Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah.
There is no harm in the supplication mentioned if the intention is to call upon Allah تعالى by an expression that indicates Him, such as saying: “O Allah, O Purifier of the hearts of Your righteous servants, purify our hearts.” The permissibility of this supplication does not require affirming “the Purifier” as an independent Name among the Most Beautiful Names of Allah. Supplicating with a correct expression that refers to Allah is different from considering one of its words to be an established Name of His.
The fatwa permits calling upon Allah using an expression that indicates Him within the context of supplication. It gives as an example: “O Allah, O Purifier of the hearts of Your righteous servants, purify our hearts.”
The intended meaning is to ask Allah سبحانه to purify the hearts. The supplicant first explicitly calls upon Him by saying “O Allah,” followed by a request related to the purification of hearts.
Therefore, this supplication should not be prohibited merely because “the Purifier” has not been established as an independent Name. One formulation that makes the intended meaning clear and identifies what the supplication concerns is: “O Allah, O Purifier of the hearts of Your righteous servants, purify our hearts.”
This is the meaning to which the imam’s statement in the question should be understood, and it does not necessarily mean that he intended to add a new Name to the Most Beautiful Names of Allah.
The fatwa cites the supplications of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم:
“O Turner of the hearts,”
and
“O Director of the hearts.”
It explains that “the Turner” and “the Director” are not among the Names of Allah when considered individually.
The complete supplication has a meaning that indicates Allah, and its occurrence does not require taking one word from it separately and making it an independent Name.
This distinction removes the confusion: asking whether a particular supplication is permissible is not the same as asking whether every word in it is established as one of the Most Beautiful Names.
A supplication may therefore be permissible even though an individual expression within it is not affirmed as a Name.
Ibn Taymiyyah was asked about someone who claimed that supplication is permissible only using the ninety-nine Names, and who prohibited expressions such as “O Guide of the perplexed.”
He answered that some later scholars, such as Ibn Hazm, held this view, but the majority of scholars disagreed with it. He stated that permissibility was the practice of the early generations and their imams, and that this is the correct view according to him.
See: Majmū‘ al-Fatāwā (22/481).
The fatwa therefore follows the position of the majority in this matter. It does not restrict supplication to a list of ninety-nine Names, nor does it consider the permissibility of a supplication to automatically constitute evidence for establishing a new Name of Allah.
The Permanent Committee was asked about a person saying when seeking Allah’s help or asking Him to make something easy:
“O Helper, O Lord,”
“O One Who makes things easy,”
and
“O Facilitator, O Lord.”
They answered that this is permissible, explaining that what is intended by these expressions when calling upon Allah is Allah Himself, because the supplicant explicitly says “O Lord.”
Their answer states: “It is permissible for you to say what you have mentioned, because what is intended by ‘the helper,’ ‘the one who makes things easy,’ and ‘the facilitator’ in your invocation is Allah سبحانه وتعالى, as you explicitly say: ‘O Lord’ at the end of the invocation.”
See: Fatāwā al-Lajnah ad-Dā’imah (1/160).
This is analogous to the imam’s statement: “O Allah, O Purifier.” The invocation of Allah is explicit, and the intended meaning is to ask Him سبحانه to perform the action.
The complete expression and its context should therefore be understood as a whole, without separating a word from the context that clarifies its intended meaning.
It is permissible to supplicate by saying:
“O Allah, O Purifier of the hearts of Your righteous servants, purify our hearts,”
as stated in the fatwa.
This is supplication using an expression that indicates Allah, and it does not mean affirming “the Purifier” as an independent Name among His Most Beautiful Names.
And Allah knows best.