Dagli (RW): Nomes Divinos

Cada identidade   imutável   é uma forma (surah  ) de uma divina Qualidade   ou Nome no conhecimento de Deus  , o que vale dizer que Deus tem conhecimento Dele mesmo ou de Seus Nomes. Os Nomes sendo infinito  , as identidades também são infinitas. Os Nomes divinos   eles mesmo são elencados em uma hierarquia, cada um possuindo seu próprio escopo ou domínio único. Nomes tais como o Santo (al-Quddus), o Real (al-Haqq  ), e o Todo  -Misericordioso   (al-Rahman) denotam a Essência como tal, enquanto Nomes tais como o Clemente (al-Halim) e o Sutil   (al-Latif) pretendem denotar Qualidades, enquanto ainda outros Nomes tais como o Criador (al-Khaliq) e o Dador da Morte (al-Mumit) denota Atos de Deus. Entretanto, certos Nomes são condições para outros Nomes devido à condicionalidade das Qualidades. Conhecimento é uma condição para Vontade, e Vontade para Poder. Ou seja, Deus não pode querer a menos que Ele conheça, e Ele não pode exercer Seu poder a menos que Ele tenha uma vontade para assim fazer. Outros Nomes tais como o Primeiro, o último, o Interior-Exterior   - Interior e o Exterior são condicionados pela relacionalidade, posto que a presença de um demanda a presença de sua contraparte. Deus como o real é mais abrangente do que Deus como Criador, enquanto o escopo do Criador é maior que aquele do Dador da Vida ou do Dador da Morte. No caso do Primeiro ou do Último, a limitação   e escopo decorre do próprio relacionamento de um Nome a outro.

In the opening sentence one can understand the phrase “their identities” in one of two ways. The first is a reading of identity as the essence particular to each Name, meaning that the Real willed to see each essence or very self of each divine Name. The second is to understand “their” as signifying an ontological dependence, meaning that the Real willed to see the identities that belong ultimately to the Names. Understood in the first way, the identities of the Names are their very own identities or essences and do not refer to anything above or below the ontological level of the divine Names. Understood in the second way they are forms in God’s knowledge, which as we have seen carry the name “immutable identities.” Ibn Arabi   tells us that he could have equally well   said that the Real willed to see His own Identity. The equivalence of the vision of the identities and the vision of the Identity is based on the oneness of the Named. Infinite as the Most Beautiful Names may be, they can only name a single Identity, and as we shall see the identities themselves express the Names of God. Each identity is a Name of the Identity, and so to see the totality of identities is really none other than to see the only Identity.

Each immutable identity is a form (surah) of a divine Quality or me in the knowledge of God, which is to say that God has knowledge of Himself or of His Names. The Names being infinite, the identities are also infinite. The divine Names themselves are arrayed in a hierarchy, each possessing its own unique scope or domain. Names such as the Holy (al-Quddus), the Real (al-Haqq), and the All-Merciful (al-Rahman) denote the Essence as such, while Names such as the Clement (al-Halim) and the Subtle (al-Latif) are meant to denote Qualities, while still other Names such as the Creator (al-Khaliq) and Giver of Death (al-Mumit) denote Acts of God. Moreover, certain Names are conditions for other Names owing to the conditionality of Qualities. Knowledge is a condition for Will, and Will for Power. That is to say, God cannot will unless He knows, and He cannot exercise His power unless He has a will to do so. Other Names such as the First, the Last, the Inward, and the Outward are conditioned by relationality, since the presence of one demands the presence of its counterpart. God as the Real is more encompassing than God as Creator, while the scope of the Creator is greater than that of the Giver of Life the Giver of Death. In the case of the First or the Last, the limitation in scope stems from the very relationship of one Name to another.

Between any two divine Names that we are able to articulate there stand an infinite number of Names that we cannot or do not. midpoint between any two divine Names is itself a divine Name, midway between the latter and anyone of the first two is yet another divine Name, and so on ad infinitum. The Names we know as it were a representative sample from amongst the infinite totality. Qaysari employs the imagery of divine Names joining to beget other Names, which then join together to beget still others. This imagery is not to suggest that the un-articulated Names are somehow derivative of the articulated ones, because all are equally Names of God. Their essential differences lie in their scope and in their conditionality upon one another. They are not determined by the way we as contingent beings employ them. Thus, the Just-Creator is in its reality a single Name, and the Just-Creator-Clement is another Name, equally as much as the other. The compounding is conceptual and con as from the standpoint of the human mind  .

Slow, certain Names have a scope that is precisely that of a single individual. Any individual identity can be seen as a unique combination of divine Names. However, any “combination” of divine Names is in reality itself a unique divine Name; we only call it a combination or interplay because we begin conceptually from the starting point of a finite set of Names. As noted above, this finitude is a function of the intelligence and imagination, not the divine Nature. If, however, we take the known divine Names as indicative or symbolic of the totality, it is then helpful to envisage each identity as expressing a unique interplay of these Names. Now, the divine Names are such that some have a scope that corresponds to an individual and some have a scope that encompasses many individuals. God knows all of these Names, which is why the immutable identities include both universals and particulars. Identities share qualities, each of which is a unique divine Name, but at the same time each identity captures a unique “set” of qualities, which is also a unique divine Name. This is how the immutable realm contains both the universal   and particular. The divine Name that determines the immutable identity is sometimes spoken of as the “lord” of that identity.