The Beautiful Names are the proper names and descriptions by which God has named Himself. Believing in them and knowing what they mean is a foundation of a Muslim's creed, and on them rest his supplication and his worship.

Muslim scholars gathered them from the Qurʾān and the sunnah and set out their meanings, and settled two questions in which error has been common: how many they are, and where they may be taken from.

What the Names Signify: a Proper Name and an Attribute of Perfection at Once

A name of God is distinguished by signifying two things at once: the Essence, and an attribute of perfection subsisting in it with no deficiency in any respect. The All-Knowing points to the Essence and affirms an all-encompassing knowledge; the Merciful points to the Essence and affirms a vast mercy. This is what separates a name from a mere title.

God has commanded His servants to call upon Him by them — Sūrat al-Aʿrāf, verse 180. Calling upon Him by them is of two kinds: the supplication of asking, in which a need is sought through the name that fits it, and the supplication of worship, in which God is praised by what the name entails.

The Number: Why They Are Not Confined to Ninety-Nine

Many suppose that God's Names are confined to ninety-nine, relying on a hadith in the two authentic collections which states that God has ninety-nine Names, a hundred less one, and that whoever masters them enters the Garden. What the scholars established is that the hadith does not confine them; it states that whoever masters this particular number has the Garden — and naming the reward of a number is not a denial of what lies beyond it.

Among the clearest evidence for this is a supplication reported from the Prophet in which he asks his Lord by every Name that is His: what He has named Himself with, or sent down in His Book, or taught to any of His creation, or kept to Himself in the knowledge of the unseen. This establishes that God has Names He has disclosed to no one, and what is such cannot fall under a count.

Where They Are Taken From: God Is Named Only by What He Has Named Himself

The position of the great body of Sunni scholars is that the Names depend on revelation: no name is applied to God except one that occurs in the Qurʾān or in authentic sunnah. Reason may not derive a name for God of its own, however sound its meaning seems, because a name is a report about the unseen, and there is no room in that for independent judgement.

Hence what may be predicated of God is wider than what He may be named with. It is sound to say that He is existent and that He is pre-eternal, as a report of an established truth; it is not sound to take 'the Existent' and 'the Pre-eternal' as names of His, since they were not revealed as such. Confusing the two is the source of most of the names ascribed to God with no basis.

The Effect of Knowing Them: from Memorising to Acting

Mastering the Names is not memorising words alone but understanding what they mean and acting on what they require. Whoever knows that He is the Provider attaches himself to Him alone in seeking his provision; whoever knows that He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing is mindful of Him in private as in public.

The fruit of this appears in uprightness of conduct and in reliance. Knowledge of the Names and attributes gives rise to awe, love and hope — the works of the heart on which servitude and the purification of the soul rest.

Conclusion

Believing in the Beautiful Names and knowing their meanings is a door to revering God and loving Him. And though there is merit in mastering the ninety-nine, His Names and perfections are bounded by no count and encompassed by no limit — which shows how far creation falls short of grasping the reality of His majesty.