On the fundamentals of the Names of God

 Peter Cunz, Spring 2002

 

(Reference is made to, and various extracts are being quoted from  the recommendable book of Hamid Molla-Djafari, „God has the most beautiful Names“, Edition Peter Lang. English citations from the Qur’an are according to the translation by Thomas B. Irving, Amana Books)

 

Where do the Names of God originate from?

The Names of God are not an invention of the Qur’an. Already in the Tora God’s Names or „the Name of the Lord“, have an important meaning; an example:

The Lord spoke to Moses: „  ... you have once and for all found My Grace and I know you by your name“. Then Moses replied „ Well, let me see Your Majesty then“. The Lord answered: „I am going to let pass by my entire Majesty before you and call out the Name of the Lord before you“ (Ex. 33, 17-19).

Or also in the New Testament:

Jesus says to the Lord: „I have disclosed to man Your Name that you have given me from the world“ (Joh. 17,6);

And in the Lord’s prayer we have: „ Hallowed be Thy Name“.

The Names of God are for mankind. Thereby man should recognize God’s presence. Recognition assumes a recognizer (subject) and something that can be recognized (object).  It is this separation  in duality which allows the third, and without which creation would not exist. Only  reflection and contemplation make understanding possible and solely the confrontation of subject and object make concepts like the Names of God possible.

Every concept – such as the Names of God – has the inherent risk to lessen the uniqueness of God repeatedly emphasized in the Qur’an. Whenever studying one of the Names of God one has to bear in mind  that by no means God can be understood as a concept. He is before each First and after each Last, which means, He ever was and will ever be. He is the origin of everything, He needs nothing and is self-existent. He is the Creator of all things and thus incomparable with created objects. He is the Obvious and the Hidden. We also can put it this way: creation began in God but God is even greater (Allah-hu Akbar).

„God’s Names“ in Arabic is al-Asmâ al-Ilâhiyya

„The most beautiful Names“ in Arabic is al-Asmâ al-Husnâ.

At the beginning of creation „God taught Adam all Names“ and asked the angels to prostrate before Adam. All obeyed,  except Iblis (Satan), who subsequently tempted Adam and his wife to eat from the forbidden tree whereby they were expelled from paradise. They came to the place where „one is one’s other enemy“, to where the knowledge of unity of life has fallen into oblivion or to where man has forgotten that his selfwill is only a distorted reflection of God’s will. But the Lord was merciful and gave Adam certain words (of prayer) and spoke: „Clear out from here you all. If you should be handed guidance from Me, then anyone who follows My guidance will have no fear nor will they be saddened“. (see Sura II, 30-39).

Four places in the Qur’an refer to God’s Names:

·        7,180: „God has the finest names, so appeal to Him by name and leave those who blaspheme against His Names alone; they will be rewarded for whatever they have been doing.“

·        17,110: Say: „Appeal to God, or appeal to the Merci-giving: whichever [name] you may invoke, He still has the Finest Names. Do not shout in your prayer nor say it under your breath; seek a course in between.“

·        20.8 „God, there is no deity except Him! His are the Finest Names.“

·        59,24 „He is God, the Creator, the Maker, the Shaper. His are the Finest Names. Whatever is in Heaven and Earth celebrates Him. He is the Powerful, the Wise.“

A Name of God consists of a root, a number and a sound. The repetition of the name according to it’s related number raises the effect to a higher power. This can be illustrated by the example of a square. It’s „geometric effect“  can be raised in power by taking the number 6. Six squares make a cube and it’s „geometric effect“ corresponds to the raised effect of a square, a step from the 2- to the 3-dimensional.

It is said that God loves to be called by His Names. God’s Names are instruments to come closer to God. By pronuncing the Names, gates open up within us – i.e. in our „hearts“, where God has His throne -  and the called for strengths of God will become visible. Those again have a resonance in the formated world (emotions, body and personal environment). It is said: „The one who seeks God has already been sought for by God“ and „Whoever makes a step towards God - God will make 10 steps to meet him.“ The Names of God are the substance out of which we give God a form. The Names do not exist without mankind.

 

How many Names of God are there ?

According to Molla Djafari there are 122 clearly perceptible Names of God mentioned in the Qur’an. Since the Qur’an expresses God’s message these Names are those that God has given Himself.  But a Hadith (passed on by Abu Hurayrah) says: „There are 99 Names that  belong only to Allah; Those who learn, understand and recite them will enter into paradise.“ There is broad agreement on which Names mentioned in the Qur’an belong to those 99.

In the traditional daily prayers there are about twenty Names of God used, depending on the kind of alternative texts chosen in the prayer.

Strictly speaking there are as many Names as there are perceptible attributes. This number varies according to the degree of awareness and thus of the degree of perception. In some texts  26’000 or even 144’000 names are mentioned, in other texts it is said, that 1000 Names were revealed  to the angels, 1000 to the prophets, 300 in David’s psalms, 300 in the Tora, 300 in the New Testament of the Bible and 99 in the Qur’an. But finally, this is quite unimportant.

