For Muhammad More Names Are Better But For Moses Less Names Are Better – OpEd
The Arabs say that the more names a thing is given, the more noble it is. So a number of Islamic scholars have compiled very large collections of the names of Prophet Muhammad to increase the appreciation of who he actually was. Some collected 99 names, to match the 99 Names of Allah. Others collected far more.
Some Sufis have said that the Prophet has a thousand names. Ibn al-Faris includes 2020 in his Tafsir Asma al-Rasul, while Abu al-Hasan al-Subki states that they number 4000.
Qastallani relates over 500 in his work al-Mawahib al-ladunniyya. Qadi Iyad, in al-Shifa, his classic treatise on the Prophet limits himself only to those names ascribed clearly to him; he also says that the Prophet has 30 names which are also among the Names of Allah.
Imam al-Jazuli collected 201 according to the collection of Abu Imran al-Zannati al-Fasi.
Imam al-Ghazali relates that Muslim scholars are in agreement that it is not permissible to give the Prophet a name unless either Allah has given it to him in the Quran or else it has come from previous scriptures like the Torah, or from his father Abd Allah or his grandfather Abd al-Muttalib, or that he gave to himself.
Scholars consider it permissible to extrapolate names not only from authenticated or sound traditions but also from ‘weak’ traditions because they do not believe this to be a matter of tenets of faith (i’tiqad) which require definitive knowledge concerning which there is no doubt. Thus the Arabs say that the more names a thing is given, the more noble it is.
For the Jews God has only one real name and that name should not be articulated out loud. Thus Prophet Moses has only ten alternate names.
In English the word God is not the name of the one and only God. It is the generic term for any and every deity, similar to the West Semitic root word EL as it is found in Sumerian and Akkadian, Ellil-Enlil, in Hittite and Hurrian as Ellel, in Hebrew El-Elohim in Arabic as Al-Ilahi, the God or Allat, a pre Islamic Goddess, one of three daughters of Al-Ilah worshiped in Palmyra as Allat and referred to by Herodotus as Alilat, and worshiped as Allatu by North African Carthaginians.
Although in every generation there could have been many individuals who worshipped the One God, who was indeed the God of all humans; yet for more than 40 generations only one group of people maintained an ongoing monotheistic imageless community.
This is why all the Hebrew Biblical prophets connect the generic name of God Elohim to the only religious community in Biblical days who worshipped the One God: Elohei Yisrael—the God of Israel, or Elohei-God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. So Ezra, the most narrowly focused of prophets, uses both Elah Yisrael-God of Israel (Ezra 5:1) and Elah Sh’maya V’Arah- God of Heaven and Earth (Ezra 5:11).
Christians personalized the name of God by connecting it with the name of a very special person, whose message and passion inspired them to transform their lives. The Qur’an, true to its universalizing perspective uses the generic name Allah; but with the intense resonance that Allah became personalized in the Muslim community’s experience.
The words El, Elah, Elohei and Elohim are all pre Abrahamic West Semitic generic terms for a God or for many Gods. In these various forms they appear almost 3,000 times in the Hebrew Bible.
But the most important name of the One God, the name that God himself reveals to Moses at the burning bush, is YHVH: which appears more than 6,800 times in the Hebrew Bible.
In Exodus 3:13-15, Moses says to God, “If I go to the Israelites and tell them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’—what should I say to them?” And God said to Moses, “Ehyeh asher Ehyeh”.
Ehyeh is the verb “to be” future tense singular and means I will/could/might/may be/become Who I may/could/will/might be/become i.e. Ehyeh is The Dynamic God of Potentialities, The God of Possibilities, The Living God of Becoming and Transforming, the One who can liberate Israel from bondage in Egypt.
Unfortunately, the Greek and Latin translations of this verse were influenced by the Greek philosophical idea that God was similar to a permanent ideal form (like an equilateral triangle) or an unmoved mover, and is not like a living personality.
Since they thought God must be a static unchanging being. they mistranslated “Ehyeh asher Ehyeh’ as ‘I am who I am’ rather than its plain meaning of ‘I can be whatever I should be to redeem you” i.e. God Almighty
The Torah continues, “And God said, “You must say this to the Israelites, “I am” (the usual false translation for God’s self revealed name) has sent me to you.'” God also said to Prophet Moses, “You must say this to the Israelites, Ehyeh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you. This is my name forever, and this is my memorial from generation to generation.’ (Exodus 3:13-15)
When Jews speak of God in the third person, God’s name is YHVH– “the One who causes being and becoming, the One who brings potentials and possibilities into existence.”
