The All-Beautiful Names of God.Part2

Whatever truth of the Divine Essence the Names reflect and whatever Attribute they translate, all of the All-Beautiful Names of God are expressive of a different beauty, sacredness, sanctity, and perfection in the name of that All-Transcending Being. Whenever they are mentioned, they mark the limits of the truths for belief with their meanings, contents, and luminosity, they arouse respect in believing spirits, and cause the hearts that beat with respect to turn to God once again, more deeply.

Every blessed Name Which is mentioned in awareness in the depths of one’s conscience removes the filth, soot, and rust from eyes and hearts, rips up the veils of corporeality, and shows spirits to the realms beyond and what lies further beyond. They remind us of the All-Sacred One to Whom they refer, as if they were our intercessors with Him; as long as people remember and mention God with these Names, hearts find contentment and rest.

Furthermore, according to the rule, “The value of the knowledge is proportionate to what is known,” those who know these blessed Names with respect to the Divine Being and attain certain degrees of profundity through them are greatly valued by the inhabitants of the heavens and included in the candidates for the Divine Presence. If being a candidate for the Di- vine Presence depends on true knowledge of Him, then that All Majestic, All-Exalted Being can only be known with His Attributes of Majesty and Grace in the luminous atmosphere of these Names. We know things only according to the limited extent of our sensations of their corporeal beings, and judge them accordingly.

But true knowledge about God Almighty with His all-transcending Existence can only be acquired by knowing the totality of all of His All-Beautiful Names; He can be known only beyond all modalities of quality and quantity. This reality also indicates that He is a Nec- essarily Existent Being Whose Existence is by Himself. This is what all Muslims believe.

Some scholars of Sufism and the Islamic creed have regarded the All-Beautiful Names as the foundation of the truths of the universe, things, and humanity.

They have made a highly different in- terpretation of these Names, saying: “The truths of things consist in the Divine Names.”

According to them, all things, as well as all the willful and “instinctive” acts of human beings and other beings—without ignoring the role of the free will in the acts of human beings—are only mirrors that reflect the manifestations of the Divine Names. Bodies are only assemblages of material particles and compounds, while the Divine Names are in effect the spirits that reside in them.

As for the true nature of these manifestations and the All-Majestic, All-Exalted Divine Being Himself, before Whom the Names are veils, we should act in self-possession and remain in wonder, saying like the scholars of the Ahlu’s-Sunna:

“God is completely different from whatever comes to your mind concerning Him,”

or in the words of Imam ar-Rabbani: 

“God is beyond and further beyond whatever comes to your mind concerning Him.”

Even though certain impulses that arise from feelings or fanciful attitudes, or, in the words of Imam al-Ghazzali, “the worldly reason or intellect” cloud our atmosphere of spirit and heart, we should try to remain within the limits of our creed, saying like Ziya Pasha:

“Perception of such transcendent matters is not something for our incapable reason / For these scales cannot measure such a great load.”