“Say: He is Allah, the One.” (1)

When they returned, they reported this to the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—who said, “Ask him for what reason he does that.” They asked him, and he replied, “Because it describes the Most Compassionate, and I love to recite it.” The Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—then said, “Inform him that Allah loves him.” (2)

This indicates that every verse containing a description of Allah is recommended to be recited; Allah loves such recitation and loves those who love it. There is no disagreement among the Muslims regarding the recommendation to recite the verses of the Divine attributes in the audible prayers that are heard by the layperson and others. Indeed, bismi Allahi al-Rahmani al-Rahim is itself one of those verses, as is the opening of Surah al-Hadid (3) up to His words,

“and Allah is Seeing of what you do.” (4)

These are verses concerning the attributes. Likewise, the end of Surah al-Hashr is among the greatest (5) of such verses. In fact, all of the Most Beautiful Names of Allah are part of what He has used (6) to describe Himself, such as His saying: al-Ghafur, al-Rahim, al-Aziz, al-Hakim, al-Alim, al-Qadir, al-‘Ali, al-Azim, al-Kabir, al-Muta‘al, al-Qawiyy, al-Aziz, al-Razzaq (7), Dhu ’l-Quwwa al-Matin, al-Ghafur, al-Wadud, Dhu ’l-‘Arsh al-Majid, fa‘‘alun lima yurid—“Doer of whatever He wills.”