In discussing the names and attributes of God, we first encounter the issue of what relationship exists between these two terms: Are the names and attributes identical and do these two terms convey the same meaning, or does each have a specific meaning?

Mu'tazilite view

From the Mu'tazilite view, these two terms have distinct meanings and the name of God does not imply His attribute. For example, names such as 'Alim, Qadir, and Sami are specific and synonymous names and refer only to God.

However, the Mu'tazilites believe that God can be called by names such as "alive", "knowing" and "powerful", but God cannot be described as "life", "knowledge" and "power".

Sunni (Ash'ari) view

Unlike the Mu'tazilites, the Sunnis not only do not consider the name to be separate from the attribute, but they also consider the proof of the names without the proof of the attributes to be impossible and unknowable.

And thus, they consider the name to be the same as the attribute, and the only difference they believe between the two is that the attributes have a derivational property, while the names do not.

Some Sunni theologians have determined specific attributes for each name.

Shia Opinion

Some Shia scholars have also not distinguished between names and attributes and have considered both to imply the same truth, just as Hayat as an attribute expresses the truth of one of God's attributes, and Hayy as a name also expresses a truth of God's essence.