This name (YHVH) was spoken publicly from the time of Moses and throughout the 3½ centuries of the 1st Temple of Prophet Solomon. But during the period of the 2nd Temple it was pronounced as Adonai (Lord) because of the feeling that God’s actual Holy name was too holy to utter audibly.
In later centuries even the substitution was considered too holy to utter; and the custom among pious Jews till this day is not to use any name for God at all (except in prayer); but to say HaShem–the name (of God) when speaking about God.
Thus, while Christians and Muslims love to voice their special personal name for God, Jews avoid voicing God’s own self name (YHVH) even in prayer.
YHVH replaced a much older name of God: El Shaddai. Exodus (6:2-3) relates: God also said to Moses, “I am YHVH. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as El Shaddai, but by my name YHVH I did not make myself fully known to them.”
In the whole Hebrew Bible the full appellation ‘El Shaddai’ is used only in connection with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Shaddai by itself also appears 31 times in the ancient book of Prophet Job, who was not Jewish, and in a few other poetic passages.
In the Greek translation of the Torah, El Shaddai was erroneously translated Pantokrator, all powerful or omnipotent, instead of ‘The God who is sufficient”. The Greek philosophical idea of omnipotence leads to the false contradiction between God’s power and human free will.
But God is indeed, more than sufficient. God is and will always be YHVH, the God who enables human hopes of future possibilities of improvement to become realized.
El Shaddai can also be translated as the Nourishing or Nursing God because in Hebrew Shaddaim means female breasts. This feminine image may help many women today replace the ancient image of God as an old man with a long beard; with something more representative of God’s classical attribute of loving concern for His children.
The Midrash identifies Moses as one of seven biblical personalities who were called by various names. Moses’ other names were Jekuthiel (by his mother), Heber (by his father), Jered (by Miriam), Avi Zanoah (by Aaron), Avi Gedor (by Kohath), Avi Soco (by his wet-nurse), Shemaiah ben Nethanel (by people of Israel).
Rabbi Ibn Ezra says that the Egyptian princess Bisia called Moshe by the Egyptian name Munius, which the Torah translated into Hebrew as Moshe. TheYalkut Shimoni says that Moshe had ten other names, each instructive about who he was and what he did: Yered, Avigdor, Chever, Avi Socho, Yekusiel, Avi Zanoach, Toviah, Shemayah, Ben Evyatar, Levi.
Yered (ירד), implying “descent.” According to one opinion, Miriam gave him this name, for because of him she went down (yarad) to the Nile to see what would become of him. Or Moshe was called this name because he brought the Torah down from Heaven to the Jewish people.
Avigdor (אבי גדור), “master of the fence.” According to Me’am Loez he was called this (by his grandfather Kehat), because “since Moshe’s birth, G‑d has fenced in Pharaoh, not allowing him to continue his decree to drown Jewish infants.”
Chever (חבר), “companion” or “connector.” Either because Moshe connected the Jewish people with their heavenly Father, or because he prevented (העביר, phonetically similar to חבר) heavenly retribution for their sins.
Avi Socho (אבי סוכו), “Father of Seers.” He was given this name by his grandfather Kehat (alternatively, by the nurse who helped Moshe’s mother raise him), because Moshe would grow up to be the “master” (avi) of the seers (sochim) and prophets.
Yekutiel (יקותיא‑ל), from the root kavei (קוה), meaning “hope.” His mother, Jochebed, called him this name because she had hope and trust in G‑d that He would return Moses to her. Or, because she foresaw that Moshe would be the Jewish nation’s great hope.
Avi Zanoach (אבי זנוח), literally, “master of rejection.” Aaron, Moshe’s brother, gave him this name, saying, “My father rejected my mother, but took her back because of this child.” Or, because Moshe would make Israel reject idols.
Toviah the “goodness of God.”
The Jewish people called him “Shemayah ben [son of] Nethanel.” They predicted in his days, God would hear (שמע) their prayers.
Ben Evyatar (בן אביתר), “son of pardon,” since Moshe was the Jewish son who would solicit G‑d’s pardon (ויתר) for the Jewish people’s sin of the Golden Calf.
Levi (לוי), named after the tribe to which Moshe belonged.
Despite these names, throughout the Torah, he is referred to as Moshe. Moreover, God Himself addresses Moshe only by this name.
