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THE SUN RISES IN THE WEST – SCIENCE FOR THE HOUR

In other words, following the Attribute Al-Raḥmân (نامحرلا), which
refers to God by the notion of full, total and absolute mercy, the
Attribute Al-Raḥîm (ميحرلا) would always refer to God by the notion
of mercy, but in a specific way. Therefore, if God, Al-Raḥmân, Is
absolutely Merciful with all his creatures, God, Al-Raḥîm, would be
so, more specifically, with believers.

To justify this point of view, traditionalists set forth an excerpt
from the Qurân, where the repetition of a same term expresses the
move from a general notion to a specific (صيصختلا) and restrictive
one. It refers to the first two verses of chapter 96, "THE
ADHERENCE" (قلعلا):

"Read By The Name of Your
Master, The One Who Created - نسنلإا قلخ - قلخ يذلا كبر مساب أرقا »
Created the human from an « قلع نم
adherence"

Indeed, in this example, the verb Created was repeated to enable
the move from the general to the specific: "Created - Created the
human″ (creation in general, that of the human in particular). This
conventional transposition explains how the Attributes Al-Raḥmân
(نامحرلا) and Al-Raḥîm (ميحرلا) are regularly translated as "The All-
Merciful", "The Most Gracious", in a general and absolute manner,
and "The Most Merciful", "The Very Merciful", specifically in
relation to believers.

Weaknesses of the conventional analysis

Although not completely wrong, the conventional analysis of the
two Attributes of the basmalah is based on two inaccuracies
leading to an incomplete, or even false, interpretation of the terms
in question.

The first inaccuracy stems from the fact that a specific notion is
given to the Attribute Al-Raḥîm (ميحرلا), when it is used after Al-

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