Abu Qurra the Hadith scholar asked me to seek permission for him to enter upon Abi al-Hasan al-Ridha عليه السلام. I sought permission and he (the Imam) granted it to me. He (Abu Qurra) entered and asked him about the Halal, Haram and the rulings until he reached the topic of Tawhid. Abu Qurra said: We have narrated that Allah divided vision and speech between two prophets. He gave speech to Musa and vision to Muhammad. Abu al-Hasanعليه السلام said: Then who was it who conveyed on the authority of Allah to the Two Weighty ones from the Jinn and humans (the following): “sights do not reach him” (6:103), “they do not encompass Him in (their) knowledge” (20:110) and “there is nothing like Him” (42:11) - is it not Muhammad? He (Abu Qurra) said: Yes (it was). (The Imam said:) How can a man come to all creation and inform them that he has come from Allah and that he is calling them to Allah by the command of Allah and say: “sights do not reach him”, “they do not encompass Him in (their) knowledge”, “there is nothing like Him” and then say: I have seen Him by my eye and have encompassed Him in knowledge - he is in the form of a man?!Do you not feel ashamed?! Even the heretics did not dare accuse him of this - that he (the prophet) would come with something from Allah and then later come with something contradicting that! Abu Qurra said: He (Allah) says: “and he (Muhammad) surely saw Him in another descent” (53:13). Abu al-Hasan عليه السلام said: there is after this verse an indication of what he saw when He said: “the heart did not lie about what it saw” (53:11). He is saying: Muhammad’s heart did not lie about what his eyes saw - then He specifies what he saw when He said: “he saw of the great signs of his Lord” (53:18) - the signs of Allah are not Allah. Allah said: “they do not encompass Him in (their) knowledge” - if eyes could see Him then knowledge has encompassed Him and realization (of Allah) has been attained.Abu Qurra said: So you reject the narrations? Abu al-Hasan عليه السلام said: If the narrations are opposed to the Qur’an then I reject them. Furthermore, what the Muslims are united upon is that He is not encompassed in knowledge, sights do not reach Him, and there is nothing like Him.