16
A lofty benefit: the words that may be employed as an attribute or a predicate of the Lord—glorified and exalted be He—fall into several categories:
- Those that refer to the Essence itself, such as “Essence,” “Being,” or “Thing.”
- Those that refer to affirmative attributes of meaning, like al-ʿAlīm (the All-Knowing), al-Qadīr (the All-Powerful), and al-Samīʿ (the All-Hearing).
- Those that relate to His acts, for example al-Khāliq (the Creator) and ar-Razzāq (the Provider).
- Those that express pure transcendence. Such a name must still include an element of affirmation, for there is no perfection in sheer absence; examples are al-Quddūs (the Most Holy) and as-Salām (the All-Perfect).
- A fifth category, overlooked by most people: a name that points to a cluster of many attributes rather than to one specific attribute. It denotes multiple⦗1⦘ meanings, not a single meaning; such are al-Majīd (the Most Glorious), al-ʿAẓīm (the Most Great), and aṣ-Ṣamad (the Ever-Self-Sufficient). The term al-Majīd applies to one who possesses numerous qualities of perfection, and the word itself conveys this, for it is coined to suggest breadth, abundance, and increase,
(1) The printed edition reads “maʿnahu” (“its meaning”), whereas manuscript S has “maʿani” (“meanings”).
فائدة جليلة: ما يجري صفةً أو خبراً على الرب ﵎ أقسامٌ:
أحدها: ما يرجعُ إلى نفس الذات؟ كقولك: ذات وموجود وشيء.
الثاني: ما يرجعُ إلى صفاتٍ معنويةٍ، كالعليم والقدير والسميع.
الثالث: ما يرجعُ إلى أفعاله؛ نحو: الخالق والرزاق.
الرابع: ما يرجعُ إلى التنزيه المحض. ولابد من تضمنه ثبوًا إذ لا كمال في العدم المحض؟ كالقدوس السلام.
الخامس: ولم يذكره أكثرُ الناس، وهو الاسم الدال على جملة أوصافٍ عديدةٍ لا تختصُ بصفةٍ معينةٍ، بل هو دالٌ على معانٍ١ لا على معنى مفردٍ؛ نحو: المجيد العظيم الصمد، فإنَّ المجيد من اتصف بصفاتٍ متعددةٍ من صفات الكمال، ولفظه يدل على هذا، فإنَّه موضوعٌ للسعة والكثرة والزيادة،
١ في (المطبوعة) "معناه"وفي (ص) "معاني".