Is "Zahir" one of the Beautiful Names of Allah?
The names and attributes of Allah are tawqifiyyah (restricted to divine revelation), known only through the legal texts. There is no room for ijtihad (independent reasoning) or qiyas (analogical deduction) concerning them. Imam Ahmad said: "Allah is only described by what He has described Himself with, or what His Messenger has described Him with." And what has not been mentioned in the Qur'an or Sunnah concerning Allah's names and attributes cannot be known, because Allah has names and attributes that He has kept to Himself in the knowledge of the Unseen. Therefore, it is not permissible to attribute names to Allah that have not been mentioned in the texts, such as the name "Zahir" (the Manifest), because that is speaking about Allah without knowledge.
Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026
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