Sunday, November 26, 2006

99 Perfect Names and Attributes of Allah

99 Perfect Names and Attributes of Allah

It is not possible to perfectly translate the names and attributes of Allah from their original Arabic into English. However, here are some fairly close explanations.

Please note: Many Muslims take on all the names below (except for # 1) without the 'Al' prefix. For example, Rahman, Rahim, Malik, etc. are common names of male Muslims.

1. Allah: He who has the Godhood which is the power to create the entities.

2. Ar-Rahman: The One who has plenty of mercy for the believers and the blasphemers in this world and especially for the believers in the hereafter.

3. Ar-Rahim: The One who has plenty of mercy for the believers.

4. Al-Malik: The One with the complete Dominion, the One Whose Dominion is clear from imperfection.

5. Al-Quddus: The One who is pure from any imperfection and clear from children and adversaries.

6. As-Salam: The One who is free from every imperfection.

7. Al-Mu'min: The One who witnessed for Himself that no one is God but Him. And He witnessed for His believers that they are truthful in their belief that no one is God but Him.

8. Al-Muhaymin: The One who witnesses the saying and deeds of His creatures.

9. Al-^Aziz: The Defeater who is not defeated.

10. Al-Jabbar: The One that nothing happens in His Dominion except that which He willed.

11. Al-Mutakabbir: The One who is clear from the attributes of the creatures and from resembling them.

12. Al-Khaliq: The One who brings everything from non-existence to existence.

13. Al-Bari': The Creator who has the Power to turn the entities.

14. Al-Musawwir: The One who forms His creatures in different pictures.

15. Al-Ghaffar: The One who forgives the sins of His slaves time and time again.

16. Al-Qahhar: The Subduer who has the perfect Power and is not unable over anything.

17. Al-Wahhab: The One who is Generous in giving plenty without any return.

18. Ar-Razzaq: The One who gives everything that benefits whether Halal or Haram.

19. Al-Fattah: The One who opens for His slaves the closed worldy and religious matters.

20. Al-^Alim: The Knowledgeable; The One nothing is absent from His knowledge.

21. Al-Qabid and 22. Al-Basit: The One who constricts the sustenance by His wisdom and expands and widens it with His Generosity and Mercy.

23. Al-Khafid and 24. Ar-Rafi^: The One who lowers whoever He willed by His Destruction and raises whoever He willed by His Endowment.

25. Al-Mu^iz and 26. Al-Muthil: He gives esteem to whoever He willed, hence there is no one to degrade Him; And He degrades whoever He willed, hence there is no one to give Him esteem.

27. As-Sami^: The One who Hears all things that are heard by His Eternal Hearing without an ear, instrument or organ.

28. Al-Basir: The One who Sees all things that are seen by His Eternal Seeing without a pupil or any other instrument.

29. Al-Hakam: He is the Ruler and His judgment is His Word.

30. Al-^Adl: The One who is entitled to do what He does.

31. Al-Latif: The One who is kind to His slaves and endows upon them.

32. Al-Khabir: The One who knows the truth of things.

33. Al-Halim: The One who delays the punishment for those who deserve it and then He might forgive them.

34. Al-^Azim: The One deserving the attributes of Exaltment, Glory, Extolement,and Purity from all imperfection.

35. Al-Ghafur: The One who forgives a lot.

36. Ash-Shakur: The One who gives a lot of reward for a little obedience.

37. Al-^Aliyy: The One who is clear from the attributes of the creatures.

38. Al-Kabir: The One who is greater than everything in status.

39. Al-Hafiz: The One who protects whatever and whoever He willed to protect.

40. Al-Muqit: The One who has the Power.

41. Al-Hasib: The One who gives the satisfaction.

42. Aj-Jalil: The One who is attributed with greatness of Power and Glory of status.

43. Al-Karim: The One who is clear from abjectness.

44. Ar-Raqib: The One that nothing is absent from Him. Hence it's meaning is related to the attribute of Knowledge.

45. Al-Mujib: The One who answers the one in need if he asks Him and rescues the yearner if he calls upon Him.

46. Al-Wasi^: The Knowledgeable.

47. Al-Hakim: The One who is correct in His doings.

48. Al-Wadud: The One who loves His believing slaves and His believing slaves love Him. His love to His slaves is His Will to be merciful to them and praise them:Hence it's meaning is related to the attributes of the Will and Kalam (His attribute with which He orders and forbids and spoke to Muhammad and Mu sa -peace be upon them- . It is not a sound nor a language nor a letter).

