Permissibility of acquiring the Names and Attributes of Allah
From `Abdul`Aziz ibn `Abdullah ibn Baz to the honorable brother, may Allah protect him. May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon you!
In reference to your letter, dated 23/3/1386 A.H., may Allah guide you, and the question it included about what a preacher mentioned in a Friday Khutbah (sermon), about urging on acquiring Allah's Attributes and Qualities, and whether anyone had said this before,
our answer is that this remark is improper, even thought it has a true meaning that is, to urge people to acquire the Names and Attributes of Allah which befit people, not those particular to Allah such as The Creator, The Sustainer and God. These Names cannot be given to humans, and it is impermissible for them to claim such attributes. The same applies to similar Names of Allah (Glorified be He). What is meant here is the Attributes which Allah likes His Servants to acquire, such as knowledge, power, mercy, patience, generosity, forgiveness and so on. He (Glorified be He) is Knowledgeable and He likes knowledgeable people; He is Powerful and He likes powerful people more than weak ones; He is Generous and He likes generous people; He is Merciful and He likes merciful people; He is Forgiving and He likes forgiving people, etc. However, Allah's Attributes are incomparable, greater and more perfect than those acquired by people, as there is nothing like Him (Glorified be He) in His Attributes and Action, just like there is nothing like Him in His Entity. A person can only have a share of the meaning of these Attributes that befits them in a permissible way.
If someone becomes too generous, they will be spendthrifts. If they become too merciful, they will hinder the execution of Hudud (prescribed penalties) and Ta`zir (discretionary punishments). If they become too forgiving, they will show forgiveness in an irrelevant situation. Great scholar Ibn AlQayyim (may Allah be merciful with him) stated this in his books entitled `Iddat AlSabirin and AlWabil AlSayyib. He also might have mentioned it in other books, such as Madarij AlSalikin, Zad AlMa`ad and others. Below are excerpts from `Iddah A lSabirin and AlWabil AlSayyib.
In `Iddah AlSabirin, page 310, he said: "As Allah (Glorified be He) is the Thankful One in reality, the most beloved to Him among His creatures are the thankful ones, and the most hated to Him are the ones who acquire the opposite traits, such as a Kafir (disbeliever), an oppressor, an ignorant person, a cruel person, a miser, a coward, a humiliating person or a mean person. He (Glorified be He) is Graceful and He loves grace; He is Knowledgeable and He loves knowledge; He is Merciful and He loves mercy; He is Bountiful and He loves Bounty; He is Concealing and He loves concealment; He is Powerful and He hates weakness, for a strong Mu'min (believer) is nearer to Him than a weak one; He is Forgiving and He loves forgiveness; and He is Odd (One) and He loves odd numbers. Anything He loves is one of His Names and Traits; and anything He hates is their opposite."
In AlWabil AlSayyib, page 43, he said: "Generosity is one of the traits of Allah (Exalted be He); He gives and does not take; He feeds and is not fed; and He is the Most Generous One. The most beloved to Him is the one who acquires the same traits; He is Generous and He loves the Generous people; He is Knowledgeable and He loves the knowledgeable people; He is Powerful and He loves the courageous people; and He is Graceful and He loves grace."
I hope what we have mentioned is sufficient. May Allah guide us all to understanding His religion and fulfilling His rights. He is AllHearer, Ever Near. Assalamu `alaykum warahmatullah wabarakatuh (May Allah's Peace, Mercy, and Blessings be upon you!)