I had always assumed that the 99 Names of Allah were simply the 99 Names that were found in the Qur'an, but I never thought that this meant it was an exclusive list. None of them really seem like names, more like descriptors. Indeed, this Islamic website
www.jannah.org refers to them as attributes. So, because of them, we know that Allah is:
1. Allah
2. Compassionate, Beneficient
3. Merciful
4. the King, the Sovereign Lord with the complete dominion
5. Holy, pure from any imperfection
.
.
.
99. Patient
But I never imagined that just because only 99 things are listed that Allah was limited from having any other attributes.
For instance, while we are told that Allah is Al-Qaadir (Able, Capable, attributed with power) and Al-Muqtadir (Powerful, Dominant, perfect power that nothing is withheld from Him) we are not told that Allah is actually All-Powerful with none surpassing him -- yet I know Muslims believe this as well. So, I always figured that the list was just a good start and that there are probably 999+ more attributes of Allah not listed in the Qur'an, for if all of Allah's attributes were to be listed, there would not be enough pages to record them all.
So, it is interesting to read the statements of those early on in this thread who denied the existence of any other Name or Attributes of Allah beyond these 99. Never dreamed a Muslim would so limit Allah.
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