and Allah—may His remembrance be exalted—possesses names that He has forbidden His creation to name themselves with, reserving them exclusively for Himself to their exclusion, such as "Allah", "al-Raḥmān", and "al-Khāliq"; and names that He has made permissible for them to name one another with, such as al-Raḥīm, al-Samīʿ, al-Baṣīr, al-Karīm, and similar names—it was obligatory that His names that belong exclusively to Him, to the exclusion of all His creation, be placed first, so that the listener would know who is being addressed with praise and glorification, and then follow that with His names by which others may be named, after the addressee or listener knows who is being addressed with the meanings that follow. Thus Allah—may His remembrance be exalted—began with His name that is "Allah", because divinity belongs to no one other than Him—may His praise be exalted—in any respect whatsoever, neither in terms of being named by it nor in terms of meaning. That is because we have already explained that the meaning of "Allah"—exalted be His remembrance—is the One worshipped, (1) and there is no one worshipped other than Him—may His majesty be exalted—and naming oneself with it has been forbidden by Allah—may His praise be exalted—even if the person who names himself intends thereby what someone who names himself Saʿīd intends while being wretched, or Ḥasan while being ugly.

Do you not see that Allah—may His majesty be exalted—said in more than one verse of His Book: {Is there a deity alongside Allah?}, considering it monstrous for anyone to affirm that, and He—exalted is He—said concerning His reserving exclusively for Himself "Allah" and "al-Raḥmān": {Call upon Allah or call upon al-Raḥmān; whichever you call upon, to Him belong the best names} [Sūrat al-Isrāʾ: 110]. Then He followed it with His name that is al-Raḥmān, since He had also prohibited His creation from naming themselves with it, even if there are among His creation those who might deserve to be named with some of its meanings. That is because describing many of His creation below Allah with some attributes of mercy may be permissible, whereas it is impermissible for anyone besides Him to deserve any part of divinity. For this reason, al-Raḥmān came second to His name that is "Allah".

As for His name that is "al-Raḥīm", we have mentioned that it is among those names with which describing others is permissible, while mercy is among His attributes—may His remembrance be exalted. Thus—since the matter is as we have described—it occupied the position of descriptions following names after the names precede them. This, then, is the reason for placing the name of Allah that is "Allah" before His name that is "al-Raḥmān", and His name that is "al-Raḥmān" before His name that is "al-Raḥīm". (2)

Al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī used to say regarding "al-Raḥmān" the like of what we have said, that it is among the names of Allah with which He prohibited His servants from naming themselves. (3)

150 - Muḥammad ibn Bashshār narrated to us, he said: Ḥammād ibn Masʿada narrated to us, from ʿAwf, from al-Ḥasan, he said: "'Al-Raḥmān' is a forbidden name." (4)

In addition, the Consensus (Ijmāʿ) of the Ummah prohibiting all people from naming themselves with it dispenses with the need to cite as evidence for the correctness of what we said in that regard the statement of al-Ḥasan and others.