Hierarchy, Knowing, and the Names of God
"... you should know that every divine name has a level not possessed by any other. And every form in the cosmos has a level not possessed by any other. So the levels are infinite, and they are the "degrees." Some degrees have been uplifted, and some have been uplifted even more, whether they are divine or engendered, for the engendered levels are in fact divine. So there is no level that is not uplifted, and ranking in degrees is found in the uplifting."
" We know that some names... are uplifted above other in degrees, so that some may make use of others... We also know that the knowledge of the Knowing is more inclusive in connection and more tremendous in compass than the Powerful and the Desiring, since names like these have less inclusive connections than the knowing. They are like gatekeepers for the Knowing.... There is a similar situation to be seen in the fact that the degrees of the Hearing, the Seeing, the Thankful, and the rest of the names—including the Clement, the Compassionate, and the other names — are less inclusive in connection. All of them stand lower than the Knowing in degree."
(The Sufi path of Knowledge, Chittick, State University press of New York, 1989, p.48-49.)