The Holy Grail of Islamic Tradition

There is a tradition among Muslim scholars that the Divine has 3,000 names. 1,000 are known only to angels, 1,000 to prophets, 300 are to be found in the Torah, 300 in the Psalms, 300 in the New Testament, and the 99 most beautiful (asma 'l-husna) are found in the Qur'an. This totals 2,999. The 3,000th "name"--the supremely beautiful one--is God's own secret.

The scholars explain that God hides certain things from humankind as a mercy. God's closest friends among humankind (awliya) are hidden so that they will not be accorded special treatment: all men and women should, instead, treat one another as equals. God has hidden the precise date of the Night of Power in Ramadan (the first night upon which, according to tradition, the Qur'an began to be revealed) so that all the days and nights of Ramadan should be observed with equal devotion. God's consent to certain human behaviors is hidden so that men and women will not presume it, but will search the tradition for direction in their lives. It is also said that the supremely beautiful Divine "name" is hidden in the Qur'an so that human beings will study the book assiduously, learning it by heart.

The search for the most beautiful attributes of the Divine is the Holy Grail of the Islamic tradition.