Asma’ al Husna Beautiful Names of Allah
I love working with the Qualities. Just saying them out loud or silently in my heart helps me feel closer to God, and to know Him and myself better. I make it a practice to work with different Qualities about 20 minutes a day. This is in addition to the 40 minutes I spend in remembrance. The Qur’an tells us to remember Him and draw near to Him by reciting His Name or His Attributes. His Name is Allah. We list 99 of His Attributes, but this only symbolizes that His Attributes or Qualities are unlimited.
When you read the Wazifah, by Sidi ‘Abd as-Salam Ibn al-Mashish, he gives a brief explanation of the creation of everything. Allah created the Prophetic Light, an nur illahi, which contains all potential. The Qualities come from this light. All created forms contain some combination of these Qualities. In humans, these manifest in the “Soul” level (see 4 worlds of the heart). We each carry all 99 Qualities, but in different amounts. In most of us, these Qualities are undeveloped and covered over with veils from our wounds and conditioning. This is what makes us individually different. We each have our own “recipe” of different amounts of each Quality that we have developed/uncovered. I think that is one of the reasons why we are here. We each come in with a divine plan to develop certain Qualities during our lifetime. We are attracted to circumstances that will draw those Qualities out and develop them. Life circumstances are our own personal trainers for spiritual development.
Fethi Benhalim teaches a class on what he calls “thingyness.” The essence of this teaching is that whenever we are attracted to someone or something, or fall in love, it is Allah’s Qualities that we are noticing about that person or thing, and it is the Quality they carry that we are attracted to and love. We get to know God’s beauty by experiencing His Qualities through other people or other creations.
By working with the Qualities daily, our qualities become clean, purified, and well developed and we draw nearer to Allah. This is the “walking”. The Qur’an says that Allah “was a hidden treasure that longed to be known, so I drew creation out of Myself, to know Me.” That is our responsibility, to be a complete reflection of God’s Qualities. “Neither My heavens nor My earth can contain Me. Only the heart of my beloveds can contain Me.” We can only fulfill that responsibility to God by doing the walking.
How then, do you clean your Qualities? By repeating them aloud or silently in your heart. Get some prayer beads with 100 beads (99 Qualities plus 1 for Allah). In Islam, these prayer beads are called misbaha or tesbih. Hold the first bead and say the first Quality. Move to the second bead and say the second Quality, etc. until you’re down to the last bead (the 100th) and say Allah.
To deepen your knowing of just one of the Qualities, repeat that Quality on each bead until you’ve said it 100 times. Sidi says it is best to say Ya Allah Ya (Quality) each time, rather than just the Quality. After repeating the Quality 100 times, ask Allah in prayer to show you that Quality. Let yourself experience each Quality separately. What does it look like, sound like, feel like, smell like, etc? Try comparing 2 Qualities to see how they are different. Ar-Rahman and Ar-Rahim sound very similar in meaning but they have a totally different feel about them. Writing their descriptions from Sidi’s books will bring a transmission of that Quality through to your heart. Learn from the many books about the Qualities how they can be used to help in various life situations and then chant them to yourself while going through that life situation.
Many people get a small set of beads that will fit in their pocket or purse. Then they can pull them out and use them whenever they are feeling stressed. They can be used during walking meditations, as a way of grounding, or a way to calm the body before sleeping. Sidi says the best time to work with the Qualities is between 2-3 AM. The veils between the two worlds is the thinnest then.
My favorite books on the Qualities are: The Meanings of the Names of Our Lord by Shaykh Muhammad Sa’id al-Jamal ar-Rifa’i ash-Shadhuli, The Name & the Named by Shaykh Tosun Bayrak al-Jerrahi al-Halveti, The Sufi Book of Life: 99 Pathways of the Heart for the Modern Dervish by Neil Douglas-Klotz, and Physicians of the heart A Sufi View of the Ninety-Nine Names of Allah by Wali Ali Meyer, Bilal Hyde, Faisal Muqaddam, and Shabda Kahn. They have recordings of each Quality made by 3 different speakers to help you learn the proper pronunciation of each Quality. You can check this out at Physicians of the Heart.com.
Sidi’s daughter-in-law, Rosina-Fawzia al_Rawi, also wrote a book about the Qualities. It is titled, “Divine Names The 99 Healing Names of the One Love”. She offers a free download at Fawsia-al-Rawi.com to help with pronunciation.
The descriptions of each Quality contained in this website are from The Meanings of the Names of Our Lord and The Name & the Named. Here is the introduction to Sidi’s book on the Qualities:
The names by which Allah is known can be divided into categories. Traditionally the first two categories are the names of the essence (adh-dhat), such as Allah and ar-Rahan, and the names of the qualities (as-safat) such as ar-Rahim and al-Bari. And they can be divided further into names of the Mercy, and names of the Majesty. But the name of Allah called the Supreme Name stands alone. There is a hadith which says, “To God belongs ninety-nine names.” So that while any two lists add up to more than ninety-nine, and one list is limited to this number. The names are revealed directly in al-Qur’an, or from the meaning given in certain passages, or they are names that are traditionally known, but are not in al-Qu’ran. Some names are found derived from the Arabic grammar of the names in al-Qur’an, but they are not widely accepted, for example, al-Ghaffar from al-Ghafur.
One of my teachers, Fethi Benhalim, made a recording of the 99 Names . He says them slowly to help new students to learn proper pronunciation. The way that I found to memorize all 99 Qualities is by starting out just memorizing the first 3. Say them to yourself several times a day. When you are ready, add 3 more. Now say all 6 Qualities several times a day until you are ready to add more. Continue to add 2-3 more Qualities at a time every few days until you can do all 99 in order. This will probably take you several weeks. Make sure you set aside at least once a day to recite all 99 or you will forget them. I say them while taking a shower each day and over my food when cooking.
Allah! there is no god but He! To Him belong the Most Beautiful Names. (Qur’an 20:8)
“Abu Hurairah reported Allah’s Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: There are ninety-nine names of Allah; he who commits them to memory would get into Paradise. Verily, Allah is Odd (He is one, and it is an odd number) and He loves odd numbers. And in the narration of Ibn ‘Umar (the words are): ‘He who enumerated them.'”
—Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj Nishapuri, Sahih Muslim
Here are several charts of The Divine Qualities that you can print out.
1. 
, From The Meanings of the Names of Our Lord.
2. 
, From Children Around the Table of Allah
4. From Shaykh Durkee’s list as recorded in the Hadith ash-Sharif by The Muhadith at-Tirmidhi 
Here are the traditional 99 Qualities as listed in The Children Around the Table of Allah by Shaykh Muhammad Sa’id al-Jamal ar-Rifa’i.
As-Salam – Source of Peace and Security
Al-Qabid – Withholder or Constrictor
Al- Barr – Source of All Goodness
At-Tawwab – Acceptor of Repentance
Al-Malik Al Mulk – Possessor of Sovereignty
Al-Dhal Jalali wal-Ikram – Lord of Majesty and Bounty
Al-Mu’tin Al-Mani’ – Giver of Meaning
Ad-Darr – Withholder of Benefits
Ar-Rashid – Spiritual Director