محمد بن أبي عمير

“O' Spirit of God! Can your Lord place the universe inside an egg without shrinking the world or expanding the egg?” He replied: “There is nothing God is incapable of doing, but what you want is impossible.”

I asked Abu `Abd Allah al-Sadiq (AS) to interpret: The nature made by Allah is which He has made men. He (AS) replied, “It is Divine Unity.”

“How did you recognize your Lord?’ He (AS) replied, “Through abolishment of decision and invalidation of ambition. My decision was abolished, and when I had an ambition it was invalidated.”

Commander of the Faithful said: “Recognize Allah through Allah, the Messenger through the message, and the ones vested with authority [ulu al-amr] through their beneficence, justice, and good deeds.”

“He who says, `there is no god but Allah’ one hundred times will be the best of the people in deeds on that day, unless someone says it more often than he does.”

“He who compares Allah with His Creation is an infidel; and he who denies His Omnipotence is an unbeliever.”

Whoever says ‘There is no god but God’ (La illah illalah) one-hundred times would be better off than everyone else on that day, unless someone else says it more times than that.”

“Verily, the people who are circumambuling (the Ka`bah) are passing in front of you.” Thus, he (AS) replied, “The One to whom I pray to is closer to me than they are.”

Messenger of Allah (sw) said: “Whoever dies without ascribing a partner to Allah, will enter Heaven regardless of whether he has done good or evil.”

I asked Abu `Abd Allah al-Sadiq (AS): “What is the Proof that Allah is One?” He (AS) replied, “The Proof that Allah is One can be seen in the continued management of creation and its perfection in all aspects. As the Mighty and High says: If there had been in them any gods except Allah, they would both have certainly been in a state of disorder.”

I said to al-Sadiq (as): A man saw his Lord in his dream, so what is that? So, he said: That is a man with no religion. Surely, Allah cannot be seen when awake, nor in a dream, nor in this world, nor in the Hereafter.

Abu `Abdillah al-Sadiq (as) said: He who says “I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, one without partners, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His Servant and His Messenger (la ilaha illallah wahdahu la shareekalah, wa ashhadu anna muhammadan `abduhu wa rasuluh)” in the market, Allah records one million good deeds for him.

I entered into the presence of My Master Musa ibn Ja`far (AS) and said to him: “O son of the Messenger (SA)! Teach me about Divine Unity.” Hence, he (AS) said: O Abu Ahmad! When it comes to Divine Unity, do not go beyond what Allah, the Exalted, has mentioned in His Book, otherwise you will perish. Know that Allah, the Exalted, is One, Unique, Everlasting. He begets not so He may be inherited, nor is He begotten so He may have an associate. He has not taken a wife, a son or an associate. He is the Living that does not dies. He is the Omnipotent that is never powerless. He is the Subduer who is never overwhelmed. He is the Clement who does not hasten. He is the Eternal who does not perish. He is the Permanent who does not pas away. He is the Firm who does not decline. He is the All-Sufficient who is never in need. He is the Almighty who is never abased. He is the All-Knowing who is never ignorant. He is the Just who never oppresses. He is the Magnanimous who is never miserly. Verily, He is He whom intellects cannot anticipate. He is not located in imaginations. He is not encompassed by region. He is not contained in any place. Vision comprehends Him not, and He comprehends (all) vision; and He is the Knower of subtleties, the Aware.1 Nothing whatsoever is like unto Him, and He is the all-Hearing, the all-Seeing.2 Nowhere is there a secret counsel between three persons but He is the Fourth of them, not (between) five but He is the Sixty of them, nor less than that nor more but He is with them where so ever they are.3 He is the First who has nothing prior to Him, and the Last who has nothing after Him. He is without beginning, and the rest are creations with beginnings. Exalted is He, the Mighty, the Great, from the attributes of creation!

He who anthropomorphizes Allah with His Creation is an infidel. Verily, Allah, the Blessed and the Exalted, does not resemble anything and nothing resembles Him. Everything that is imagined is other than Him. The Compiler (may Allah have mercy on him) of this book says: The proof that nothing resembles Allah, the Glorified, in His Creation in any dimension, is that there is no dimension for any of His Actions except that it has a beginning [muhdathah]. Therefore, it Allah, High be His Praise, resembles anything from His Creation, then that would certainly give Him a beginning… At the same time, two things which are intellectually similar require one ruling due to their similarity. And the proof had been established for Allah, the Mighty and High, being without beginning [qadim], It is impossible that He may be Eternal in one dimension, and have beginning another. Another proof that Allah, Blessed and Exalted be He, is without beginning is that if He had a beginning then there must have been someone that gave Him a beginning, because an action requires an agent. And surely the word about one who gave beginning to Him is like the word about Him. And in this (case) there is existence of an eternal before an eternal that has no prior (to Him). This is impossible. Hence, it is correct that there must be an Eternal Creator. And if it is so, then whatever demands the eternity of that creator and indicates upon him, also demands the eternity of the Creator we believe in and indicates upon Him.