Greatest Name

'''The Greatest Name''' (Arabic: اسم الاعظم‎; also sometimes translated as '''The Most Mighty Name''' or '''Most Great Name''') is a prominent device in Islamic esotericism, magic and the occult that is identified as the '''Seal of Solomon''' (Arabic: ختم سليمان). A series of six usually independent symbols occurring in between two pentagrams (or pentalphas) - ''viz.'' seven independent characters totaling eight in all -, this symbol is believed to reveal hidden knowledge, especially of the true name of God. In its originating transmission within the Islamic world it is attributed to 'Ali, the first Shi'ite Imam, in a poem found in the margins of the Sermon Between the Two Gulfs (khutba tatanjîya). The first seven verses of the poem state:

'''The Greatest Name''' (Arabic: اسم الاعظم‎; also sometimes translated as '''The Most Mighty Name''' or '''Most Great Name''') is a prominent device in Islamic esotericism, magic and the occult that is identified as the '''Seal of Solomon''' (Arabic: ختم سليمان). A series of six usually independent symbols occurring in between two pentagrams (or pentalphas) - ''viz.'' seven independent characters totaling eight in all -, this symbol is believed to reveal hidden knowledge, especially of the true name of God. In its originating transmission within the Islamic world it is attributed to 'Ali, the first Shi'ite Imam, in a poem found in the margins of the Sermon Between the Two Gulfs (khutba tatanjîya). The first seven verses of the poem state: