Ibn Samʿūn of Baghdad said: “The Supreme Name is not to be found among the well-known Most Beautiful Names; rather, it is made up of thirty-seven letters that are not taken from the ordinary letters of the alphabet.”

ʿUmar b. ʿAbd al-Munʿim informed us, on the authority of Abū al-Yaman al-Kindī; Hibat Allāh b. Aḥmad informed us; Muḥammad b. ʿAlī al-ʿUshārī informed us; Abū al-Ḥusayn b. Samʿūn informed us; Aḥmad b. Muḥammad b. Salm narrated to us; Ḥafṣ al-Rabbālī narrated to us; Sahl b. Ziyād narrated to us; Ayyūb narrated from Ibn Sīrīn, from Abū Hurayrah, who said:

“The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, was on a military campaign when the army was struck by a shortage of food. He asked, ‘Abu Hurayrah, do you have anything with you?’ I replied, ‘Yes—a few dates in my satchel.’ He said, ‘Bring them here,’ and added, ‘Spread out a leather cloth.’ I brought the cloth and he spread it out. He put his hand into the satchel, took out a handful of dates, and it turned out to be eleven dates. Then he said, ‘In the name of Allah,’ and began placing each date down, pronouncing the divine name over every single one until he had finished. Then he gathered them together and said, ‘Call so-and-so and his companions.’ They came, ate their fill, and left. He then said, ‘Call so-and-so and his companions.’ They too came, ate their fill, and left.

“Dates were still left over; he ate, I ate, and dates still remained. He put what was left back into the satchel. Later I was able to distribute from those very dates fifty wasqs in the cause of Allah, and that continued until the time of ʿUthmān.”

377 – al-Ṣāḥib Ismāʿīl b. ʿAbbād b. ʿAbbās al-Ṭāliqānī *
The great vizier, distinguished scholar, universally known as al-Ṣāḥib, Abū al-Qāsim Ismāʿīl b. ʿAbbād b.