God's most beautiful names - al-asmāʾ al-ḥusnā - are among the most cherished treasures of Islamic devotion and theology. This scholarly yet accessible volume presents all ninety-nine Excellent Names of God as recorded in the Qurʾān and authenticated Prophetic Tradition (ḥadīth), accompanied by rigorous lexical analysis and exegetical commentary drawn from authoritative classical and modern sources.
Each Divine Name receives a three-part treatment. The Arabic original is presented with transliteration and English rendering. A moral application section (marked A) - drawn from the Awrād-i-Raḥmānī of Mawlānā Ashraf ʿAlī Thānwī and annotated by Mawlānā Muḥammad Quṭb-ud-Dīn - shows how the believer may pattern conduct after each attribute. Detailed lexical and exegetical notes (marked B) by translator Syed Ghulam Mohiuddin draw on Lane's Arabic-English Lexicon, al-Rāghib al-Aṣfahānī's Mufradāt, the Qurʾānic commentaries of ʿAbdullah Yūsuf ʿAlī and Mawdūdī, and the Vocabulary of the Quran by ʿAbdullah ʿAbbās Nadwī, among other sources.
The Introduction by S. Abul Hasan Ali Nadwi - rector of Nadwatul Ulama, Lucknow, and one of the most eminent Islamic scholars of the twentieth century - offers a masterful theological meditation on divine attributes, their role in shaping the human–Divine relationship, and the contrast between the Qurʾānic conception of God and the abstract or mythologised deities of Greek, Hindu, and polytheistic traditions.
Among the ninety-nine Names presented: Allāh (the essential name), Al-Raḥmān (the Compassionate), Al-Raḥīm (the Merciful), Al-Malik (the King), Al-Quddūs (the Holy), Al-Salām (the Peace), Al-Khaliq (the Creator), Al-Ghaffār (the Most Forgiving), Al-ʿAzīz (the Mighty), Al-Ḥayy (the Ever-Living), Al-Qayyūm (the Sustainer), Al-Nūr (the Light), Al-Hādī (the Guide), and Al-Ṣabūr (the Patient).
A hadith recorded in all six major canonical compilations states: "Anyone who encompasses these Excellent Names of God in his memory, faith, and practice shall enter Paradise." This volume is both an introduction for the general reader and a reliable reference for the scholar. It is an enduring resource for devotional recitation, theological study, classroom teaching, and interfaith understanding.
