سهل بن زياد

Abu Hanifah was leaving the presence of al-Sadiq (AS) one day, and came across Musa ibn Ja`far (AS), so he asked him (AS): “Young man! What is the source of insubordination?” He (AS) answered: There are three possibilities. It is either from Allah, the Mighty and High, or it is not from Him because it does not befit the Gracious that He would punish His Servant for something for which he is not responsible. It could also be from both, Allah, the Mighty and High, and from the servant. This is not the case, however, because it is not proper to suggest that he Strong would oppress the weak. The final option is that insubordination comes from the servant. Therefore, if Allah punished His Servant, it is because of the sins he has committed, and if He forgives His Servant, it is ouit of His Grace and His Generosity.

“None but Allah can create something out of nothing. None but Allah can transfer one substance into another. None but Allah can transfer existence into non-existence.”

I wrote to Abu al-Hasan al-Naqi (AS) informing him that the people differed on the subject of Divine Unity. Some of them say “He has a body” while others say that “He has an image.” So, he (AS) wrote (back): “Glory be to Him who has no limit, who cannot be described, and with whom nothing resembles! Nothing whatsoever is like unto Him. And He is the All-Hearing and the All-Seeing.”

I wrote to Abu al-Hasan al-Kadhim (AS) asking him whether Allah had a body or an image. Hence he (AS) wrote in reply: “Glory be to Him who has nothing whatsoever like unto Him,”

Verily, Allah is the Most Great, and the Lofty [al-rafi`]. Worshippers cannot describe Him, nor can they reach the core of His Magnificence. Vision comprehends Him not, and He comprehends (all) vision; and He is the Subtle, the All-Aware. He cannot be described in terms of `how,’ `where’ and `when’. And how can I describe him by means of `how’ when it is He who created the condition for the question `how;’ hence, I recognized the condition by the fact that He created the `how.’ And how can I describe Him in terms of `where’ when it was He was created space; hence, I recognized space by the fact that he created the `where.’ And how can I describe him in terms of `when’ when it was he who created time; hence, I recognized time by the fact that He created time. Thus, Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, is present in every place, and is absent from everything. Vision comprehends Him not, and He comprehends all vision. There is no god but He: the Most High, the Great. And He is the Knower of subtleties, the Aware.

A man came to al-Sadiq (AS) and said: “Allah is the Greatest [Allahu Akbar]!” The Imam (AS) asked him, “What is Allah greater than?” The man answered, “Greater than everything!” Al-Sadiq (AS) replied, “You have brought Allah down to the level of a door.” The requested, “What should I say then?” He (AS) said: “Say Allah is greater than anything that can be described.”

We are the Oft-Repeated1 Ones that Allah bestowed to our Prophet (sw). We are the Face [wajh] of Allah. And (wih all this) we live among you. Whoever recognizes us, and whoever is ignorant of us faces certain death [yaqin]. The Compiler of this book, may Allah be pleased with him, says: The meaning of his (AS) statement: “We are the oft-repeated” is that we are the ones that the Prophet (sw) joined with the Qur`an, and made a will to remain attached to the Qur`an and to us. Hence, he (sw) informed his Ummah that we will not separate from each other, until we meet him at the Pool (of Kawthar in Paradise).

O Allah! The imaginations of the imaginative are astonished; the curiosity of the curious has failed; the descriptions of the describers are ruined; and the words of the vain doers have faded in their attempts to perceive You. The eyes cannot reach You with indication or perception. They are far from the mark, so far from the mark! O First One, O Unique, O Incomparable! You are Exalted above everything in Might and Pride! And You are Lofty behind every depth and end with Power and Pride.

5. Muhammad ibn al-Hasan ibn Ahmad ibn al-Walid (RA) said: Muhammad ibn al-Hasan alSaffar, on the authority of Sahl ibn Ziyad, on the authority of Muhammad ibn Isma`il ibn Bazi, on the authority of Muhammad ibn Zayd that I came to (`Ali) al-Rida (AS) asking him about Divine Unity, so he (AS) dictated to me: All praise be to Allah, the Originator, Producer, and Innovator [Mubtadi`] of all things from the beginning by His Power and Wisdom, not from anything that could invalidate His Invention, nor for nay wrong cause. He created whatever He wanted how He wanted, and He did so independently in order to manifest His Wisdom, and the Reality of His Lordship. Intellects cannot grasp Him. Imagination cannot reach Him. Eyes cannot perceive Him, and scale cannot encompass Him. Speech is incapable without Him. Eyes are expressionless without Him, and rhetoric of description goes astray in Him. He is hidden without a veil and is covered without a covering. He is recognized without seeing. He is described without an image. And He is praised despite the face that He does not possess a body. There is no god but Allah, the great, the Most Exalted.”

