What does religious art tell us about God?
1. The 99 beautiful names of Allah
The 99 names of Allah are all the names that Muslims use for their God (also known as Allah). These names are found in the Qur'an, which is the Islamic holy book and Hadith, which is the name for the Islamic tradition (stories of the words and actions of the prophet Mohammed). Actually, there are more than 99 names mentioned in the Qur'an and the exact list is not completely agreed upon.
The names of Allah are often written in calligraphy and make beautiful pictures. This is allowed, whereas pictures of God (Allah) or the prophet Mohammed are not. This is because Muslims believe that Allah and Mohammed are so beautiful and wonderful that they cannot be drawn or painted. They believe that to try and do this is an insult to God. Recently, a magazine got into trouble for publishing a cartoon of the prophet Mohammed, which was seen as an insult to Islam.
Muslims believe that they should be able to learn and recite the 99 names of Allah. Once they can do this, it will help them get into paradise after death. It is also important that Muslims are not given any one of the 99 named of Allah, as this would be very disrespectful. However, some Muslim names are very similar to the names for Allah. For example, you cannot call someone al-Malik (the King) but you can call them Malik (King). Also, you are allowed to put "Abd" in front of one of the names. This means servant or worshipper, so Abdullah means servant of Allah.
The names of Allah all describe good things about him, like righteous teacher and the victorious. I have found some examples of calligraphy showing some of the names
As-Salam: The source