A063
Surah: 039 - Ayah: 063
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39:63
In the famous story in the Qur’an about Hazrat Adam, he was taught the knowledge of names (cilmu’l-asma’). However, except for the people of wisdom, nobody knows how this knowledge was given to him. Was this knowledge acquired (iktisabi, external) or was it given (cata’i, miraculous)? Did God teach Adam the names of things or His own beautiful names (al-asma’u’l-Husna) (i.e. His Supreme Names)? Is it not true that the names of all the things of the universe and existents and all the sciences related to them, are hidden in the names of God? Is it not true that it is God’s names that are like the luminous keys to enter the treasures of knowledge of the heavens and the earth? As God says about them: “His are the keys of the heavens and the earth” (39:63).
If it is true that God’s names are the keys to the treasures of the heavens and the earth, then as a principle, it is also true that there has to be a separate treasure of all their keys, of which the most important is neither a waqf (endowment) available to every individual so that he may steal the treasures, nor can it be kept in another treasure. Had it been so, it too would need a key and so on ad infinitum; nor can it be kept in an open place. Rather, this key has to be with a person who, despite being alive and present is, in the words of Mawla-yi Rumi, hidden within seven hundred veils. Such a person is the Perfect Man, namely, the Imam of the time.
Thus, one should rest assured that all the names of God, which are the keys to the treasures of knowledge of the heavens and earth, are under the Supreme Name (ism-i aczam). Further, one should rest assured that the knowledge of names was given to Hazrat Adam in a miraculous way, as a result of the remembrance of the Supreme Name, and the same way of teaching was fixed for Prophet Muhammad and the other Prophets and friends (of God) and remains so. Thus it is evident that it is the real name of God alone, which is the key to knowledge and recognition (macrifat). It was because of this that Jibra’il, when bringing the revelation for the first time to the Prophet, said to him: “Read by the means of/through the name of your Lord”.
This verse has been referred 5 times.