الأَسْمَاءُ الحُسْنَى
The 99 Names
ninety-nine faces of the Real
Ninety-nine Arabic words for what cannot be named.
If the word « God » stops you, read them as poetry — they ask for nothing; they give.
◐One by oneEnter the first Name, and walk step by step — each Name is its own dwelling, with its tongue, its reason, its Sufi secret, and the servant's portion.
✦At randomLet a Name come to you, like a word drawn by lot. Close your eyes, then open the page.
◯All togetherSee the hundred-minus-one lamps in one glance — gathered by family: Beauty, Majesty, Plenitude.
الذِّكْرReciteThe 99 Names flashcards — Reading, Auto, Quiz. For recitation, one to one.
Read in the light of al-Kāfījī (Crimea, 15th c.): each Name is read in three tongues — the linguistic, the rational, the Sufi — with also the servant's portion, what of the Name can become virtue and path in a human being.