A Discussion of the Narrations

1. Use of Past Tense for Future

From Abū Jaʿfar regarding God’s words to Jesus: “Was it you who said to the people, ‘Take me and my mother for gods besides Allah?’” He said: He [Jesus] did not say it and He [God] will say it, “Indeed when God knows that something will happen, He reports it as news of what has already occurred.” (319)

Note: Based on this narration, using the past tense for something that is in the future occurs due to knowledge of the certainty of its occurrence, and this is common in language. (320)

2. The Reality of Divine Names

From Jābir al-Juʿfī from Abū Jaʿfar regarding the exegesis of this verse: “You know whatever is in my self, and I do not know what is in Your Self. Indeed You are knower of all that is Unseen.” He said: Indeed the Greatest Name (al-ism al-akbar) is seventy-three letters; the Lord concealed Himself from them by one letter, and for this reason no one knows what is in His Self. He gave Adam seventy-two letters; the prophets inherited them until they came to Jesus; and that is the meaning of Jesus’s saying: “You know whatever is in my self” (taʿlamu mā fī nafsī)—meaning seventy-two letters from the Greatest Name. He says: You taught them to me so You know them; “and I do not know what is in Your Self” (wa lā aʿlamu mā fī nafsika). He says: because You concealed Yourself [from Your creation] with that letter, so no one knows what is in Your Self. (321)

Note: The teacher, ʿAllāma Ṭabāṭabāʾī, says regarding this narration that the entire world is governed by the Divine Names (asmāʾ ilāhī), and they are not special words to be pronounced, just as they are not specific concepts to be learned, but rather a Divine Name is an existential reality (wāqiʿiyyat-i takwīnī). (322) The secret of why in the verse “And He taught Adam all the names, then presented them to the angels” the masculine plural pronoun comes for “names”: “presented them” (ʿaraḍahum) is also that these names are objective realities (ḥaqāʾiq-i ʿaynī).

One can attain the reality of the Divine Names, which is an external matter (amr-i khārijī). One who knows the knowledge of names (ʿilm al-asmāʾ) discovers that the Greatest Name, like other names, is a station (maqām).

It is not the case that someone says a word and thereby brings the dead to life; or understands the meaning of a verse such as “In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful” (bi-smi llāhi l-raḥmāni l-raḥīm) and the Throne Verse (āyat al-kursī) in which the Greatest Name (al-ism al-aʿẓam) is embedded, and brings the dead to life. A human being cannot affect the essence of reality through word and concept. If the human soul progresses and becomes integrated with Qur’anic realities, it attains lofty existential stations (maqāmāt-i rafīʿ-i takwīnī) and consequently can affect real beings, and until someone attains the existential reality (wujūd-i takwīnī) of the Divine Names, they do not have the power of existential influence (taʾthīr-i takwīnī) on external things.

The Perfect Human (insān-i kāmil) possesses those objective realities externally: “And He taught Adam the Names, all of them”,(323) and for this reason can have effect by God’s permission; sometimes in the form “and I revive the dead by Allah’s leave” (wa uḥyī l-mawtā bi-idhn illāh) (324) and at times in the manner “And I heal the blind and the leper” (wa ubriʾu l-akmaha wa-l-abraṣa) (325) and sometimes in the form “I will create for you out of clay the form of a bird” (akhluqu lakum min al-ṭīni ka-hayʾat al-ṭayr) (326) and the like; however, this same Perfect Human, from the aspect that he is contingent (mumkin), is created and limited, and therefore according to the statement of Imam Bāqir in this narration, even the Perfect Human does not have access to the exalted stage and degrees of the Names - which are specific to God and concealed from creation and reserved exclusively for God.

God’s Immunity from Being Questioned

One of the Divine Names is God’s immunity from being questioned about His actions: “He is not questioned concerning what He does, but they are questioned.”(327) Supplicatory questioning (suʾāl-i istiʿṭāʾī) is praiseworthy and interrogative questioning (suʾāl-i istifhāmī) is commendable; however, accountability questioning (suʾāl-i bāzkhwāstī) and so-called clarification questioning (istiḍāḥī) regarding God is not permissible, because if there were a governing law that God would be obligated to implement, that law would necessarily fall under His dominion; and if there were no such law and that law were non-existent, a non-existent matter cannot become a criterion for measurement. This is the same exclusive Name (ism-i mustāthir) to which no one has access. In other words, this attribute (God’s immunity from clarification questioning) is absolute and is not specific to ordinary individuals, but even the infallible (maʿṣūm) has no access in that Divine Court. Therefore, from the mentioned verse combined with the narration from Imam Bāqir (a.s.), it is understood that in the world there are things about which God is not questioned. According to this explanation, since Jesus knew that God performs some actions in accordance with that exclusive Name about which He is not questioned, he speaks so courteously: “You know whatever is in my self, and I do not know what is in Your Self.”

In summary:

a. From the narration of Imam Bāqir (a.s.) it is understood that firstly, God possesses multiple Beautiful Names (asmāʾ-i ḥusnā). Secondly, He did not teach some of those Names even to the Perfect Human (insān-i kāmil).

b. The verse “He is not questioned…” does not refer to a specific matter or particular person, because its meaning is that God is never subjected to clarification questioning.

c. The source of such immunity is precisely our ignorance - other than God - of the secret of God’s work.

d. This same matter can be based on the exclusive Name. e. Knowledge of that exclusive Name is neither a subject of discussion nor within anyone’s capability.

3. The Number of Letters of the Divine Names

From Abū ʿAbdallāh who said: Jesus had two letters with which he worked; Moses had four; Abraham had six; Noah had eight; Adam had twenty-five; and all of this was given to the Messenger of God. Indeed, the Name of God has seventy-three letters. The Messenger of God had seventy-two letters, and one was concealed from him. (328)

Note:

a. Although prophets and messengers share in the common effects of prophethood (nubuwwa) and messengership (risāla), some prophets are superior to others: “Your Lord knows best whoever is in the heavens and the earth. Certainly We gave some prophets an advantage over others.”(329) Also, some messengers have superiority over others: “These are the messengers, some of whom We gave an advantage over others.”(330)

b. God knows the criteria of superiorities and the application is also in His authority. Superiority is sometimes one-sided and sometimes two-sided; that is, it is possible that at times one prophet may possess some of the Beautiful Names (asmāʾ-i ḥusnā) while another prophet possesses others. Such superiority is two-sided. And it is possible that whatever one prophet has, another prophet also has, but the other prophet possesses some things that this prophet lacks. Therefore, the relationship between them is sometimes two-sided superiority and sometimes one-sided superiority.

c. The development of human societies provides the ground for the descent of more complete law, and the perfection of law is sometimes achieved by sending a more perfect prophet, and sometimes by sending a prophet who remedies the deficiency of some laws, even though this prophet himself may be inferior to or equal to the previous prophet, because from the combination of these two prophets the ultimate goal - namely the comprehensiveness of religion - is secured. Therefore, the mere necessity of the development of religion does not require the superiority of the later prophet, although sometimes this happens. Thus, if the Beautiful Names of God are distributed in the manner mentioned in the aforementioned tradition (ḥadīth), it would not contradict any fundamental matter concerning prophethood, messengership, and guardianship (wilāya).