Al-Muṣawwir - The Fashioner

One may think that these names are synonymous and that each one is derived from (the act) of creating and bringing into being. But this is not necessarily true.
(The fact of the matter is that) everything which emerges from non-existence into existence requires a planning stage, first of all; the actual bringing into existence in accordance with the plan, secondly; and the fashioning of the created matter, thirdly. God Most High is the Creator in as much as He is the One who plans and determines; He is the Maker to the extent that He is the One who invents and brings into being; and He is the Fashioner in view of the fact that He arranges the forms of His inventions in the best possible manner.

The name Al-Muṣawwir is God’s in view of the fact that He arranges the shapes of things in the best possible order and gives them the best possible form. This name is one of the characteristics expressing activity. Its real nature is known only to the one who knows and understands the form of the world in general and then also in detail. For the whole world is like a person who consists of various limbs which work together harmoniously in achieving an end required of him. His members and the constituent parts of his body find their counter-parts in the world in the heavens, the stars and the earth, not to mention the water, the air and other matter. The various parts of his body are arranged in perfect order. If that order is changed in any way or manner, inevitably it ceases to function.

Concerning Al-Khāliq and Al-Bāriʾ, man cannot hope to penetrate these two names (either) without using some kind of remote figurative expression. The reason for this is that creation and origination go back to the use of power which is based upon knowledge. God Most High created knowledge and power for man. Man (now) has a means for attaining this power to a degree commensurate with his planning and knowledge. All existing things are divided into those whose occurrence is not at all dependent upon the capacity of man, such as the heavens, the stars, the earth, the animal and vegetable kingdoms and others; and into those things whose occurrence is dependent upon the capacity of man. These are the works that have come into being through the deeds of men, such as the things he has manufactured, various forms of administrations, acts of worship and various efforts of one kind and another. If man is (really) able to attain a degree of success by doing battle with himself in terms of constant practice and self-control, and at the same time is able to direct both himself and others, he attains a position in which he is unique among men by discovering things not discovered before; and if at the same time he is able to do certain things and cause others to desire them, then he is like the person who creates something that did not exist before.

One says of the person who invented chess that he is the one who invented and devised the game when he invented something that did not exist before that time, even though the invention of something which has no real value is not a laudable attribution. This also applies in respect of religious exercises, struggles of one kind and another, administrations and the various crafts which are the source of many blessings, the forms and orders of which some people learn from others. Inevitably these are traceable to the original developer and inventor, and that inventor may be said to be the one who devised and planned those forms, so that it is possible to apply the name Al-Khāliq to him metaphorically.