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Seventh: Whatever is applied to Him in the realm of Names and Attributes is restricted to what has been established by revelation, whereas what is applied to Him by way of informational description1 need not be so restricted; hence one may refer to Him with terms such as al-Qadim (the Pre-Eternal), al-Shayʾ (the Being), al-Mawjud (the Existent), and al-Qaʾim bi-Nafsihi (the Self-Subsisting). This, then, is the decisive ruling on the question of His Names: are they all bound by revelation, or is it permissible to apply to Him some names that have not been attested in the transmitted texts?
(1) The printed edition, along with manuscripts Kha and Ba, reads “min al-akhbar” (from the reports), whereas manuscript Sad has “fi al-akhbar” (in the reports); the reading adopted here is that of Lawami al-Anwar.
السابع: أنّ ما يطلق عليه في باب الأسماء والصفات توقيفيٌ، وما يطلق عليه في باب الإخبار١ لا يجب أن يكون توقيفيًا؛ كالقديم والشيء والموجود والقائم بنفسه. فهذا فصل الخطاب في مسألة أسمائه: هل هي توقيفيةٌ، أو يجوز أن يطلق عليه منها بعضُ ما لم يرد به السمع.
١ في (المطبوعة) و (خ) و (ب) "من الأخبار"وفي (ص) "في الأخبار"والمثبت من لوامع الأنوار.