Praise be to Allah, and may peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah.
The Names of Allah are tawqifiyyah, meaning that a Name may not be affirmed for Allah except on the basis of evidence from the Book of Allah or the Sunnah of His Messenger, peace and blessings be upon him. The matter of the Divine Names is not a field for personal reasoning or mere rational approval.
Ibn Hazm, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
“No one is permitted to name Allah تعالى with a name by which He did not name Himself, for whoever does so has committed deviation regarding His Names.”
Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
“The Names of Allah تعالى are tawqifiyyah; reason has no independent role in determining them. Therefore, one must restrict them to what is established in the Qur’an and Sunnah, without adding to them or reducing them.”
This is because reason alone cannot independently determine which Names befit Allah تعالى. Therefore, it is necessary to restrict ourselves to what is established by evidence. Allah تعالى says:
﴿And do not pursue that of which you have no knowledge. Indeed, the hearing, the sight, and the heart—all of those will be questioned.﴾ [Al-Isra’: 36]
And He سبحانه says:
﴿Say, “My Lord has only forbidden immoralities—what is apparent of them and what is hidden—and sin, transgression without right, and that you associate with Allah that for which He has not sent down any authority, and that you say about Allah what you do not know.”﴾ [Al-A‘raf: 33]
Accordingly, we do not affirm a Name for Allah تعالى that has not been established in the revealed texts, just as we do not reject a Name that has been established by the Qur’an or Sunnah.
The basic principle is that we affirm for Allah تعالى what He has affirmed for Himself and what His Messenger, peace and blessings be upon him, affirmed for Him, and we deny from Him what He denied from Himself and what His Messenger, peace and blessings be upon him, denied from Him.
As for terms for which the Shari‘ah has neither affirmed nor negated them, they are not all treated in the same way. Rather, their meanings and the speaker’s intended meaning must be considered:
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
“Whatever revelation has remained silent about, neither affirming nor negating it, and there is nothing in reason that establishes or negates it, we remain silent about it. We neither affirm it nor deny it. We affirm what we know to be established, deny what we know to be denied, and remain silent regarding what we do not know to be either denied or affirmed.”
This is not what is meant.
It is incorrect to say: Every term that has not been negated in the Qur’an and Sunnah must be left undecided regarding whether it is a Name of Allah, regardless of what that term is.
Names used for human beings, animals, birds, inanimate objects, and the like do not become Names of Allah تعالى merely because revelation has not specifically negated their use for Him.
Rather, the Names of Allah تعالى are established only by evidence, and it is not permissible to make every potentially applicable term one of His Names.
For example, if someone asks: Is it permissible to name Allah تعالى with one of the names of birds, trees, or other created beings? The answer is that the mere absence of a text negating that name does not establish it as a Name of Allah تعالى. Rather, the basic principle concerning the Names of Allah is that they are tawqifiyyah; therefore, He may only be named with what is established in the Qur’an or Sunnah.
The scholars’ statement “We remain silent regarding what revelation has remained silent about” refers to terms that revelation has neither affirmed nor negated, whose meanings are potentially ambiguous, and for which we have no evidence establishing whether the intended meaning befits Allah تعالى or does not befit Him. In such a case, we withhold judgment concerning the term and its meaning and neither affirm nor categorically deny it.
As for the Names of Allah تعالى, they are not established merely by possibility or by the absence of a text negating them. Rather, there must be revealed evidence establishing the Name for Allah تعالى.
Thus, it becomes clear that the domain of Names is narrower than the domain of statements used to report about Allah تعالى. Not every term that may correctly be used in reporting about Allah تعالى is necessarily one of His Beautiful Names.
And Allah تعالى knows best.