49. Al-Majid: The One who is with perfect Power, High Status, Compassion, Generosity and Kindness.

50. Al-Ba^ith: The One who resurrects His slaves after death for reward and/or punishment.

51. Ash-Shahid: The One who nothing is absent from Him.

52. Al-Haqq: The One who truly exists.

53. Al-Wakil: The One who gives the satisfaction and is relied upon.

54. Al-Qawiyy: The One with the complete Power.

55. Al-Matin: The One with extreme Power which is un-interrupted and He does not get tired.

56. Al-Waliyy: The Supporter.

57. Al-Hamid: The praised One who deserves to be praised.

58. Al-Muhsi: The One who the count of things are known to him.

59. Al-Mubdi': The One who started the human being. That is, He created him.

60. Al-Mu^id: The One who brings back the creatures after death.

61. Al-Muhyi: The One who took out a living human from semen that does not have a soul. He gives life by giving the souls back to the worn out bodies on the resurrection day and He makes the hearts alive by the light of knowledge.

62. Al-Mumit: The One who renders the living dead.

63. Al-Hayy: The One attributed with a life that is unlike our life and is not that of a combination of soul, flesh or blood.

64. Al-Qayyum: The One who remains and does not end.

65. Al-Wajid: The Rich who is never poor. Al-Wajd is Richness.

66. Al-Majid: The One who is Majid.

67. Al-Wahid: The One without a partner.

68. As-Samad: The Master who is relied upon in matters and reverted to in ones needs.

69. Al-Qadir: The One attributed with Power.

70. Al-Muqtadir: The One with the perfect Power that nothing is withheld from Him.

71. Al-Muqaddim and 72. Al-Mu'akhkhir: The One who puts things in their right places. He makes ahead what He wills and delays what He wills.

73. Al-'Awwal: The One whose Existence is without a beginning.

74. Al-'Akhir: The One whose Existence is without an end.

75. Az-Zahir 76. Al-Batin: The One that nothing is above Him and nothing is underneath Him, hence He exists without a place. He, The Exalted, His Existence is obvious by proofs and He is clear from the delusions of attributes of bodies.

77. Al-Wali: The One who owns things and manages them.

78. Al-Muta^ali: The One who is clear from the attributes of the creation.

79. Al-Barr: The One who is kind to His creatures, who covered them with His sustenance and specified however He willed among them by His support, protection, and special mercy.

80. At-Tawwab: The One who grants repentance to whoever He willed among His creatures and accepts his repentance.

81. Al-Muntaqim: The One who victoriously prevails over His enemies and punishes them for their sins. It may mean the One who destroys them.

82. Al-^Afuww: The One with wide forgiveness.

83. Ar-Ra'uf: The One with extreme Mercy. The Mercy of Allah is His will to endow upon whoever He willed among His creatures.

84. Malik Al-Mulk: The One who controls the Dominion and gives dominion to whoever He willed.

85. Thul-Jalal wal-Ikram: The One who deserves to be Exalted and not denied.

86. Al-Muqsit: The One who is Just in His judgment.

87. Aj-Jami^: The One who gathers the creatures on a day that there is no doubt about, that is the Day of
Judgment.

88. Al-Ghaniyy: The One who does not need the creation.

89. Al-Mughni: The One who satisfies the necessities of the creatures.

90. Al-Mani^: The Supporter who protects and gives victory to His pious believers. Al-Mu'tiy The Withholder

91. Ad-Darr and 92. An-Nafi^: The One who makes harm reach to whoever He willed and benefit to whoever He willed.

93. An-Nur: The One who guides.

94. Al-Hadi: The One whom with His Guidance His belivers were guided, and with His Guidance the living: beings have been guided to what is beneficial for them and protected from what is harmful to them.

95. Al-Badi^: The One who created the creation and formed it without any preceding example.

96. Al-Baqi: The One that the state of non-existence is impossible for Him.

97. Al-Warith: The One whose Existence remains.

98. Ar-Rashid: The One who guides.

99. As-Sabur: The One who does not quickly punish the sinners.

Saturday, November 04, 2006

Writing direction index

Writing direction index

This is an index of the all the writing systems on this site arranged by the direction in which they are written. Some writing systems can be written in a number of different directions, others were originally written in various directions but eventually settled on one direction.

