The Greatest Name of Allah (al-Ism al-A'zam)اسم الله الأعظم

Questioner: What is the correct view regarding the Greatest Name of Allah (al-Ism al-A'zam)?

Most of the scholars rely, in this matter, on the hadith of Sa'd — that the Greatest Name of Allah is in the supplication, "There is no god but You; glory be to You, indeed I have been among the wrongdoers." But this report is defective ('mu'allal'), recorded by al-Tirmidhi and others. It has also come, in the hadith of Asma' and others, that the Greatest Name of Allah is in His statement, "Allah — there is no god but He, the Ever-Living, the Sustainer of all," though the chains for this too are open to question.

It has come as well, in the hadith of Ibn Buraydah from his father, that the Prophet ﷺ heard a man supplicating, saying, "O Allah, You are Allah; there is no god but You, the One, the Self-Sufficient Master, who begets not, nor was He begotten, and there is none comparable to Him." So the Prophet ﷺ said, "You have indeed asked Allah by His Greatest Name — that which, if He is asked by it, He gives, and if He is called upon by it, He answers." This is a strong hadith, and it is the best and most authentic report to have come on this subject.

النص العربي الأصلي