Al-ʿAẓīm - The Greatest in All Realms

(You must) know that (the word) “great” was applied to physical bodies in its original coinage. Thus one says, “This body is great and this body is greater (aʿẓam) than that body” if it is more extended in respect of length, width and depth.

Then (you must also) know that it is divided into (a) the “great”(ness) of which the eye receives an impression and (b) that whose extremities it is inconceivable that vision could grasp completely, such as the earth and the heavens. Thus one says that the elephant is “great” and the mountain is “great”, and yet vision is able to grasp their extremities completely. Either of these is “great” in comparison with that which is smaller than it. As far as the earth is concerned, it is inconceivable that vision should be able to grasp its extremities completely, and this is also true of the heavens. It is to these objects in the realm of those things subject to physical vision that the term “great” is applied in an absolute sense.

(You must) understand that there is also a difference in respect of those things that are apprehended by the powers of mental perception. Human reason grasps completely the core (kunh) of the real nature of some of them and falls short in the case of others. That portion of them which reason falls short of completely is divided into (a) that which some may conceivably grasp although the understanding of the majority falls short of it, and (b) into that concerning which reason cannot conceivably grasp the core of its real nature completely. This last one is the absolute “Great One” who exceeds all the limits of human understanding so that the comprehension of His essential being (kunh) is inconceivable. And that One is God Most High.

The “great” among men are the prophets and the scholars. When the wise man knows something of their attributes, his bosom is filled with veneration and his heart is so replete with veneration that no room remains in it (for anything else). The prophet is “great” in respect of his people, the shaykh in respect of his disciple and the teacher in respect of his student, since the reason (of these subordinates) is incapable of comprehending the core of the master’s attributes. (But) if (the subordinate) equals or surpasses (the master), then the latter is (no longer) “great” in comparison with the former.