The Conceptual Analysis of Asmā‘ (Names) in the Application of the Verse “And He taught Adam the Names”

During the fourteen centuries after the revelation of the Qur’an, commentators have expressed different meanings for the word asmā’ in verse 31 of Sūrat Al-Baqara. Some have taken it to mean “letters and signs of objects or creatures”; others have paid attention to the pronouns in the verse such as hum (in araḍahum) and ha’ulā’ and have interpreted it as “names of the Angels” or “names of the children of Adam”; some others have taken the context into consideration and have not considered those meanings as the cause of Adam’s superiority and have taken asmā’ as “Names of God” or “Divine Attributes”; and others have taken it by other meanings. This article examines the meaning of asmā’ in this verse from four perspectives: the word, the context of the verses before and after, the relationship with the related verses, and the hadiths related to the verse. Accordingly, “attributes” is the most appropriate meaning to be implied; i.e., the same attributes of superiority that are specific to man and make him superior to the angels; the meaning of which is more concordant with the lexical root and more compatible with the verses in which the word is used.