The Creator, in His wisdom, made Himself known to His creation through names and attributes that suit His Majesty which a believer should memorize as a blessing and have pleasure in mentioning them and as a mark of respect for their status. Almighty Allah says: “To Allah belong the best and most beautiful names so invoke Him by them. Abandon those who desecrate His names, they will be repaid for what they did.” (Al-A`raf: 180)
Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, quote the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, as saying: “Allah has ninety-nine Names, everyone who memorizes them enters the Jannah, He is One (Witr), He loves the Witr.” (Reported by al-Bukhari and Muslim)
There are some Hadiths which indicate that of these Names one is the Greatest Name of Allah. It deserves much more merit, and hence calling upon Allah using this Name makes one’s supplication worthy to be answered by Allah.
The late Martyred Imam Hasan al-Banna states: “The greatest name of Allah has been mentioned in several Hadiths which include the following:
(1) Burayda, may Allah be pleased with him, said that the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, heard a man supplicating and saying, “Oh Allah, I beseech You and testify that You are Allah. There is no god but You, the Only, the Everlasting who begets not and who is not begotten and there is none like unto Him.” Burayda quotes the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, as saying: ”By Him in whose hands my soul rests, he has addressed Allah with His greatest name by which if He is called on, He responds; and if He is asked, He grants.” (Reported by Abu Dawud, At-Tirmidhi, and Ibn Majah)
(2) Anas Ibn Malik, may Allah be pleased with him, said the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, once entered the mosque and found a man had just finished his prayers and was supplicating and saying “Oh Allah, there is no god but Allah. Thou art the Mannan (the Generous Provider), the Badi` (Designer) of the heavens and the earth. Thou art full of Majesty and Grace.” The Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, then said, “Do you know how he supplicated to Allah. He supplicated to Allah with His greatest name by which if He is called. He answers; and if He is asked, He grants.”(Reported by Abu-Dawud, At-Tirmidhi, An-Nisa’i and Ibn-Majah)
(3) Asma’ Bint Yazid, may Allah be pleased with her, related that the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said: “The greatest name of Allah is in these two verses: “Your God is One God; there is no God save Him, the Beneficent, the Merciful.” (Al-Baqarah: 163) And the opening verse of Surat Al `Imran: “Alif. Lam. Mim. Allah! There is no God save Him, the Alive, the Eternal.” (Al `Imran: 1-2)”
(Reported by Ahmed, Abu-Dawud, At-Tirmidhi and Ibn-Majah)
(4) Sa`d Ibn Malik said: I heard the Prophet of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, say: “Shall I tell you about the greatest name of Allah, by which if He is called upon He answers and if He is asked He grants. It is the supplication used by Yunus (Jonah) when he called in the three darknesses: ‘There is no God but Thee. Glory be to Thee. I was one of the transgressors.’” A man said, “Oh Prophet of Allah: was that supplication unique to Yunus or can it be used by all believers?” The Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, answered: “Haven’t you heard the saying of Allah, exalted be He: ‘We delivered him from distress and thus do we deliver those who have faith.’” (Reported by Al-Hakim)
You can see from these Hadiths and others that they did not specify the greatest name of Allah. Scholars have differed in identifying it because of their differences in authenticating the Hadiths to the extent that they had forty opinions about this subject. All that we can conclude from these noble Hadiths and from the sayings of reliable Muslims is that the greatest name of Allah is a compound supplication (du`a’) made up of a number of His glorious names which if a man uses in his supplication, provided the conditions for proper supplication are observed, Allah answers the supplication. This has been explicitly stated in the noble Hadiths in various places.
The claim that the greatest name of Allah is a secret given to only a few individuals with which they open closed doors and go beyond what is customarily possible and which endows them with qualities which no other people enjoy, is against what has been said by Allah and His Prophet. Some people even claimed that the greatest name of Allah is Syriac pronounced (ahya shrahya). This is an unsubstantiated claim. The fact of the matter is that the greatest name of Allah is to be found only
in the authentic Hadiths.
In short, some people have become fascinated with mysteries, claim to have special knowledge, and add to the traditions. They claimed things which are not mentioned in the Qur’an nor in the Hadith, something which we have been absolutely forbidden from doing. So let us confine ourselves to what has been authentically transmitted to us.”