In some circles, especially among Sufis, there is the shared opinion that one of the Names is the „Greatest Name“ (name mehin or ism-e a’zam), through which every aim can be achieved and every wish is realized, through which closed doors will open and miracles of the prophets and the saints are made possible. Of course there are different opinions about which  truely is the Greatest Name. Many are of the opinion that it is the expression Allah; some declare Hû to be the Greatest Name. According to Ibn Arabi the Greatest Name is mentioned in the Ajat al-Kursi (Qur’an verses 2,255-256), and according to Nadsh-midd’în Kubrâ it is the the expression Iftah bî hanîn, which means approximately „Open it up with Love“. Reported are the nice sayings of Bayasîd Bastâmi, when being asked about the Greates Name (cited by Molla-Djafari):

·        „Empty you heart of everything that is not God, then call Him as you like, and you can fly in one hour from the East to the West.“

·        „Teach me the Smallest Name of God and I will teach you the Greatest Name. All Names of God are great.“

·        „The Greatest Name of God has no limit and no restriction; It is the emptiness of the heart in union with God; and when you call him in this state every name is the Greatest Name.“

See also the story in „Mesnevi“, Book 2, verses 141 ff.

 

What is the purpose of the creation of the Names of God?

In man’s wish to understand God and to get closer to Him he looks for terms that describe at least in a rudimentary way Gods transcendence  (His Being beyond all existence, beyond the realm of sensory perceptions). The Names of God offered in the Holy books allow the seeker to invoke God in prayer and in Dhikr. In the Holy Qur’an it is said: ”the ones who believe and whose hearts feel tranquil through remembering God- Surely hearts feel tranquil whenever God is mentioned!” (Sura 13:28). On the other hand man can get a glimpse of God’s immanence in all created things (without exceeding the boundaries of human experience and knowledge). In our seeking the wish to understand and to sense God are like the chalice and the wine: In order to drink wine both are equally necessary – thus it is idle thought to value one higher than the other. An experience of God, which as such eludes description,  in order to be understood by man calls for a description. The qualities pertaining to the Names of God offer  an approach. “To understand Him means to approach Him” (Nûr al-Dîn Isfarâyinî 1242 - 1317).

In other words it can be said that the Names of God are the manifestation (Sifat) of His Essence (Dhat). Out of this grows His recognizability in this world (Wilayat). Many of the Names of God point to His transcendence, other names  (e.g.. Al-Mubîn, the Clear, Straightforward, Evident; or Az-Zâhir, the Visible, the Revealed,, the Apparent) are a clear indication of His immanence. Ultimatelly, if we get away from the concept  “I am here and there is God“, all Names refer to the  transcendent as well as the immanent nature of God – if only we could recognise this.

Are all known Names of God describing all the possible attributes of this world? No, there are properties that are not contained in these Names, such as the Separator, the Jealous, the Hypocrite, the Enticer… These are attributes of Satan. It goes without saying that God has power also over those satanic attributes which separate us from Him, but we should turn away from such attributes. The Holy Names of God mentioned in the Qur’an thus express the duties which God (Allah) imposes upon Himself in His attribute “God our Lord” (ar-Rabb) towards His creation. In other words: His Holy Names and Attributes are the garment of the one God we should seek in His creation and towards Whom we should turn.

There are however some unveiled Names not attributed to Satan that bring us unpleasant things, e.g. ad-Darr, al-Mudhill, al-Mumit, al-Muntaqim. These "negative" attributes are subordinate to His everpresent and all-embracing compassion Ar-Rahman. For instance God in His compassion (Rahman) sends us an illness so that we learn something from it. And out of the same  compassion (Rahîm) we get well again.

 

Superior attributes and classification of the Names of God

The sound Hû is often regarded as the Primary Sound and thus the fundamental element or „substance“ of the Names of God. It is like clay from which different forms can be modelled. Hû is allocated the number 11 – a key number in the Islamic mystics of numbers.

Famous learned men have created different categories for the Names of God – which is yet another indication  that the understanding of God can never be complete. In literature reference is made to  'Abd al-Karîm al-Jîlî (1366 - 1414) and his book al-Insân al-Kâmi, and to Muhyî ad-Dîn Ibn 'Arabî (1165 - 1240) and his treatise Insa al-dawâ'ir.  A first order classification groups the Attributes as follows (but by far this list does not imply to be exclusive):

·        Attributes of Essence (sifât al-dhâtî)

·        Attributes of Substance (sifât al-nafsiyya)

·        Fundamental or intelligible, entitative attributes (sifât al-ma'nawiyya)

·        Attributes of Acitivity (sifât al-fi'liyya)

·        Attributes of Majesty (sifât al-jalâliyya)

·        Attributes of Perfection (sifât al-kamâliyya)

·        Attributes of Beauty (sifât al-jamâliyya)

No one has yet succeeded in establishing an unequivocal classification. Thus it is advisable – especially for believers – not to stick rigidly to such classifications. The famous philosopher Averroes (Ibn Ruscht, died 1198) recommends in his publication Tahâfut at-tahâfut: "Man should only know those Attributes of God which had been cleared by the unveiled Law of Islam, i.e. the compulsory Attributes – however without comprehensive and detailed analysis of the “meaning of the Attributes as such”.

