Shaykh al-Albānī: Look, may Allāh bless you. The scholars say that the Names of Allāh are tawqīfiyyah. The Names of Allāh are tawqīfiyyah. What does "tawqīfiyyah" mean? It means we do not know the Names of Allāh except through the Prophet ﷺ informing us of them. Is this clear? Okay. It is not permissible for us to name Allāh ﷻ with names that He did not name Himself or that His Prophet ﷺ did not name Him with. We are only allowed to name our Lord with what He named Himself or what His Prophet named Him.
So now (as it relates to as-sitr [concealment]), we only find among the Names of Allāh, the Exalted, the Name: as-Sittīr (the One Who conceals). As for as-Sātir and as-Sattār, they are not found among His Names, even though the meaning is correct. Now, for example, if someone were to say to you, "Indeed, Allāh ﷻ is sakhiyy (generous), not bakhīl (miserly)," is this meaning correct or not?
Questioner: Yes, it's correct.
Shaykh al-Albānī: It is correct. But it is not permissible for us to call Him Sakhiyy. Rather, we call Him by the synonymous name that Allāh named Himself with on the tongue of His Prophet ﷺ, which is al-Karīm (the Generous).
Al-Karīm and as-Sakhiyy in the Arabic language are two synonymous terms that convey the same meaning. So, the fact that sakhiyy means karīm does not allow us to say, "O Sakhiyy, honor me, bestow upon me." Instead, we say, "O Karīm," because the Names of Allāh are tawqīfiyyah. Is this clear? Good.
Questioner: Okay, it says (in a narration) that the servant errs during the day, and I (Allāh) conceal it, but the servant exposes his concealment (sitr) during the day... So is Sitr one of the Names of Allāh or not?
Shaykh al-Albānī: May Allāh bless you. We are talking about what pertains to Allāh, not what pertains to the servants of Allāh. If I see someone committing a mistake and I conceal it for him, there's no issue. And I can say that Allāh conceals it for him as well—no problem. "No servant conceals [the fault of] his Muslim brother except that Allāh ﷻ conceals [his faults]." But do we derive from this a Name to attribute to Allāh and say He is Sātir or Sattār? No. Rather, what has come in the Hadith is his saying, peace be upon him: "When one of you goes to the toilet, let him conceal himself, for Allāh is Ḥayiyy Sittīr, and He loves that His servant conceals himself." Ḥayiyy Sittīr—this is what has been narrated. We have the words Sattār and Sātir very commonly used, but the point is that the Names of Allāh are tawqīfiyyah.
Our Lord says in the Noble Qur'an: {They plotted (to kill Jesus), and Allāh plotted, and Allāh is the Best of plotters} (Qur'an 3:54). So it is not permissible for us to name Allāh al-Mākir (the Plotter), nor is it permissible to call Him al-Makkār (the One Who abundantly plots), because He did not name Himself with that. We do not derive from this compound phrase "Allāh is the best of plotters" an active participle Mākir, nor do we derive an intensive form Makkār. No, because the Names of Allāh are tawqīfiyyah.
It is not permissible for us to say, for example, "Allāh is 'Āqil (Sensible)," even though we of course believe He is not insane. And 'āqil is the opposite of majnūn (insane). But we have terms in the Qur'an and Sunnah that suffice us from using this name, which are al-Hakīm (the Wise) and al-'Alīm (the All-Knowing). See? This is the meaning of our statement that the Names of Allāh are tawqīfiyyah.
Translation: Yasin ibn Jamal