I heard My Master `Ali ibn Muhammad that Abu Ja`far ibn `Ali related to me, on the authority of his father al-Rida `Ali ibn Musa on the authority of his father Musa ibn Ja`far, on the authority his father Ja`far ibn Muhammad, on the authority of his father Muhammad ibn `Ali, on the authority of his father `Ali ibn al-Husayn, on the authority of his father al-Husayn ibn `Ali (AS); and Muhammad ibn `Umar al-Hafiz al-Baghdadi said: Abu al-Qasim Ishaq ibn Ja`far al-`Alawi related to me that Abu Ja`far ibn Muhammad ibn `Ali related to me, on the authority of Sulayman ibn Muhammad al-Qarashi, on the authority of Isma`il ibn Abu Ziyad alSakuni, on the authority of Ja`far ibn Muhammad, on the authority of his father Ziyad alSakuni, on the authority of Ja`far ibn Muhammad, on the authority of his father Muhammad ibn `Ali, on the authority of his father, on the authority of his grandfather, on the authority of `Ali (AS); the word is for `Ali ibn Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn `Imran al-Daqqaq that An Iraqi man entered the presence of the Commander of the Faithful (AS) and asked: “Tell us about our attack on the Syrians. Is it part of Allah’s Destiny and Divine Decree?” The Commander of the Faithful (AS) replied to him, “By all means, O Shaykh! By Allah, all of you have not gone up a hill or gone down to the depth of a valley except with the destiny from Allah and the decree.” The old man asked, “Will my trouble be accounted for before Allah, O Commander of the Faithful?” He (AS) answered, Slowly, O Shaykh! Perhaps you think predestination is irrevocable, and the decree is inseparable. If that were so, then the reward, the punishment, the commandment, the prohibition, and the reprimand would all be annulled. The meaning of threatening and promise would disintegrate. There would be no blame for the evil-doer, and no praise for the good-doer. In fact, the good-doer would be worthier of blame than the sinner, and the sinner would be worthier of praise than the good-doer. This is the claim of the idol worshippers, the opponents of the Most Compassionate, the free-willers of this Ummah, and its Zoroastrians. O Shaykh! Verily, Allah, the Mighty and High, has obliged with choice, forbidden with warning, granted plenty for little, does not consider the one who was coerced to be a sinner, does not require the subjected to obey, and has not created the heaves and the earth and that which is between them without a purpose. This is the assumption of the unbelievers. Woe to those who disbelieve in Hell. The old man rose and composed: You are the Imam in whose obedience we all hope, To receive forgiveness from the Most Compassionate on the Day of Salvation; You have made clear what was dubious to us from our religion. May your Lord reward you with beneficence on your behalf! Hence, there is no excuse for committing indecency, Which I perpetrated with un-justice and disobedience, No, no, I do not claim that the forbidder has dropped him In it, because then I would be serving the Satan, O people, Nor does He like or will the un-justice; nor Killing the Guardian with oppression and enmity. How can He like, while His will is correct. The Possessor of the Empyrean that is Allah has declared this is a clear declaration. The Compiler of this book says: Muhammad ibn `Umar al-Hafiz has only mentioned the first two couplets of this poetry at the end of this tradition. This tradition is also said by Abu al-Husayn Muhammad ibn Ibrahim ibn Ishaq al-Farisi al`Aza’imi that Abu Sa`id Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Rumayh al-Nisawi said in Jurjan that `Abd al-`Aziz ibn Ishaq ibn Ja`far said in Baghdad that `Abd al-Wahhab ibn `Isa al-Marwazi related to me that al-Hasan ibn `Ali ibn Muhammad al-Balawi said: Muhammad ibn `Abd Allah ibn Nujayh said, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ja`far ibn Muhammad, on the authority of his father, on the authority of his grandfather (AS) Also this tradition has been said by Ahmad ibn al-Hasan al-Qittan that al-Hasan ibn `ali alSukkari said; Muhammad ibn Zakariyya al-Jawhari said: al-`Abbas ibn Bakkar al-Dabbi said: Abu Bakr al-Hudhayli said, on the authority of `Ikrimah, on the authority of Ibn `Abbas that When the Commander of the Faithful (AS) moved on from the Battle of Siffin, an old man stood up before him who had witnessed the incident with him and said: “O Commander of the Faithful! Tell us about this journey of ours. Is it part of Allah’s Destiny, and His Divine Decree?” He has mentioned the tradition similar to this, except that he has added in it: The old man said: “O Commander of the Faithful! What are the predestination ad the Divine Decree that are contracted with us, and we have not gone down in a valley or gone up a hill except with these two?” The Commander of the Faithful (AS) replied, “The command and the judgment are from Allah, then he read this verse: And your Lord has destined that you shall not sere (any) but Him, and goodness to your parents, i.e. the command of your Lord is that you do not serve any but Him and do good to your parents.”

