The 99 Names of Allah: Meaning and Benefits
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The Prophet said: Allah has ninety-nine names, one hundred less one; whoever ihsa them will enter Paradise. Recorded in al-Bukhari and Muslim. Almost everything commonly said about the ninety-nine names turns on what that one word means.
The Names Are Not Limited to Ninety-Nine
The hadith says Allah has ninety-nine names whoever counts them enters Paradise. It does not say He has only ninety-nine.
The distinction is established. In another authentic supplication the Prophet asks by every name that Allah has named Himself, or taught to any of His creation, or revealed in His Book, or kept hidden with Himself in the knowledge of the unseen — which states directly that some names are not disclosed at all.
So the ninety-nine are a set with a specific promise attached, not the total.
The List
The list of ninety-nine names printed on posters, recited in nasheed and reproduced on this site comes down through al-Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah. It is the list Muslims have learned and taught for centuries, drawn from the Quran and the Sunnah, and it is the one used here.
Ar-Rahman, ar-Rahim, al-Malik, al-Quddus, as-Salam, al-Mu'min, al-Muhaymin, al-Aziz, al-Jabbar, al-Mutakabbir — the list opens with the names of majesty and moves through the names of mercy, power, provision and knowledge.
What Ihsa Means
The word in the hadith, ahsaha, is usually translated as counted or enumerated, and it is often taken to mean memorised.
The classical commentators read it more broadly. Al-Bukhari's commentators, and al-Nawawi on Muslim, record several positions: to memorise them, to recite them, to understand their meanings, to supplicate by them, and — the position several scholars preferred — to act by what each name requires.
That last reading changes the exercise. Knowing that He is al-Ghafur, the Forgiving, and acting on it means forgiving. Knowing that He is al-Razzaq, the Provider, and acting on it means not being ruined by anxiety about provision. Under this reading a person who memorises ninety-nine Arabic words and lives unchanged has not done what the hadith asks.
How to Use Them
Take a few rather than all. Learn what each actually means — several of the names are close in English translation and quite distinct in Arabic, such as al-Rahman and al-Rahim, or al-Khaliq, al-Bari and al-Musawwir, which describe three different stages of bringing into being.
Supplicate with the name that fits the request. The Quran instructs: to Allah belong the most beautiful names, so call upon Him by them. Asking for forgiveness by al-Ghaffar and for sustenance by al-Razzaq is what that verse describes.
Use them in dhikr after prayer, and in the morning and evening.
In Daily Practice
Take a few names rather than all ninety-nine, and use them where they fit: ask forgiveness by al-Ghaffar, provision by ar-Razzaq, healing by ash-Shafi. The Quran instructs exactly this — to Allah belong the most beautiful names, so call upon Him by them.
Many people keep a daily count of a particular name, and recite the full list after Fajr or before sleep. Whatever the form, the reports tie the promise to keeping to them rather than to reciting them once.