Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah, his family, and companions.
All of Allah’s attributes are attributes of perfection. Allah تعالى has said:
﴿And to Allah belongs the highest description, and He is the Almighty, the All-Wise﴾
[An-Nahl: 60].
And He تعالى said:
﴿And to Him belongs the highest description in the heavens and the earth, and He is the Almighty, the All-Wise﴾
[Ar-Rum: 27].
The “highest description” means the most perfect description.
With regard to their indication of perfection, the attributes of Allah can be divided into three categories:
First: Attributes of absolute perfection, which contain no deficiency whatsoever, such as knowledge, power, hearing, sight, and mercy. These are affirmed for Allah تعالى without restriction.
Second: Attributes of absolute deficiency, which can never be considered perfection, such as incapacity, sleep, injustice, and betrayal. It is not permissible to describe Allah تعالى with these.
Third: Attributes that may be perfection in one context but not in another. These are neither affirmed nor negated for Allah تعالى without qualification. Rather, the context and meaning in which they occur must be considered.
Examples of this category include scheming, deception, and mockery.
Scheming is established as an attribute of Allah تعالى by textual evidence, but He is not described by it without qualification. Rather, it is affirmed in the context where it represents perfection, justice, and recompense against those who scheme.
Allah تعالى said:
﴿And remember when those who disbelieved schemed against you, to restrain you, or kill you, or expel you. They schemed, and Allah schemed, and Allah is the best of those who scheme﴾
[Al-Anfal: 30].
And He تعالى said:
﴿And they schemed a scheme, and We schemed a scheme while they were unaware﴾
[An-Naml: 50].
In these verses, the scheming is directed against the enemies of Allah who schemed against His Messenger ﷺ. It involves the perfection of knowledge, power, dominance, and authority.
Therefore, one should not say, “Allah is a schemer” in an unrestricted manner. Rather, He may be described with scheming in the context where it constitutes perfection, such as saying: “Allah schemes against His enemies.”
Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen, may Allah have mercy on him, explained that scheming is among the attributes of actions, and that Allah تعالى is not described with it absolutely, but only where it occurs in a context of praise and perfection.
Deception in this matter is like scheming. Allah تعالى is not described with it in an unrestricted manner. Rather, it is affirmed in the context in which the text mentions it and where it constitutes recompense for one who deserves it.
Allah تعالى said:
﴿Indeed, the hypocrites seek to deceive Allah, while He is deceiving them﴾
[An-Nisa’: 142].
Allah تعالى deceives the hypocrites as recompense for their attempt to deceive Him. This does not mean the blameworthy type of deception that constitutes a deficiency.
Therefore, one should not say: “Allah is a deceiver” without qualification. Rather, this description is affirmed only in the context in which the text mentions it.
As for betrayal, Allah تعالى may not be described with it at all, because it is an attribute of blame and deficiency and can never constitute perfection.
Allah تعالى said:
﴿And if they intend to betray you, then they had already betrayed Allah before, so He gave you power over them. And Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise﴾
[Al-Anfal: 71].
Although the verse mentions the betrayal of those people, Allah تعالى did not say, “So He betrayed them.” Rather, He said:
﴿so He gave you power over them﴾.
This is because betrayal is intrinsically blameworthy, and therefore Allah تعالى is not described with it.
Accordingly, these terms do not have the same ruling:
Scheming: It is affirmed for Allah تعالى in contexts where it represents perfection, justice, and victory, but it is not used as an unrestricted description of Him.
Deception: It is affirmed for Allah تعالى in contexts where it is recompense for someone who deceives, but it is not used as an unrestricted description of Him.
Betrayal: Allah تعالى is not described with it, because it is absolute deficiency.
This is an important principle concerning the Names and Attributes of Allah: An attribute that is not perfection in every circumstance is not affirmed for Allah تعالى without qualification. Rather, it is affirmed in the context where it represents perfection.
Scheming and deception are established for Allah تعالى in the contexts indicated by the texts, but they must not be attributed to Him in an unrestricted manner, because they may be blameworthy in certain contexts. Allah تعالى is described with them where they constitute perfection, justice, and recompense against those who scheme and deceive.
As for betrayal, Allah تعالى is not described with it, because it is absolute deficiency and blame.
Likewise, these descriptions may not be made into names of Allah تعالى. Thus, one should not say that “The Schemer” or “The Deceiver” are among the Beautiful Names of Allah, because the matter of divine Names is narrower than the matter of divine Attributes, and the Names of Allah are established only through revealed textual evidence.
And Allah knows best.