Is al-Shari' one of the names of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He)?

The questioner : The word "al-Shari'" (the Legislator) is sometimes mentioned in your books, and it is also mentioned by Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah; is this one of the names of Allah?

The Shaykh : This is not one of the names of Allah, but it is a statement describing an attribute . For example, we simply say, without denial or rejection: "Allah exists." Is "Al-Mawjud" (The Existent) one of the names of Allah - Mighty and Majestic? Of course not. What the scholars deny is that it is not permissible to name Allah - Mighty and Majestic - or describe Him except with what He has named and described Himself with. They do not mean the declarative sentence that a person utters and then stops at, describing Allah - Mighty and Majestic - by saying that "Al-Mawjud" (The Existent) is one of His names, or that "Al-Shari'" (The Legislator) is one of His names. Rather, he is making a pure statement. This is what Ibn Taymiyyah clarifies, whom the questioner says uses the word "al-Shari'" (the Legislator), because it is a statement about a concept that exists in the mind, which a person expresses. So if someone says about Allah - Mighty and Majestic -: "He is not lost" or "He is not non-existent," he has not applied a name to Allah or an attribute of His attributes. But with the word "He is not non-existent," he is expressing the meaning of "Al-Baqi" (The Everlasting) or the name "Al-Baqi," or "Al-Hayy al-Qayyum" (The Living, The Self-Sustaining), and the like. Therefore, such usage is not denied if it is not used as a name that came from the Salaf, or as an attribute that was explicitly mentioned in the Shari'ah.