وَبِوَجْهِكَ الْبَاقِي بَعْدَ فَنَاءِ كُلِّ شَيٍْء
(I ask You) by Your Face, which subsists after annihilation of all things.
Allah’s Holy Essence is the core of existence. His Existence is Preexisting and Eternal. He has always existed without any counterpart, and will always exist so. He has willed to create all things wisely, while He is independent of all things. Everything will come to an end, except He, Who will be forever.
Nothing in this world exists independently; the life of all beings is a blowing of the Divine Soul, and therefore everything is doomed to mortality. Mortality is a deficiency attribute, while eternity is a perfection attribute. Hence the Absolute Perfection has Absolute Eternity, and mortality is the attribute of all the beings and their lives.
وَبِأَسْمَآئِكَ الَّتِى مَلَأَتْ أَرْكَانَ كُلِّ شَيٍْء
(I ask You) by Your Names, which have filled the foundations of all things.
The word “اسماء” (Names) in this divine phrase does not merely mean the lexical Names that are composed of series of letters; rather the attributes, facts and concepts, which these Names denote.
Allah’s Mercy, Knowledge, Justice, and Power are the basics for all things. In other words, all things are signs of Allah; the Creative, the Shaper, the All-Knowing, the All-Seeing, the Just, the Wise, the Merciful, and the Compassionate.
The creatures are created, continue existence, and obtain sustenance based on these facts and attributes of Allah. The lexical Names are therefore manifestations of the real Names. What are significant in the existence, identity, and repute of “all things” are the real Names not the lexical ones.
Anyhow, Allah’s real Names are mediators for happening of facts in this world. In Sama’ supplication, narrated by an Infallible Imam, we read:
أَللّهُمَّ إِنّى أَسْأَلُكَ بِاسْمِكَ الْعَظيمِ الاَْعْظَمِ الاَْعَزِّ الاَْجَلِّ الاَْكْرَمِ الَّذى إِذا دُعيتَ بِهِ عَلى مَغالِقِ أَبْوابِ السَّمآءِ لِلْفَتْحِ بِالرَّحْمَةِ انْفَتَحَتْ، وَإِذا دُعيتَ بِهِ عَلى مَضآئِقِ أَبْوابِ الاَْرْضِ لِلْفَرَجِ انْفَرَجَتْ، وَإِذا دُعيتَ بِهِ عَلَى العُسْرِ لِلْيُسْرِ تَيَسَّرَتْ، وَإِذا دُعيتَ بِهِ عَلَى الاَْمْواتِ لِلنُّشُورِ انْتَشَرَتْ، وَإِذا دُعيتَ بِهِ عَلى كَشْفِ الْبَأسآءِ وَالضَّرّاءِ انْكَشَفَتْ…
O Allah! I ask You by Your Great Name, the most Powerful, the most Notable, the most Worthy, by which if You are called for opening the heavens’ doors, they are opened by Mercy; if You are called for opening the earthly doors, they are opened; if You are called by Your Name for relieving the troubles, they are relieved; if You are called by your Great name for the Resurrection of the dead, they are alive; and if You are called for removing poorness and anxiety, they are removed…
What materializes the needs stated in this supplication is not the mere Name that is consisted of the letters n, m, a, and e; rather the Name itself and its reality.
The attributes that have filled basis for “all things” are the reality of the existing facts, which are called “Names” in the holy Qur’¡n and the traditions.
Among the manifestations of Allah’s Names is the Prophet’s Household, the Infallible Imams (a.s), who have special characteristics and are the mediators of Allah’s Mercy for people until the Resurrection Day. Allah’s Mercy, Guidance, Compassion, Forgiveness is passed to the people by the Imams (a.s) and the believers’ deed are accepted via them, too.
The great scholar, al-Fay¤ al-K¡sh¡n¢, in his valuable Qur’¡nic exegesis “Safi” has narrated Imam ¯¡diq (a.s):
نَحْنُ وَاللهِ الأسْمَاءُ الحُسْنَى الَّذِي لا يَقْبَلُ اللهُ مِنَ العِبَادِ عَمَلاً الاَّ بِمَعْرِفَتِنَا.
By Allah that we (the Prophet’s Household) are Allah’s Glorious Names; Allah accepts not a single deed from His servants except that they know us and appreciate our position.
As a result, attending to the lexis does not benefit the human or manifest a reality for him. We should go beyond the words and phrases to the realm of Reality, since everything apparent in the world is the sign of Allah’s real names and facts.
