The Name and the Named: Are They One and the Same?

Question:
Honorable Shaykh, are the names of Allah identical to their essence? In other words, is the name the same as the named? Please clarify this for us. What is your view regarding those who raise such issues among the students of knowledge, especially those who are not well-established in their knowledge?

Answer:
These are the effects of the shortcomings of those who came before them. This is a new innovation; these people are the heirs of those earlier ones. They have grown weary of the creed of the people of the Sunnah and the community, and they have gone about raising the words of their shortcomings. One must be wary of these people. The Shaykh al-Islam (may Allah have mercy on him) said regarding the name and the named: In the mind, the name is not the named. The mind forms the image of the named and conceives of the name. However, in external reality, outside the mind, there is no division between the name and the named; there is no division, yes, except in the mind only, yes.