The Essay “Naming and Normativity: An Introduction to Quranic and Mystical Theology” by Abolghasem Fanaei

Knowing the religious name of things, that is, the name bestowed upon things from the divine perspective, holds a lofty place in Quranic theology and mystical theology, and is of particular importance in spiritual and ethical wayfaring. This essay attempts to show why this is so; religious names differ significantly from conventional names, which are bestowed upon things from other perspectives, in terms of their referent and descriptive and normative content; and religious names are both knowledge-imparting and motivation-imparting; that is, they have both a theoretical function and a practical function, and are a source of both theoretical religious knowledge and practical religious knowledge.

The structure of the essay is as follows: Section (1) provides an analysis of the nature of naming and its types. Section (2) elaborates on the nature of religious knowledge and mystical knowledge. Section (3) addresses the difference between divine naming and human naming. Section (4) examines the religious lifestyle and its connection and relation to the divine perspective and religious names. Section (5) shows what the secret of humanity's need for religion, revelation, and prophethood is. In Section (6), as a case study, some of the names of God in the Quran are explained along with their mystical interpretation and their normative implications. Section (7) compares the names of the All-Merciful and the names of the Satanic; and Section (8) is dedicated to the conclusion.

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