Why some writing systems are written in one direction, and others in other directions is a bit of a mystery. It might have something to do with the writing surfaces and implements originally used, fashion, the handedness of the creators of the writing systems, or other factors.

If you have any information or theories about this, please contact me.

Directions

What is writing? | A-Z index | Language index | Site map


Example of Armenian written from left to right Left to right, horizontal

The following writing systems are written from left to right in horizontal lines:

Ahom, Ancient Berber, Angelic, Armenian, Balinese, Bassa (Vah), Batak, Beitha Kukju, Benjamin Franklin's Phonetic Alphabet, Bengali, Blackfoot, Blissymbolics, Brahmi, Buhid, Burmese, Carrier, Celtiberian, Cham, Cherokee, Coptic, Cree, Cyrillic, Daggers, Dehong Dai/Tai Le, Deseret, Devanagari, Dhives Akuru, Elbsan, Enochian, Ethiopic, Fraser, Georgian (Asomtavruli), Georgian (Nuskha-khucuri), Georgian (Mkhedruli), Glagolitic, Gothic, Grantha, Greek, Gujarati, Gurmukhi (Punjabi), Hanuno'o, Hmong, Iberian (Southern), International Phonetic Alphabet, Inuktitut, Irish Uncial, Javanese, Kannada, Kayah Li, Khitan, Khmer, Kpelle, Jurchen, Lanna, Lao, Latin, Lepcha, Limbu, Linear A, Linear B, Loma, Lontara/Makasar, Malachim, Malayalam, Manpuri, Mayan, Modi, Naxi, Ndjuká, Ogham, Ojibwe, Old Church Slavonic, Old Permic, Oriya, Passing the River, Pitman Initial Teaching Alphabet, Pollard Miao, Quikscript/Read Alphabet, Ranjana, Redjang, Runic, Santali, Sharda, Shavian, Shorthand, Siddham, Sinhala, Solresol Somali, Sorang Sompeng, Sourashtra, Soyombo, Sutton SignWriting, Syloti Nagri, Tagalog, Tagbanwa, Tai Dam, Tai Lue, Tamil, Telugu, Thai, Theban Tibetan, Tocharian, Ugaritic, Unifon, Vai, Varang Kshiti Visible Speech, Yi


Example of Etruscan written from right to left Right to left, horizontal

The following writing systems are written from right to left in horizontal lines:

Ancient Egyptian (Demotic), Ancient Egyptian (Hieratic), Ancient Egyptian (Hieroglyphic), Aramaic, Arabic*, Avestan, Chinese, Cypriot, Etruscan, Hebrew, Iberian (Northern), Kharosthi, Linear B, Old Italic, Orkhon, Mandaic, Mende, Meroïtic (Cursive), Middle Persian, Nabataean, N'Ko, Parthian, Phoenician, Proto-Elamite, Psalter, Sabaean, Samaritan, Sogdian, Tifinagh, Syriac, South Arabian, Thaana

*In Arabic numerals are written from left to right.


Example of Mongolian written from left to right in vertical lines Left to right, vertical

The following writing systems are written from left to right in vertical lines running from top to bottom:

Old Elamite, Manchu, Mongolian, Oirat Clear Script, Phags-pa, Sogdian, Uyghur



Example of Mongolian written from left to right in vertical lines Right to left, vertical

The following writing systems are written from right to left in vertical lines running from top to bottom:

Chinese, Chữ-nôm, Japanese, Korean, Meroïtic (Hieroglyphic script), Nushu, Tangut (Hsihsia)



Example of Hungarian Runes written in boustrophedon style Boustrophedon

The following writing systems are written in horizontal lines running alternatively from right to left then left to right. This is called Boustrophedon, which comes from the Greek βους (bous) "ox" + στρεφειν (strefein) "to turn", because it resembles the path an ox makes when plowing field, turning at the end of each row to return in the opposite direction.

Hungarian Runes, Linear B, Rongo Rongo Sabaean



Variable

Ancient Berber

In inscriptions, Ancient Berber texts start either at the bottom left or bottom right and run upwards. Monumental inscriptions generally run in horizontal lines from right to left.

Ancient Egyptian (Hieroglyphic)

The Ancient Egytian Hieroglyphic script was written in any direction the was convenient: horizontally from right to left or left to right or vertically from top to bottom. The arrangement of the glyphs was partly determined by aesthetic considerations. When written horizontally, you can tell the direction of a piece of writing by looking at the way the animals and people are facing: they look towards the beginning of the line.

