even to that extent.

salaam alaikum.

no what i am saying is we arent putting limitations Allah said there were 99 ames and allah said there are only 5 obligatory prayers aday... we arent putting limitation he did... and we shouldnt question his knowledge or why he did that :D

where is it in the quran that Allah has only 99 names? i do not remember reading that.

peace

ps - sorry for the slow reply, i have been moving around a lot and do not have a consistent internet connection.

oops... tried to post a new topic..

it says in Quran that there are 99 names of Allah and that whoever remembers all 99 names of Allah that he would be granted Jinnah on the day of Qiyyam.

do you know the verse? i do not remember reading that God only has 99 names.

gracias

peace & love

ill get it for you. :D and post it i have to ask my friend who was chatting with me just recently aobut it. :D hugs