وَبالاسْمِ الَّذي خَلَقْتَ بِهِ العَرْشَ وَبالاسْمِ الَّذِي خَلَقْتَ بِهِ الكُرْسِيَّ وَبالاسْمِ الَّذِي خَلَقْتَ بِهِ الرُّوحَ…
By Your Name by which You created the Empyrean, by Your Name for which You created the throne, and by whose Blessings You fashioned the Soul.
وَبِعِلْمِكَ الَّذِى أَحَاطَ بِكُلِّ شَيٍْء
(I ask You) by Your Knowledge, which encompasses all things.
Allah’s Knowledge encompasses all acts and all times. It encompasses the apparent and hidden aspects of all beings; even of an atom billions of which can be placed at the point of a needle. Allah knows the number of all the creatures, even the atoms, the seeds, the drops of rain and flakes of snow. Here we just mention some verses of the holy Qur’¡n that is an ocean of knowledge.
وَيَعْلَمُ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَمَا فِي الأَرْضِ.
He knows what is in the heavens and what is on earth. (3:29)
وَيَعْلَمُ مَا فِي الْبَرِّ وَالْبَحْرِ وَمَا تَسْقُطُ مِنْ وَرَقَةٍ إِلاَّ يَعْلَمُهَا.
He knows what is in land and sea; not a leaf falls, but He knows it. (6:59)
وَاللَّهُ يَعْلَمُ مَا تُسِرُّونَ وَمَا تُعْلِنُونَ.
And Allah knows what you keep secret and what you publish. (16:19)
يَعْلَمُ مَا يَلِجُ فِي الْأَرْضِ وَمَا يَخْرُجُ مِنْهَا وَمَا يَنزِلُ مِنْ السَّمَاءِ وَمَا يَعْرُجُ فِيهَا وَهُوَ الرَّحِيمُ الْغَفُورُ.
He knows what penetrates into the earth, and what comes forth from it, what comes down from heaven, and what goes up to it; He is the All-compassionate, the All-forgiving. (34:2)
The reality of these verses becomes more clear when we closely study an incision in a hill, thousands of which are found in all five continents. Entomologists have counted nearly seven hundred thousand types of insects so far; the exact number of insects of various types is impossible to be counted. In a summer day when the sky is clear, the number of flies, beetles, and multipeds moving in a hill’s incision is more than the number of all people living in the same continent. If humans were suddenly extinct from the earth, other creatures living on the earth would hardly ever notice their absence![1]
وَبِنُورِ وَجْهِكَ الَّذِى أَضَآءَ لَهُ كُلُّ شَيٍْء
(I ask You) by the Light of Your Face, through which all things are illuminated!
The Meaning of Light in Qur’¡nic Verses and Traditions
In the holy Qur’¡n and traditions, ‘light’ implies values and perfections. ‘Light’ means guidance[2]. ‘Light’ means success in traveling toward belief[3]. ‘Light’ means Islam, insight, knowledge. It means brightness of the spirit[4]. ‘Light’ is Qur’¡n:
قَدْ جَاءَكُمْ مِنْ اللَّهِ نُورٌ وَكِتَابٌ مُبِينٌ.
There has come to you from Allah a light, and a Manifest Book. (5:15)
‘Light’ also means divine rules, doctrinal and moral facts:
إِنَّا أَنزَلْنَا التَّوْرَاةَ فِيهَا هُدًى وَنُورٌ.
Surely We sent down the Torah, wherein is guidance and light. (5:44)
According to these meanings, it becomes clear that ‘light’ is the essence of Allah’s Attributes, Accomplishments, and Glorious Names from Which all the creatures benefit to the extent of their existence, capacity, and capability. The creatures would thus get rid of their obscurity.
In this appropriate situation, the talented human goes from the darkness of inexistence to the light of existence, from incapability to perfection, from the darkness of ignorance to the light of knowledge, from oppression to justice, from unbelief to faith, from deviation to guidance, from materialism to spirituality; becoming the rising position of Allah’s Light, Names, and Attributes, Who is the Pure Light and Reality.
Qur’¡nic verses and the traditions of Prophet’s Household (a.s) imply that “Light of Face” is the same realities and perfections a thousand of which has been pointed out in Jowshan Kabir supplication.
The reason ‘Light’ is singular is that all Lofty Names of Allah are actually His Existence, and in His Holy Sanctuary there is no noun or adjective. Knowledge, Wisdom, Justice, Mercy, Compassion… are all the Existence of the One.
Since ‘Light’ mainly means guidance in Islamic texts the above-mentioned phrase may mean: “O Allah! I ask You by Your Guidance, by which all the creatures are guided.”
Anyway the word ‘light’ covers all the heavenly concepts and attributes, and it is left to common sense to choose among the various meanings according to the situation.
