to Me. No one among the Names, the ranks,[3] or the possibles shares with Me in its reality in every respect.”
The Name God went out, accompanied by the Name the Speaker, who spoke on His behalf to the possibles and the Names, and related to them what the Named had said. The Knower, the Willing, the Utterer, and the Powerful entered into relation. The first of the possibles then appeared through the specification of the Willing and the judgment of the Knower.
(The Manifestation of Entities and the Quest for Their Order)
When the entities and effects appeared in engendered things, some gained authority over others and subdued them according to the Names on which they depended. This led to contention and dispute, and they said, “We fear that our order will be corrupted and we shall return to the nonexistence in which we were.”
The possibles brought this to the attention of the Names by means of what the Name the All-Knowing and the Director had cast into them. They said, “O Names, it would be better for us and for you if your ruling followed a known balance and a prescribed limit, with an imam to whom you could refer, who would preserve our existence and safeguard your effects upon us. So seek refuge in God. Perhaps He will put someone forward who will set you a limit at which to stop. Otherwise we shall perish and you will be left without effect.”
They said, “This is precisely what serves the common good and what sound judgment requires,” and they did so. They said, “The Name the Director is the one to convey your affair.” They referred the affair to the Director, who said, “I will take it on.” He went in and came out bearing the command of the Real to the Name the Lord. The Director said to Him, “Do what the common good requires for the preservation of the entities of these possibles.”
Notes
[3]
(The conjunction wāw in wa-l-asmāʾ, “and the Names,” has been retained as it appears in the source.)
