the sciences. As for restricting and lifting restrictions upon what may be applied to Him—glory be to Him—that belongs to God. We confine ourselves to the expressions to which He has confined their application, for we name Him only by what He has named Himself. Whatever He has forbidden in this regard we forbid, out of proper courtesy toward God, for we are only through Him and for Him.
In this chapter, let us mention, presence by presence, the divine presences to which God has alluded through the Most Beautiful Names. Let us limit ourselves to one hundred presences, then follow them with sections, each of which relates back to this chapter. Among them is:
The Divine Presence, Which Is the Name Allah[1]
Allah, Allah, Allah, whose
signs have ruled that in His cosmos He is Allah.
Glory be to Him! Exalted is He beyond any servant’s
attaining Him: there is no god but He.
He is distinguished by a Name that no one shares
with Him: it is the speaker’s utterance, “Allah.”
This is the presence gathering all presences. For this reason no worshipper of God has worshipped anything but it. Thus He, Most High, ruled in His saying, “Your Lord decreed that you worship none but Him” [al-Isra 17:23], and His saying, “You are the poor toward God” [Fatir 35:15].
To God belongs what is hidden, and to God what appears / Yes, rather, it is God, other than whom there is none.
(The Name Allah and Its Comprehensive Signification)
Know that since the Name Allah contains within its potency, through its original designation, every divine Name—indeed, every name having an effect within the cosmos that comes
Notes
[1]
The alif in “the presence,” al-haḍra, has been restored, as in the new edition. (New edition, volume 11, page 199.)
