“Allah has ninety-nine names—one hundred minus one—and whoever enumerates them will enter Paradise.” This hadith is recorded in: - Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 3/185, Kitāb al-Shurūṭ – chapter “What May Be Stipulated”; and 8/169, Kitāb al-Tawḥīd – chapter “Indeed Allah Has One Hundred Names Minus One.” - Muslim also narrates it in his Ṣaḥīḥ (4/2063), under the same book and chapter titles. - At-Tirmidhī in his Sunan (5/530), Kitāb al-Da‘awāt – chapter “Yūsuf ibn Ḥammād al-Baṣrī narrated to us,” hadith no. 3506. - Aḥmad in his Musnad (2/503, 516). This hadith does not imply that Allah’s names are limited to a fixed number. Had the intent been to restrict them, it would have stated, “The names of Allah are ninety-nine.” Rather, the meaning is that whoever enumerates this particular count will enter Paradise. Thus, “whoever enumerates them will enter Paradise” completes the preceding clause and is not an independent stipulation—similar to saying, “I have one thousand dirhams set aside for pilgrimage,” which does not preclude owning additional dirhams not allocated for that purpose. The specification of the number applies only to those names described by this attribute, not to a fundamental entitlement to that number. Further evidence that Allah’s names are not confined to ninety-nine is found in Aḥmad’s Musnad 1/452, on the authority of Ibn Mas‘ūd, who reported that the Messenger of Allah said: “No servant ever recited when afflicted by worry and sadness: ‘O Allah, I am Your servant, the son of Your servant, the son of Your maidservant; my forelock is in Your hand; Your command over me is certain; Your decree concerning me is just. I ask You by every name that belongs to You, which You have named Yourself with, or revealed in Your Book, or taught to any of Your creation, or preserved within the knowledge of the Unseen with You, to make the Qur’an the spring of my heart, the light of my chest, the remover of my sadness, and the reliever of my distress…’ ” This indicates that Allah has more than ninety-nine names—some of which believers enumerate—while what Allah alone has reserved in the knowledge of the Unseen cannot be enumerated or comprehensively known. And Allah knows best. References: Majmū‘ Fatāwā Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyya, vol. 6, pp. 379–382; Dar’ Ta‘āruḍ al-‘Aql wa al-Naql, vol. 3, pp. 332–333; Al-Qawā‘id al-Muthlá fī Ṣifāt Allāh wa Asmā’ihi al-Ḥusnā, Ibn ‘Uthaymīn, pp. 13–16. (1) In Al-Asnā: They are merely multiple designations using different expressions indicative of the same referent with attributes of majesty.