Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem
بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ ,

While authoring this article, I came across an odd admission from the famous Christian exegete, Adam Clarke. In his commentary on 2 Corinthians 12, he states:

The Jews thought that the Divine name, the Tetragrammaton Yehovah, should not be uttered, and that it is absolutely unlawful to pronounce it; indeed they say that the true pronunciation is utterly lost, and cannot be recovered without an express revelation. Not one of them, to the present day, ever attempts to utter it; and, when they meet with it in their reading, always supply its place with Adonai, Lord. It is probable that the apostle refers to some communication concerning the Divine nature and the Divine economy, of which he was only to make a general use in his preaching and writing. No doubt that what he learned at this time formed the basis of all his doctrines.

Cicero terms God illud inexprimible, that inexpressible Being. And Hermes calls him: The ineffable, the unspeakable, and that which is to be pronounced in silence. We cannot have views too exalted of the majesty of God; and the less frequently we pronounce his name, the more reverence shall we feel for his nature. It is said of Mr. Boyle that he never pronounced the name of God without either taking off his hat or making a bow. Leaving out profane swearers, blasphemers, and such like open-faced servants of Satan, it is distressing to hear many well intentioned people making unscripturally free with this sacred name.

So kids, what lesson shall we learn today?

• Jews lost the name of God.
• God never gave His chosen people His name after they lost it.
• The name can only be discovered through revelation (which is now impossible as Jews consider all revelation to have stopped).
• How can Christians call God’s name, if they got the divinity of YHWH from Jews? So whose name are they actually calling upon?
• Christians believe God is an inexpressible being, although they believe He is a man.
• God is ineffable, although they consider Him to be a man and can describe that man pretty well, as well as they constantly call him by his name (which is by definition, too sacred/ holy to be spoken):
  1. Too great or extreme to be expressed or described in words: “ineffable beauty”.
  2. Too sacred to be uttered.
• Christians should use God’s name less frequently, so as to revere His nature. That means screaming Jesus at us infidels isn’t the right thing to be doing, folks!

I read many absurd things, but then again, I do read the Bible everyday so I should be accustomed to these strange (gharib) things by now, but for some reason these occurrences of abject ineptitude by the faithful of “Jesus“, never seem to get old. Someone really has to sit me down and explain how you can lose God’s name which He revealed to an entire nation of people.

wa Allaahu Alam.
and God knows best.