ʿĀliyya is every name ascribed to an angel or spiritual being. (Jāmiʿ, 76)
Allah (the Real), aghyār (others), afʿāl (acts), ism Allāh (the Name of Allah), ṣifāt Allāh (the attributes of Allah)
Shiblī was asked: Why do you always say "Allah" and not "Lā ilāha illā Allāh"? He replied: I am ashamed to turn to affirmation after negation... I fear that after uttering the word of denial (which is "Lā ilāha"), I will not be able to utter the word of affirmation.
When Abū Yazīd was asked: With what does the servant reach Allah Most High? he replied: With lameness (so as not to go to what is forbidden), with deafness (so as not to hear what is forbidden or anything other than Him), and with blindness (so as not to see what is forbidden or anything other than Him). It was also reported that he said: I found the following in my brother's book: Abū Yazīd was asked, "With what did the Sufis attain what they attained?" He replied: By not seeing what is not of Him, and by seeing what is of Him.
I heard Abū Yazīd say: For thirty years I sought Allah. I thought I was seeking Him. It turns out He was seeking me.
All names are names of attributes. Allah, however, is the Name of the Essence (dhāt). A name is a sign of a meaning. The meaning is a sign that indicates the Essence. Names are signs indicating attributes. Attributes are also signs indicating the Essence. Whoever accepts the attributes but does not accept the Essence is not a Muslim. One who accepts the Essence before the attributes may be called a Muslim, and the acceptance of the attributes is also necessary. The proof of this is as follows: If someone were to say, "There is no god except al-Raḥmān" or "There is no god except al-Raḥīm," and so on with all the names, he would not become a Muslim unless he says, "There is no god except Allah."
Again, if someone accepts only this Name al-Wāḥid (the One)—which is Allah—all other names are included in this name, but not vice versa. The meanings of all other names can be derived from this name. All aspects of the other names are included in this name. This name (Allah) is not in need of any other name.
Abū Yazīd said: I knew Allah by Allah, and I knew others by His light.
The first stage is aghyār—that is, as Allah Most High says, everything other than Allah. The second stage is afʿāl (acts), that is, everything manifest and hidden is among Allah's acts. The third stage is Allah's names and attributes. The fourth stage is Allah's Essence. As Allah Most High says: "You will surely ascend layer upon layer." (al-Inshiqāq 84:18)
This means you will leave the layer of aghyār. Since you have entered the layer of afʿāl, none of you will remain as aghyār; you will become Allah's acts. As Allah Most High says: "Your creation and your resurrection are only as (the creation and resurrection of) a single soul or being." (Luqmān 31:28) That is, it is a single nafs (soul) and a single Essence. Then you will leave the layer of afʿāl and join the layer of divine attributes and lordly names. Then none of you will remain, and you will all be in the fourth layer (in Allah's Essence). For Allah Most High says: "Indeed, to your Lord is the final return." (al-Najm 53:42)
I heard Abū Yazīd say: At the beginning of my journey, I erred in these four things: I thought I was remembering Him, knowing Him, loving Him, and seeking Him. At the end of the path, I saw that His remembrance surpassed my remembrance, His love surpassed my love, and His seeking surpassed my seeking.
Abū Yazīd said: I saw Allah in a dream and said: How can one reach You? He said: When you sever your connection with your nafs (lower self), you will reach Me.
(Abū Bakr Sabbāk said: (Taʿarruf)) When Allah created the intellect, He said to it, "Who am I?" The intellect was silent (unable to answer). Allah anointed the eye of the intellect with the light of oneness (wahdāniyya). The intellect said: "You are Allah. There is no god but You." (Taʿarruf) In short, the intellect's knowledge of Allah was only by Allah. (Lumaʿ, 63; Taʿarruf, 39)
The greatest name of Allah is the word "Allah." For if its alif is removed, what remains is "lillāh" (for Allah). If the lām is removed, what remains is "lahu" (for Him). The property indicating Allah remains. If the second lām is also removed, only the letter "hāʾ" remains. All secrets are hidden in this "hāʾ," for its meaning is "Huwa/Hū" (He). If a letter is removed from any of Allah's other names, its meaning is corrupted and it no longer indicates Allah, so such a meaning cannot be ascribed to them. Therefore, none but Allah can be named with the name Allah. (Lumaʿ, 125)
Dhū’l-Nūn was asked: With what did you know Allah? He replied: I knew Allah by Allah, and I knew others by the Messenger of God (peace be upon him). (Lumaʿ, 145)
He who seeks refuge in Allah is saved by Allah.
The flow of Allah's decree brings him joy.
If my nafs were not in Allah's grasp,
How could I submit to His judgment?
Breaths flow for Allah, to Allah.
No one else has power over my breath but Allah.
The Sufis are unanimous that Allah is al-Wāḥid (the One), al-Aḥad (the Unique), al-Fard (the Solitary, without a second), al-Ṣamad (the Self-Sufficient), al-Qadīm (the Pre-eternal), al-ʿAlīm (the All-Knowing), al-Qadīr (the All-Powerful), al-Ḥayy (the Living), al-Samīʿ (the All-Hearing), al-Baṣīr (the All-Seeing), al-ʿAzīz (the Mighty), al-ʿAẓīm (the Magnificent), al-Jalīl (the Majestic), al-Kabīr (the Great), al-Jawād (the Generous), al-Raʾūf (the Compassionate), al-Mutakabbir (the Possessor of all grandeur), al-Jabbār (the Restorer), al-Bāqī (the Eternal), al-Awwal (the First, without beginning), al-Ilāh (the God), al-Sayyid (the Master), al-Mālik (the Owner), al-Rabb (the Lord), al-Raḥmān, al-Raḥīm, al-Murīd (the Willer), Allah, al-Ḥākim (the Judge), al-Mutakallim (the Speaker), al-Khāliq (the Creator), al-Rāziq (the Provider). He possesses whatever attributes He has ascribed to Himself and whatever names He has named Himself with.
He is pre-eternal and everlasting with His attributes and names. He resembles nothing of the created beings in any way. His Essence does not resemble other essences, nor do His attributes resemble other attributes. No sign indicating originatedness occurs in Him. He is prior to all originated things. He is the One who exists before everything. There is no pre-eternal being or god except Him.
He is not a body, substance, form, person, essence, or accident. He has no combination, separation, movement, stillness, increase, or decrease. He does not possess parts or organs, nor is He mālik (possessor) of tools or limbs. He is transcendent above direction and place. Afflictions and calamities do not befall Him. Drowsiness does not overtake Him. He is not subject to the rule of time. Signs do not make Him visible. Space cannot encompass Him. Time has no effect upon Him. Touching, withdrawing to a corner, or indwelling in a place are not applicable to Him. Thoughts cannot comprehend Him, veils cannot conceal Him, eyes cannot perceive Him. (Taʿarruf, 13)
Allah's pre-eternity is prior to all originated things; His existence is prior to non-existence, and His pre-eternal goal is prior to all ends. If you ask "When?", His existence is before time. If you say "First", the first is after Him. If you say "Hū" (He), know that He created the letters hāʾ and wāw that make up "hū". If you ask "How?", know that His Essence is hidden from the attributes (He cannot be described by modality). If you ask "Where?", His existence is before place. If you ask "What is He?", His huwiyya (essence-ness) is different from everything.
In none but Him can two opposite attributes coexist at the same time. He is hidden in His manifestation and manifest in His hiddenness. He is both outward (ẓāhir) and inward (bāṭin), both near and far. In all these respects, it is impossible for created beings to resemble Him. He acts without touching, explains without confrontation, shows the right way without pointing. No thought can reach Him, no idea can attain Him. There is no modality (takyīf) for His Essence, nor imposition (taklīf) for His act (by command or prohibition).
Allah truly possesses attributes such as knowledge, power, strength, might, forbearance, ḥikma (wisdom), majesty, jabarūt (omnipotence), pre-eternity, life, will, volition, and speech, and He is characterized by these attributes. These attributes are not body, accident, or substance, nor is Allah's Essence body, accident, or substance. He truly has hearing, seeing, face, and hand, but these are not like the hearing, seeing, faces, and hands of created beings. The Sufis are unanimous that Allah's seeing, hearing, face, and hand are His attributes, not organs, elements, or parts.
