Adnan and Marc plunge into the "name" that is unique in being distinguished from all others as having no attribute or characteristic and almost definitionally contrasts with the human. How should the "human" and "divine" dichotomy be understood theologically and phenomenologically in this spiritual tradition of the 99 Names in Sufi Islam? We wrestled with these and other questions related to the spiritual meaning and experience of Allah with the help of Sufi writers al-Ghazali and al-Tilimsani. Marc cooked up a bouillabase through which the "ascending arc" of Akbari meditative practice could express itself, while Adnan puzzled over al-Ghazali's surprising confession that even in this name of the Divine Essence, the human strives for "ta'alluh" or assuming some quality of the Divine. The mysteries of spiritual experience were many in this episode. This initial foray will therefore involve a return to the Divine Being, Allah, after traveling through the 98 other names in our journey together.

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