"The Most Merciful, the All-Compassionate (al-Rahmân al-Rahîm)"

The positioning: just as divine glory (jalâl) and its concomitants are manifested in sequence from the name of Allâh, so too divine beauty (jamâl) and its concomitants appear in sequence from ''the Most Merciful, the All-Compassionate (al-Rahmân al-Rahîm). Since Glory and Beauty are two sources, there appear in sequence from them by virtue of their being manifest in every world, branches like command and prohibition, reward and punishment, inducement and threat, glorification and praise, and fear and hope, and so on.

Also, just as the name of Allâh indicates the attributes that are identical with His Essence and indicate His freedom from defect (al-sifât al-'ayniyya wa'l-tanzihiyya), so "All-Compassionate (al-Rahîm)" hints at the attributes that are other than His Essence and pertain to action (al-sifât al-ghayriyya al-fi'liyya). As for "Most Merciful (al-Rahmân)" it indicates the seven attributes that are neither identical with nor other than His Essence (lâ 'ayn wa lâ ghayr), since it has the meaning of the Provider (al-Razzâq) and consists of the bestowal of continuance. For continuance is the repetition of existence; and existence necessitates a distinguishing attribute, a specifying attribute, and an effectuating attribute, and these are Knowledge, Will, and Power. Continuance, which is the result of the bestowal of sustenance, entails the certainty of Sight, Hearing, and Speech, for necessarily the Provider has sight in order to see the need of the recipient of providence if he does not seek it; and He has hearing in order to hear the recipient's word when he asks; and He has speech in order to speak through intermediaries, when there are some. And these six necessitate the seventh, which is Life.

• If you were to ask: The precedence of "Most Merciful (al-Rahmân)" which indicates great bounties, over "All-Compassionate (al-Rahîm)," which indicates minute bounties, is the art of descending from great to small (san'at al-tadalli). While eloquence requires an ascent from lowest to highest (san'at al-taraqqi)!

You would he told: The latter is appended to the former in order to complete it, like eyebrows complete the eyes and the bridle the horse. Similarly, when the great depends on the minute the minute gains the superiority, like the key to the lock and the tongue to the spirit. Furthermore, this context (lit. station - al-maqâm) being one of drawing attention to the bounties [rather than enumerating them or evoking gratitude for them], to alert [the reader to this fact since it is] less obvious is more appropriate. So the art of descending from great to small when (lit. in the context of) enumerating bounties and evoking gratitude for them becomes the art of ascending from small to great when alerting [the mind to them] and pointing them out.

• If you were to ask: Like such concepts as tender-heartedness, Merciful and Compassionate cannot be used in reference to Allâh. If what is meant by these is their results, which here would be the bestowal of bounty, what is the reason for the metaphor?

You would be told: The reason is that of the allegorical verses (muta-shâbihât):¹ it is divine condescension to human intellects; making something familiar to the mind and inducing it to understand, like one speaks to a child in terms he is accustomed to and familiar with. The mass of the people gather their information from their senses and they do not look at sheer truths except in the mirror of what they imagine them to be and from the point of view of that to which they are accustomed. Moreover, the aim of the phrase is to convey the meaning, and this is not achieved except by affecting the heart and emotions, and by clothing the truth in a style familiar to the one addressed; in this way his heart is prepared to accept it.

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1Meanings that cannot be applied literally to God Almighty, such as "the hand" in the verse, "The hand of Allâh is over their hands.'\48:10) See, Nursi, İsârâtul-I'caz [Abdûlmecid], 26.