ree will in
man.

These and various other sub-divisions are not now of much importance. The
Sunnis follow the teaching of Al-Ash'ari, whilst the Shi'ahs incline to
that of the Mutazilites.

Connected with the subject of the attributes of God is that of the names to
be used when speaking of Him. All sects agree in this, that the names "The
Living, the Wise, the Powerful, the Hearer, the Seer, the Speaker," &c.,
are to be applied to God; but the orthodox belief is that all such names
must be "tauqifi," that is dependent on some revelation. Thus it is not
lawful to apply a name to God expressive of one of His attributes, unless
there is some statement made, or order given by Muhammad to legalize it.
God is rightly called Shafi (Healer), but He cannot be called Tabib which
means much the same thing, for the simple reason that the word Tabib is
never applied in the Quran or the Traditions to God. In like manner the
term 'Alim (Knower) is lawful, but not so the expression 'Aqil (Wise). The
Mutazilites say that if, in the Quran or Traditions, there is any praise of
an attribute, then the adjective formed from the name of that attribute can
be applied to God even though the actual word does not occur in any
revelation. Al-Ghazzali (A.H. 450-505), who gave in the East the death-blow
to the Muslim philosophers, says: "The names of God not given in the Law,
if expressive of His glory, may be used of Him, but only as expressive of
His attributes, not of His nature." On the ground that it does not occur in
the Law, the Persian word "Khuda" has been objected to, an objection which
also holds good with regard to the use of such terms as God, Dieu, Gott,
&c. To this it is answered, that as "Khuda" means "one who comes by
himself" it is equivalent to the term Wajib-ul-Wajud, {133} "one who has
necessary existence," and therefore so long as it is not considered as the
"Ism-i-Zat (name of His nature) it may with propriety be used."[118]

The current belief now seems to be that the proper name equal to the term
Allah, current in a language, can be used, provided always that such a name
is not taken from the language of the Infidels; so God, Dieu, &c, still
remain unlawful. The names of God authorised by the Quran and Traditions
are, exclusive of the term Allah, ninety-nine in number. They are called
the Asma-i-Husna[119] (noble names); but in addition to these there are
many synonyms used on the authority of Ijma'. Such are Hanan, equal t