I asked Abu `Jafar the Second (AS), “What is the meaning of the One?” He answered, “He is the One whose Divine Unity [al-Tawhid] is profess by all. As Allah, the Mighty and High, says: And if you as them, Who created the Heavens and the Earth, they will certainly say, Allah.1

I asked Abu Ja`far al-Baqir (AS): “May I be your ransom! What is the meaning of the Needless [al-Samad]?” He (AS) answered: “He is the Master on whom all depend in major and minor.”

I wrote the following to Abu Muhammad (AS) in the year 255 AH: O my Master! Our scholars are divided on the question of Divine Unity (tawhid). Some of them say that “He (Allah) is a body,” while others say that “He is an image.” O my Master! If you deem it appropriate, teach me the correct view since I do not know the answer, and be gracious to your servant.
Hence, he (AS) wrote to me the following in his own handwriting: You enquired about Divine Unity. This is far from your honorable reach. Allah, the Exalted, is One, Alone, and Needless. He begets not, nor is He begotten, and none is equal unto Him. He is the Creator, and not created. He, the Blessed and Exalted, creates bodies and other things as He wishes. He fashions images as He wishes, but He is not a fashioned image. Exalted be His Praise, and Hallowed be His names. He is far above having a resemblance. There is no other than Him. Nothing whatsoever is like unto Him, and He is the All-Hearing and the All-Seeing.

"I wrote to Abu al-Hasan al-Kadhim (AS) asking him about the body and the appearance of Allah; therefore, he (AS) wrote to me: “Glory to the One who has nothing like Him, and who has no body and no image.”

I wrote to Abu al-Hasan al-Kadhim (AS) asking him about the body and image of Allah, so he replied in writing: “Glory be to Him who has nothing whatsoever like unto Him, and who is devoid of both body and image.”

I wrote to him (AS) informing him that some of the people here differed on the subject of Divine Unity. He (AS) replied in writing: “Glory be to Him who has no limit, and who cannot be described! Nothing whatsoever is like unto Him. And he is the All-Hearing, and the AllSeeing.”

I wrote to Abu al-Hasan al-Naqi (AS), informing him that some of his following have differences on the subject of Divine Unity. Some of them say that He has a body, while others say that He has an image. So He (AS) wrote to me the following in his own handwriting: “Glory be to Him who has no limit and who cannot be described! There is nothing whatsoever like unto Him; He is the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing.” He (AS) may have said: “the All-Seeing.”

“He is equal in distance to everything. Therefore, He is not closer to one thing than another.”

I asked Abu `Abd Allah al-Sadiq (AS) about the Word of the Mighty and High: His Empyrean was on the Water. So he (AS) asked me, “How do they interpret it?” I answered, “They say that the Empyrean was on the water, and that the Lord was on it.” Thus, he (AS) responded, “They have lied, Whoever claims that implies that Allah is carried, and has described Him on the basis of the attributes of the created, necessarily implying that the thing that carries Him is mightier than He is.” I said: “May I be your ransom! Could you clarify that for me?” Consequently, he (AS) responded, Verily, Allah, the Mighty and High, burdened the water with His Knowledge and His Religion, before the existence of the heavens and the earth, jinn or man, and sun or moon. When He intended to create the world, He scattered them before Him, and asked them: `Who is lour Lord?’ So the first to speak were the Messenger of Allah (SA), the Commander of the Faithful (AS), and the Imams, may the blessings of Allah be upon them. They said: `You are our Lord. So he bore them with knowledge and religion.’ He then said to the angels: `These are the bearers of My Knowledge and My Religion. They are My Authorized Representatives in My Creation, and they are the ones to be asked.’ Then He said to the children of Adam: `Acknowledge the Lordship of Allah, and obey those to whom obedience is due!’ Hence, they all replied: `Yes our Lord, we acknowledge.’ Then He ordered the angels: `Bear witness!’ The angels said: We bear witness. Lest you should say on the Day of Resurrection: Surely we were heedless of this. Or you should say: Only our fathers associated others (with Allah) before, and we were an offspring, after them: Wilt Thou then destroy us for what the vain doers died?” O Dawud, our guardianship [wilayah] was emphasized in the covenant.

“The face that will not perish refers to any person who carried out what Allah commanded him through obedience to Muhammad (sw) and the Imams (AS) after Him.” After this he (AS) recited: Whoever obeys the Messenger, he indeed obeys Allah.1