Example of Egyptian Hieroglyphic writing

Source: http://hieroglyphs.net

Example of Chinese written horizontally and vertically Chinese

Chinese can be written from right to left in vertical columns, left to right in horizontal lines, or occasionally right to left in horizontal lines. In Taiwan it is often written in vertical columns, while in China it is usually written horizontally from left to right. In newspapers and magazines with vertical text, some of the headlines and titles are written horizontally right to left across the top of the main text.

Etruscan

Etruscan was sometimes written in boustrophedon fashion and sometimes from right to left in horizontal lines.

Japanese

Japanese can be written from right to left in vertical columns or left to right in horizontal lines.

Example of Ogham writing Korean

Korean can be written from right to left in vertical columns or left to right in horizontal lines.

Ogham

When inscribed on stones, Ogham was written around the edge starting at the bottom right and running upwards then back down the other side. In manuscripts it was written horizontally running from left to right.

Orkhon

Orkhon was written mainly from right to left in horizontal lines, though some inscriptions are written vertically with the letters rotated by 90º. When written vertically, it read from bottom to top and right to left.


Example of Mayan writing

Mayan

In inscriptions, Mayan was written in paired columns zigzagging downwards from left to right. Any faces on the glyphs generally look towards the beginning of the line, as with Egyptian Hieroglyphs. Elsewhere it was usually written horizontally from left to right

The image on the left shows a Mayan inscription from the museum at Tonina in Chiapas, Mexico.

Your con-scripts

Your con-scripts

These scripts are all invented by visitors to Omniglot. If you have invented a new alphabet and would like me to add it to this site, please read the relevant entry on the FAQs page before you write to me.

Only conlangs written with invented scripts will be considered for inclusion on this site.

The most recently added writing systems are indicated with a yellow background, and those addded within the past month have a green background.


Constructed scripts for natural languages

Alphabetum Directum
Alphabetum Directum
Applebeech alphabet
Applebeech
Acrography
Acrography
Bagoyin
Bagoyin
Banaag
Banaag
Beadscript
Beadscript
Betamaze
Betamaze
Block Script
Block Script
Cantonese Grid Script
Cantonese Grid Script
Cǎo Yīn Zì
Cǎo Yīn Zì
Christish alphabet
Christish
Chromaphonoglyphics
Chromaphonoglyphics
Daikan
Daikan
Dameshon A
Dameshon A
Dalorm
Dalorm
Engul
Engul
Elian Script / Conceptual Calligraphy
Elian Script /
Conceptual Calligraphy
Empisava alphabet
Empisava
Eslabónico alphabet
Eslabónico
Faer alphabet
Faer
Falandril alphabet
Falandril
Fenglish
Fenglish
Geyinzi
Géyīnzì
Grand Alphabet
Grand Alphabet
Graph Script
Graph Script
Hebreísmo
Hebreísmo
Inspired alphabet
Inspired
Jǐngbǔ script/井卜文
井卜文 (Jǐngbǔ script)
Kabena'o
Kabena'o
Kapunuan
Kapunuan
Karmeli
Karmeli
Krul
Krul
Lines and Circles alphabet'
Lines and Circles
Ling'amon'
Ling'amon'
Lipen Søerjehn
Lipen Søerjehn
Lóngwén
Lóngwén
Lovecraftian
Lovecraftian
Mesa
Mesa
Naljeogigeul
Naljeogigeul (alphabetic)
Naljeogigeul
Naljeogigeul (syllabic)
Nikhilipi
Nikhilipi
Nirichaen
Nirichaen
Pattern Script
Pattern Script
Peperklips
Peperklips
Posiga
Posiga
Rangtunga
Rangtunga
Rotor Script
Rotor Script
Runtrikha
Runtrikha
Sarin
Sarin
Scryptic II
Scryptic II
SpaceKees alphabet
SpaceKees
Sunshee alphabet
Sunshee
Taichuanish alphabet
Taichuanish
Tangish alphabet
Tangish
Tciaar alphabet
Tciaar
Thengic alphabet
Thengic
Thoorsha
Thoorsha
Touq Tsh'c
Touq Tsh'c
Unal
Unal
Vine alphabet
Vine
Xiě Yùn
Xiě Yùn
Yin yang Alphalines
Yin yang Alphalines

Ucing sim kuring

Ucing sim kuring

About Me

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