Abjad Values of the Asma ul-Husna: The 99 Names in Numbers

Open almost any book on the Asma ul-Husna, the Beautiful Names of Allah, and you will find a number printed beside each name: Razzaq 308, Fattah 489, Wadud 20… Each number is the sum of the Abjad values of the letters in the name's Arabic spelling. This page is meant as a reference: all 99 names, with values worked out from start to finish under one single rule. It is worth knowing that rule before you use the table, because it is usually the reason different books print different numbers for the same name.

Which narration is the list based on?

The Holy Quran says: "To Allah belong the most beautiful names, so call upon Him by them" (Surah Al-A'raf 7:180). In the hadith narrated by Bukhari and Muslim, the Prophet tells us that Allah has ninety-nine names and that whoever preserves them will enter Paradise, but those narrations do not list the names one by one. The best-known ordering, and the one used here, is the list narrated by Tirmidhi: it opens with the name Allah and closes with as-Sabur.

It is fair to add that narrations differ slightly. The list in Ibn Majah's narration contains some different names; some lists add al-Ahad (أحد) separately; and some scholars compiled their lists directly from the names found in the Quran. Scholars generally agree that Allah's names are not limited to ninety-nine; the number in the hadith points to a special virtue of these names.

The counting rule in four points

• The definite article (ال) is dropped. We count Razzaq (رزاق), not ar-Razzaq. Only inside compound names (Malik al-Mulk, Dhul-Jalali wal-Ikram) is the internal ال counted as written.
• Shadda does not double a letter. The doubled ز in Razzaq is counted once.
• Unwritten letters are not counted. In Rahman (رحمن) the long vowel is marked in the Quranic script by a small "dagger alif", not written as a full letter, so it is left out.
• Hamza is counted by its seat. In Mu'min (مؤمن) the و counts, in Bari' (بارئ) the ي counts. A free-standing hamza (ء), as in Ra'uf (رءوف), has no value.

A worked example: Karim = ك (20) + ر (200) + ي (10) + م (40) = 270. Latif = ل (30) + ط (9) + ي (10) + ف (80) = 129. The name Allah (الله) is a word in its own right rather than a name with an added article, so its letters are summed as written: ا (1) + ل (30) + ل (30) + ه (5) = 66.

Abjad Values of the 99 Names

Names 84 and 85 appear in the table in the form used when calling upon Allah (Ya Malik al-Mulk, Ya Dhal-Jalali wal-Ikram); their values are calculated from the plain forms found in the list, مالك الملك and ذو الجلال والإكرام.

Why do the values differ from book to book?

One book may give Razzaq as 308 and another as 339. Neither is necessarily a mistake; they simply follow different rules. The most common causes are these:

• The article is included: the spelling الرزاق gives 339. ال adds 31 to every name, so this is the first thing to check when a number looks different.
• Shadda is counted twice: a method that counts a doubled letter twice adds the ز of Razzaq again, raising the total by 7. Every name with a shadda, such as Jabbar, Ghaffar, Qahhar, Wahhab and Fattah, changes.
• The spelling differs: writing Rahman with an alif (رحمان) gives 299, without it 298. Writing Ra'uf as رؤوف gives 292.
• The list differs: depending on the narration used, a name may be missing or replaced by another.
• Printing errors: tables copied from old editions pass typos along. When in doubt, adding the letters one by one is the safest check.

All articles and analyses on this site use the same rule, so a number you see in one article is the same in every other.

Names that share the same number

Read from top to bottom, the values look scattered, yet some names carry exactly the same number:

• 14: Ya Wahhab (وهاب) and Ya Wajid (واجد)
• 20: Ya Wadud (ودود) and Ya Hadi (هادي)
• 62: Ya Hamid (حميد) and Ya Batin (باطن)
• 66: Ya Allah (الله) and Ya Wakil (وكيل)
• 68: Ya Hakam (حكم) and Ya Muhyi (محيي)
• 156: Ya Qayyum (قيوم) and Ya 'Afuww (عفو)
• 298: Ya Rahman (رحمن) and Ya Sabur (صبور)
• 1100: Ya Dhal-Jalali wal-Ikram (ذو الجلال والإكرام) and Ya Mughni (مغني)

For some readers these matches become a prompt for reflection, but no ruling is drawn from them. They are simply an interesting result of the arithmetic.

The tradition of reciting a name by its value

In the Abjad tradition it is a widespread practice to recite a Divine Name as many times as its Abjad value: Ya Wadud 20 times, Ya Latif 129 times, Ya Hafiz 998 times, and so on. These numbers are not set by the Quran or authentic hadith; they are a measure that the dhikr tradition takes from the science of Abjad. Scholars remind us that such numbers are not binding and that the essence of dhikr is the heart turning to Allah. The number is a frame that keeps dhikr regular and focused; what truly matters is intention (niyyah) and sincerity (ikhlas).

• Know what you are saying. That is why the table has a meaning column: knowing which attribute you are turning to Allah through is part of the dhikr itself.
• Little but constant. Keeping the same count at the same time each day is recommended over reciting a great deal one day and nothing the next.
• Do not force large numbers. High values such as Ghaffar 1281 or Khafid 1481 need not be completed in a single sitting.
• Mention paired names together. Many scholars advised mentioning opposite names together, such as Darr with Nafi', Khafid with Rafi', and Mudhill with Mu'izz.

Which name matches your name?

Almost everyone who studies the table ends up asking the same question: "Which Divine Name is closest to the value of my own name?" The name Yusuf (يوسف), for example, has a value of 156, the same as Qayyum and 'Afuww. For most names, though, the table does not answer so neatly: some names match no Divine Name at all, while others sit close to several.

In the Abjad tradition a single number is never read alone anyway. A name is read together with the mother's name, and the elements of its letters and the dominant star are taken into account. That is why even two people with the same first name may be given a different Divine Name and a different dhikr count. Which name meets yours only becomes clear once your name is worked out letter by letter.

The values in this article follow the ebced-i kebir (great Abjad) calculation. Dhikr counts come from the Abjad tradition; they are neither a religious obligation nor a guarantee of any outcome. The heart of prayer and dhikr is intention, sincerity and trust in Allah.