Thus, whether one explains “My remembrance” as My Book, My Speech, My guidance, or anything similar, the referent is one and the same.

If, however, the inquirer wishes to know the specific attribute contained in a particular Name, then something in addition to merely identifying the Named One is required. A person might ask about al-Quddūs, al-Salām, or al-Muʾmin, already aware that they all refer to Allah, yet wanting to understand what it means for Him to be al-Quddūs (the All-Holy), al-Salām (the Source of Peace), al-Muʾmin (the Giver of Security), and so forth.

With this principle in view, one often finds the early scholars referring to the same Being by different phrases that single Him out, even though each phrase may include an attribute missing from another name. Someone might say, for example, “Ahmad is al-Ḥāshir, al-Māḥī, and al-ʿĀqib,” or, “al-Quddūs is al-Ghafūr, al-Raḥīm,” meaning that the One described is identical, not that the attributes themselves are identical. Clearly, this is not a contradiction, as some mistakenly think.

Consider their explanations of al-ṣirāṭ al-mustaqīm (the straight path). Some said it is the Qur’an—that is, following it—citing the Prophet’s ﷺ words in the hadith of ʿAlī, related by al-Tirmidhī and, through multiple chains, by Abū Nuʿaym: “It is Allah’s sturdy rope, the wise reminder, and the straight path.” Others said it is Islam, drawing on the hadith of al-Nawwās ibn Samʿān, also reported by al-Tirmidhī and others: “Allah has offered the parable of a straight path; on either side of the path are two walls; in the walls are open doors; over the doors hang curtains; a caller from above the path calls out, and a caller at the head of the path calls out.” He then explained: “The straight path is Islam, the two walls are Allah’s boundaries, the open doors are the things He has forbidden, the caller at the head of the path is the Book of Allah, and the caller above the path is Allah’s admonisher in the heart of every believer.”