They also agree that Allah's attributes are neither identical to Him nor other than Him. To affirm the existence of divine attributes does not mean that Allah is in need of these attributes or that He manages things by means of them. Rather, to reject the opposites of these attributes means to affirm that these attributes exist in themselves and subsist by Him. To affirm Allah's knowledge is not merely to deny ignorance in Him. The meaning of power is not merely to negate incapacity from Him. Rather, it is to affirm His knowledge and power. If being the All-Knowing were only by negating ignorance, or being the All-Powerful only by negating incapacity, it would mean that He became All-Knowing by the removal of ignorance, and All-Powerful by the removal of incapacity (which is not permissible to think regarding Allah). (Taʿarruf, 14)
Some have said: Allah's names are neither identical to Him nor other than Him; others have said: Allah's names are identical to Him. (Taʿarruf, 17)
Allah's speech (kalām) is His eternal essential attribute. However, His speech in no way resembles the speech of created beings. Just as the reality of His Essence is unknown, so too the reality of His speech cannot be known except by affirming its existence. Some have said: Allah's speech is command, prohibition, report, promise, threat, story, and parable. Allah Most High is, from pre-eternity, commanding, prohibiting, informing, promising or threatening, praising and censuring. (Taʿarruf, 18)
A man (Abū Ḥusayn Nūrī) asked: What is the proof of Allah's existence? He replied: Allah Himself is the proof. The man asked: What about the intellect? He replied: The intellect is incapable, and what is incapable can only be proof for something equally incapable.
Ibn ʿAṭāʾ said: The intellect is only a tool for fulfilling acts of servitude; it is not for reaching the secrets of lordship. Another said: The intellect revolves around created things; if it turns to the Creator, it melts away.
Kaḥṭābī said: The possessors of intellect are destroyed except for accepting Allah's existence. If Allah had not graciously made Himself known to those with intellect, the intellect could not have comprehended His existence. (Taʿarruf, 37)
Allah is pre-eternal and everlasting. He subsists by His own attribute of qayyūmiyya (self-subsistence). He is everlasting by His own attribute of perpetuity. He is the First without beginning. He is not the first of another first. He is the Last, not after another last. For being the Last is His reality. He is al-Aḥad, al-Ṣamad. He did not beget, and thus was not begotten. This means: He was not born from anything, nor did anything come from Him. (Kūt, II, 84)
Know that linguists have different views about this name (Allah). Khalīl Aḥmad and a group of Arabs said that it is a name belonging exclusively to Allah, and no one else can share this name. As Allah Most High says: "Do you know of any who is worthy of the same name as He?" (Maryam 19:65) That is, all of Allah's names are shared between Him and others, in reality for Him and metaphorically for others. But the name Allah is an exception, for it encompasses both lordship and all other meanings. If you remove its alif, "lillāh" remains. If you remove the first lām, "lahu" remains. If you remove the remaining lām, "hū" remains.
There is disagreement among linguists about the derivation of the word Allah. Naḍr Shumayl says it comes from the root taʾalluh, meaning worship and devotion. Others say it comes from the verb aliha-yalih (to worship). Others accept that it comes from the root aliha-ilhan, meaning to trust or rely upon, as in the phrase "I sought refuge and trusted in so-and-so." This means: People turn to Him in times of need and supplicate to Him, and He protects them. Therefore, He is called ilāh (deity). Likewise, one who is followed is called imām, for people are in need of Him for harm and benefit, just as one in distress or defeat is in need. Abū ʿAmr Alāʾ says it comes from eleha, because when Arabs are astonished or fearful of something, they say "elehtu’l-shayʾ" (I was amazed by the thing). This means: People are astonished at the reality of His attributes, His greatness, and the inability to comprehend His modality. Therefore, He is called ilāh. Just as what is written is called maktūb, and what is calculated is called nisāb.
Mubarrad claims that the word ilāh comes from the root aliha, meaning intimacy and presence, and bases his claim on the Arabs' saying: "elehtu ilā..."