Al-Ghazali on the Ninety-nine Beautiful Names of God

The translators are David Burrell and Nazih Daher. David Burrell is Theodore M. Hesburgh Professor of Philosophy and Theology at the University of Notre Dame, USA. Nazih Daher is Chairman of the Department of Asian and African Languages at the Foreign Service Institute of the United States Department of State.

This book takes up the Prophet's teaching that 'Ninety-nine Beautiful Names' are truly predicated of God. The author explores the meaning and resonance of each of these divine names, and reveals the functions they perform both in the cosmos and in the soul of the spiritual adept.

Preface; Aim of the Book; Beginning of the Book; Part One: 1. Explaining the meaning of 'name', 'named', and 'act of naming'; Explanation of names close in meaning to one another; 3. On the one name which has different meanings; 4. On explaining that a man's perfection and happiness consist in being moulded by the moral qualities of God; Part Two: 1. On Explaining the Meanings of God's Ninety-nine Names; 2. An Explanation of how these many names resolve to the essence with seven attributes, according to the Sunni School; 3. An Explanation of how these attributes resolve to a single essence, according to the school of the Mu'tazilites and the philosophers; Part Three: 1. Explaining that the names of God are not limited to ninety-nine; 2. Explaining the benefits of enumerating ninety-nine names specifically; 3. Are the names and attributes applied to God based on divine instruction, or permitted on the basis of reason?; Notes; Index of Divine Names; Index of Persons; Bibliography; General Index.