Names of God in Islam
In order to explain the complexity of the unity of God and of the divine nature, the Qur'an uses 99 terms referred to as "Excellent Names of God" (Sura 7:180). Aside from the supreme name "Allah" and the neologism al-Rahman(referring to the divine beneficence that creates and maintains the universe) and a few other specific names like al-Maalik al-Mulook ('King of Kings' in an authentic narration of the Prophet), other names may be shared by both God and human beings. According to the Islamic teachings, the latter is meant to serve as a reminder of God's immanence rather than being a sign of one's divinity or alternatively imposing a limitation on God's transcendent nature. Attribution of divinity to a created entity, shirk, is considered a denial of the truth of God and thus a major sin.
Correction In Arabic language, the names or the titles of people come from the epithet, not opposite. For example: the title "king" - "malik" come from an epithet: "authority"
"Al-maalik al-mulook" does not means "king of kings" Reasons: - first: because "maalik" means "the possessor of absolute authority", and does not means "king" - second: because "mulook" means "dominions" - third: "malik" means "he who had the dominion, the power to rule over all the people", and by extension, this concept are translated with the English term "king" - fourth: the plural of "malik" is "amlaak", and not "mulook" source: "Lane Lexicon"
So: "Al-maalik al-mulook" in fact means: "he who have the supreme authority over all the dominions", in other wording: "He Who had the Supreme authority over all His creations " which is God, and no human can share this attribute with Him.
Read more about this topic: Tawhid (Islamic Monotheism)
Famous quotes containing the words names of, names, god and/or islam:
“All the names of good and evil are parables: they do not declare, but only hint. Whoever among you seeks knowledge of them is a fool!”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“And even my sense of identity was wrapped in a namelessness often hard to penetrate, as we have just seen I think. And so on for all the other things which made merry with my senses. Yes, even then, when already all was fading, waves and particles, there could be no things but nameless things, no names but thingless names. I say that now, but after all what do I know now about then, now when the icy words hail down upon me, the icy meanings, and the world dies too, foully named.”
—Samuel Beckett (1906–1989)
“I respect not his labors, his farm where everything has its price, who would carry the landscape, who would carry his God, to market, if he could get anything for him; who goes to market for his god as it is; on whose farm nothing grows free, whose fields bear no crops, whose meadows no flowers, whose trees no fruit, but dollars; who loves not the beauty of his fruits, whose fruits are not ripe for him till they are turned to dollars. Give me the poverty that enjoys true wealth.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Sooner or later we must absorb Islam if our own culture is not to die of anemia.”
—Basil Bunting (1900–1985)