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What is the importance of knowing the Beautiful Names of Allah?
Praise be to Allah.
Knowing the Beautiful Names of Allah is very important indeed, for the following reasons:
(Al-Tawdeeh wal-Bayaan li Shajarat al-Eemaan by al-Sadi, p. 41).
Allah created His creatures to know Him and worship Him. This is what is expected from them and what they are required to do, because as Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) said: The key to the call of the Messengers, the essence of their Message, is knowing Allah through His Names and Attributes and Deeds, because this is the foundation on which the rest of the Message, from beginning to end, is built.
(Al-Sawaaiq al-Mursalah ala al-Jahamiyyah wal-Muattilah by Ibn al-Qayyim, 1/150-151). So when a person occupies himself with learning about Allah, he is doing what he was created for, but if he ignores the matter, he is neglecting what he was created for. The meaning of faith is not merely to utter words without knowing Allah, because true faith in Allah means that the slave knows the Lord in Whom he believes, and he makes the effort to learn about Allah through His Names and Attributes. The more he learns about his Lord, the more he increases in faith.
Knowledge of the Names of Allah is the basis for all other knowledge, as Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Knowledge of the Most Beautiful Names of Allah is the basis of all other kinds of knowledge, for the objects of all these other branches of knowledge were either created or commanded by Him (the various branches of knowledge either deal with objects created by Him or with the laws and guidance revealed by Him). The reason for creation and guidance is found in His Most Beautiful Names (because He is the Creator, He creates things; because He is the Guide to the Straight Path, He reveals guidance, and so on) Knowing the Most Beautiful Names is the basis of all objects of knowledge, because all knowledge stems from these Names
(Badai' al-Fawaaid by Ibn al-Qayyim, 1/163).