Since the study of the Names of God is in most cases related to a religious activity, many translations contain interpretations. However these interpretations are often not clearly separated from the linguistically binding translation. Secondary manifestations of a Name of God, which are important to an author due to his religious belief, are being emphasized in numerous publications and the linguistic significance ranks second in place. A correct translation of the Names of God should start with the linguistic significance and be followed by interpretations. The following opinion by Molla-Djafaris (Chapter 3.13.6) illustrates this:

The reasons for such confusions are mainly the lack of linguistic theoretical  and philosophical background of the  writer and the lack of knowledge of the problems that arise by an inaccurate translation. In most cases such a person is very devout and shows much dedication, he is well meaning in his glorification and praise for God. This leads him to make a „semantic somersault“ by offering a series of exalted and wonderful Attributes when translating a Name of God – Attributes which have nothing to do with the Name to be translated. This is expressed in the wrong statement of a writer (Mogtaderi, Mohm'mad Tagi) in his Persian translation of the Names of God. The translator concludes that “each Name of God comprises all Attributes of God, since His existence is complete and absolute and all things are manifestations and personifications of His Power“. This inexact and thoughtless statement is clearly wrong. Here the person and the Being of God is confused with His different aspects which become apparent through His various Names (it is as if we mistake the colour of a car,  the brake mechanism, the loading capacity or the driving features with the car itself). Moreover:  If all the Names of God were expressing the same thing why would so many of them exist? One would suffice.

 

How can we work with the Names of God?

The Names of God can be repeated during Dhikr. The repetition establishes the effect of the meanings of the Names. Their effect is increased in power by the number which is attributed to each Name. Some people repeat the Names of God over a bowl of water  and subsequently wash their face with the water. Often the Names are written on a piece of paper and used as auspicious amulets.

This is all very well but as far as we are concerned we have to be clear about our motivation for our actions. Expectations are a malicious poison on the Way to God.

The use of the Names of God for the purpose of  improving one’s well-being is most often connected with expectations. Even if the Names of God are used in a prayer for the health of someone else, the secret wish for appreciation is still there. Thus it is not surprising that the Mevlevi tradition concentrates on the all encompassing Name Allah, and works little with the Names of God. Moreover, the Name Allah contains all other names. On the other hand we are not able to plan, decide or make a judgement without having concepts, intentions and expectations. The greatness of a human being lies in his capacity to reflect – a fact that differentiates human beings from all other organisms. On the spiritual path we are called upon to make use of such capacities  and to let them go at the right time. Why let go? Because attachment to perceptions, intentions and expectations produces ambition, greed, jealousy as well as arrogance and disappointment – all of which are obviously obstacles on the way to God.

The pronunciation of a Name of God is like a prayer. Prayers are said after ablutions in a clean and  appropriate place. The same respect and attention should be paid to the Names of God. In many Moslem circles it is bad manners to dispose of a piece of paper with a Name of God written on it. If it is no longer used it should be burnt.  Neither are toilet walls a place where Names of God should be displayed.

When we work with the Names of God we do not start immediately with the Names. First we praise God and only then we pronounce our own wishes and concerns. Our  attitude  should be the same as Mevlana’s – “ Oh, Lord, increase my yearning for You!”. Therefore, it should be a habit that every such action begins with praise, respect and recognition. It is not correct to start a prayer with supplication, even when our prayer is for another person. Before we mention our  supplication we should do away with our worry, sorrow and distress. A prayer can hardly have an effect when it is pronounced in a distressed attitude.

Each Dhikr, that was celebrated over centuries, has increased the effect of the Holy Names in the relative world. The effect can be compared to dough that improves the longer it is kneaded. It can be said that the Holy Names have a strong effect when used in the right context. Though it is often said that the sound alone of  the Holy Names pronounced in correct Arab has an impact on the constitution of man, comparable to the mantras in Eastern techniques. Just like the repetition of a Name of God according to its attributed number can increase its effect, the perfect pronunciation of the Holy Names also increases its effect but this is not the most important thing.  Even the most perfectly pronounced Holy Names would be empty shells if they did not carry a message. They give testimony of the millions of hearts and tongues that have pronounced the Names of God in devotion and respect, with gratefulness for the Attributes in which God shows Himself. It is this testimony that has a strong impact on those who practice the Holy Names and carry them in their hearts. And the believer in his practice himself is a witness of the Glory of God. One of the Holy Names is Ash-Shahid, the Witness..

 

Outlook

In the repeated realization of these fundamentals we will dare the undertaking to work with the Names of God.