| |
|
Aim of The
Book
In the Name of God the
Infinitely Good, the Merciful
Praise be to God, alone in His majesty and His might, and unique
in His sublimity and His everlastingness, who clips the wings of
intellects well short of the glow of His glory, and who makes the
way of knowing Him pass through the inability to know Him; who makes
the tongues of the eloquent fall short of praising the beauty of
His presence unless they use the means by which He praises Himself,
and use His names and attributes which He has enumerated. And may
blessings be upon Muhammad, the best of His creatures, and on his
companions and his family.
Now, a brother in God—great and glorious—to answer
whom is a religious duty, has asked me to elucidate the meanings
of the most beautiful names of God. His questions were incessant,
and made me take one step forward and another backward, hesitating
between heeding his inquiry and so satisfying the duty of brotherliness,
or declining his request by following the way of caution and deciding
not to venture into danger, for human powers fall far short of attaining
this goal.
How else could it be? For two things deter a discerning person
from plunging into such a sea. First of all, the matter itself represents
a lofty aspiration, difficult to attain and uncertain of accomplishment.
For it is at the highest summit and represents the farthest of goals,
such that minds are bewildered by it and the sight of intellects
falls far short of its principles, not to mention its farthest reaches.
How could human powers follow the way of investigation and scrutiny
regarding the divine attributes? Can the eyes of bats tolerate the
light of the sun?
The second deterrent: declaring the essence of the truth of this
matter all but contradicts whatever the collectivity has hitherto
believed. Now weaning creatures from their habits and familiar beliefs
is difficult, and the threshold of truth is too exalted to be broached
by all or to be sought after except by lone individuals. The nobler
the thing sought after the less help there is. Whoever mixes with
people is right to be cautious; but it is difficult for one who
has seen the truth to pretend not to have seen it. For one who does
not know God—great and glorious— silence is inevitable,
while for one who knows God most high, silence is imposed. So it
is said: ‘for one who knows God, his tongue is dulled’.
But the sincerity of the original request, together with its persistence,
overcame these excuses. So I asked God—great and glorious—to
facilitate what is right and be liberal in rewarding by His graciousness
and His benevolence and His abundant generosity; for He is the liberal
and generous One, indulgent to His servants.
THE BEGINNING OF THE BOOK
We have seen fit to divide the discussion in this book into three
parts. Part One will treat preliminary and introductory matters;
Part Two, goals and objectives; Part Three supplementary and complementary
matters. The chapters of the first part will consider the goals
in an introductory and preparatory way, while the chapters of the
third part are attached to them so as to complement and complete
them. But the core of what we are seeking is contained in the middle
part.
As for the first part, it includes (1) explaining the truth of
what is to be said concerning the name, the named, and the act of
naming, (2) exposing the errors into which most groups have fallen
regarding this matter, and (3) clarifying whether it is permitted
for those names of God which are close to one another in meaning—like
al-Azim (the Immense), al-Jalil (the Majestic),
and al-Kabir (the Great)—to be predicated according
to a single meaning so that they would be synonymous, or must their
meanings differ? Furthermore, (4) it explains about a single name
which has two meanings: how does it share these two meanings? Is
it predicated of both of them, as a general predicate of the things
it names [as ‘animal’ is said of a lion and a lamb],
or must it be predicated of one of them in particular? Finally,
(5) it explains how man shares in the meaning of each of the names
of God—great and glorious.
The second part includes (1) the clarification of the meaning of
the ninety-nine names of God and (2) the explanation how the people
of the Sunna reduce them all to an essence with seven attributes,
and (3) how the doctrine of the Mu’tazilites and the philosophers
reduces them to a single essence without multiplicity.
The third part explains (1) that the names of God most high exceed
the ninety-nine by divine instruction, and explains (2) how it is
permissible to describe God most high by whatever may qualify Him
even if no permission or divine instruction be found—so long
as it is not prohibited. Finally, it explains (3) the advantage
of the enumeration and specification of the one hundred-minus-one
names.
|
