What is the meaning of the statement that the names of Allah are both designations and descriptions?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
The names of Allah are designations and descriptions, not purely designations. Please explain this phrase to us.
Answer:
Yes, this is one of the matters where it is established that the names of Allah are designations and descriptions. Descriptions, meaning attributes. Yes, because each of these names indicates an attribute of the Most Merciful. "The Merciful" indicates mercy, "The Mighty" indicates might and power, "The Wise" indicates wisdom, "The Forgiver" indicates the abundance of His forgiveness for the sins of His servants, and "The One Who Accepts Repentance" indicates that He accepts repentance and is abundant in accepting the repentance of those who repent. And so on with the names of Allah and His attributes. They are not mere words, as the Jahmiyyah and the Mu'tazilah say. The Jahmiyyah deny them completely, denying both their words and their meanings, may Allah protect us from that. As for the Mu'tazilah, they affirm the words but deny the meanings, saying they are words that do not indicate meanings, but are merely words. That is what the Mu'tazilah say. Yes.
The names of Allah are designations and descriptions, not purely designations. Please explain this phrase to us.
Answer:
Yes, this is one of the matters where it is established that the names of Allah are designations and descriptions. Descriptions, meaning attributes. Yes, because each of these names indicates an attribute of the Most Merciful. "The Merciful" indicates mercy, "The Mighty" indicates might and power, "The Wise" indicates wisdom, "The Forgiver" indicates the abundance of His forgiveness for the sins of His servants, and "The One Who Accepts Repentance" indicates that He accepts repentance and is abundant in accepting the repentance of those who repent. And so on with the names of Allah and His attributes. They are not mere words, as the Jahmiyyah and the Mu'tazilah say. The Jahmiyyah deny them completely, denying both their words and their meanings, may Allah protect us from that. As for the Mu'tazilah, they affirm the words but deny the meanings, saying they are words that do not indicate meanings, but are merely words. That is what the Mu'tazilah say. Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، 11 من 14|أسئلة شرح كتاب التوحيد|توحيد الأسماء والصفات|ما معنى قول بأن أسماء الله أعلام وأوصاف؟ — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.