His praise—in the Quran is merely a created name.”

Uthmān ibn Sa‘īd al-Dārimī said: “Then the opponent returned once more to the names of Allah Most High, claiming that they all had a beginning, because names are utterances and there can be no utterance without someone to utter it, though some of their meanings are eternal while others have a beginning. We have already explained the names of Allah Most High to the opponent at the beginning of this book and argued against him with conclusive evidence from the Book and the Sunnah. We did not wish to repeat it here and thereby lengthen the book. However, by saying that they are ‘the speaker’s utterance,’ he means that they are inventions and utterances of created beings, for, according to their claim, Allah Most High utters nothing. Rather, created beings described Him with these names. Whenever, according to his claim, Allah Most High performed a new act, His servants lent Him the name of that act. He means that when He created, they called Him Creator; when He provided, they called Him Provider; and when He created the creatures