they are in agreement with the Book, the Sunnah, and reason. Allah Most High says:

“To Allah belong the most beautiful names.”

And He says:

“Whichever you call upon, to Him belong the most beautiful names.”

The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“Indeed, Allah has ninety-nine names.”

And the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“I have five names: I am Muhammad, Ahmad, al-Māhī, al-Hāshir, and al-‘Āqib.”

Both reports are recorded in the two Sahīh collections.

When they are asked, “Is the name the one named, or other than him?” they distinguish between the possible meanings, saying: “It is not the very one named, but it refers to the one named.” If it is said to be other than him in the sense that it must be separate from him, this is false. A created being may utter his own names without their being separate from him. How much more so with the Creator, whose names are part of His speech! His speech is not separate from Him.

The name itself may, however, be separate, as when a man gives someone else a name or utters that person’s name. This name itself does not subsist in the one named, but refers to him, for the purpose of a name is to make the one named known and identify him.

The word ism (“name”) is derived from sumuww, meaning elevation, as the Basran grammarians stated. The Kufan grammarians said that it is derived from sima, meaning a mark. This is correct in terms of “intermediate derivation,” in which two words share the same root letters but not their order: both contain the letters sīn, mīm, and wāw. The meaning is also sound, since sima and sīmā mean a mark. Hence one says wasamtuhu, asimuhu (“I marked him; I mark him”), as in His saying:

“We shall mark him on the snout.”

From this also comes tawassum (discerning signs), as in His saying:

“Indeed, in that are signs for those who discern.”

Its derivation from sumuww, however, is derivation in the specific sense, in which the two words share both the root letters and their order. Its meaning is more specific and more complete, for they say