CHAPTER VII
DOCTRINAL RESEARCHES
In his researches and lectures, Ima`m al-Rida`, peace be on him, discussed many ideological matters and disproved the vague errors and imaginations which the spiteful and the ignorant raised against Islam and its precepts. We have mentioned large part of his debates with the scholars of the sects and religions. We have indicated that the debates amazed them and made them believe in his many scientific abilities, and that they dominated the political and scientific clubs. Now, we will mention another part of these researches, which are not in the frame of the debates, as follows:
1. The Unity of Allah
Many questions were raised about the Unity of Allah, and Imam al-Rida, peace be on him, answered them and refuted the doubts and imaginations in respect of them. The following are some of them:
A. Full Knowledge of Allah's Essence is Impossible
It is impossible to describe Allah, the Exalted, with an attribute which encompasses His Holy Essence. Among those who asked the Imam about this matter was Abu Hisham al-Ja'fari, who was one of the greatest figures of his time in virtue, knowledge, and Allah-fearingness. He asked the Imam the following question:
"Can Allah be described (i.e., specified in words)?"
Through this question, Abu` Ha`shim al-Ja'fari wanted to find and to encompass the knowledge of Allah, the Most High, so Imam al-
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Rida, peace be on him, asked him:
"Do you not read the Qur'a`n?"
"Yes," he replied.
The Ima`m answered through the Book of Allah, the Most High, saying:
"Do you not read these words of Him, the Exalted:
The eyes attain him not, but He attains the eyes?"
"Yes," was the answer.
"Do you know (the meaning of) the eyes?" asked the Ima`m.
"Yes," came the answer.
"What is it?" asked the Ima`m.
"It is the seeing with the eyes," replied Abu` Ha`shim.
The Ima`m, peace be on him, disproved this answer, saying: "Verily, the conceptualization of the heart is far greater (embracing in knowledge) than the vision of the eye. Still the conceptualization of the heart cannot attain Him, whereas all conceptualization is in His grasp. "
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Certainly, the conceptualization of reason is far greater and more inclusive than the vision of the eye. Reason is also limited in conceptualization and imaginations, hence it cannot encompass the Essence of Allah, the Most High.
B. Seeing Allah is Impossible
It is impossible for men to see Allah, the Most High; it was spread among the people of that time that Mohammed, may Allah bless him and his family, had seen his Lord, hence Ibra`hï~m b. Mohammed al-Khazza`z and Mohammed b. al-Husayn hurried to Ima`m al-Rida`, peace be on him, to ask him about that: "Did Mohammed, may Allah bless him and his family, see his Lord in the form of a perfect youth with His hair hanging down on the lobs of His ears and of a man in the age of thirty?"
They ascribed this statement to a group of the Shï~'ite great figures, and that they said: "The body of Allah right up to the navel
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1. Uaul ak-Kafi, vol. 1, p. 99.
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was quite empty and the rest of Him was full." Without doubt this statement was fabricated and attributed to such a group of Shï~'ite eminent men, for they had no relationship with such forbidden things. As for the Ima`m, he disordered when he heard this false statement. He prostrated himself in prayer and began addressing Allah, the Exalted, humbly: "Glory belongs to You! They do not know you; nor do they know You as a Unity. For this reason they have described You (with fabricated attributes). Glory belongs to You! Had they known You, they would had ascribed to You only the attributes You have ascribed to Your Own Self. Glory belongs to You! How did they allow themselves to listen to anything about You other than Your Self.
"O Allah, I do not describe You but through what You have described Your Own Self; nor do I liken You to Your creatures. You are the Possessor of all good. So do not place me among the unjust people."
Then he, peace be on him, turned to them and said to them: "After whatever you imagine, imagine that Allah is other than that."
Namely, whatever man imagines concerning the Essence of Allah, the Most High, he should imagine that Allah is other than what he has imagined.
Then the Ima`m turned to Mohammed b. al-Husayn and said to him: "We, the family of Mohammed, represent the moderate path. Our path is lost to those who exceed the limit, and those who lag behind cannot come unto our (path). O Mohammed (b. al-Husayn), verily, when Allah's Messenger, may Allah bless him and his family, looked at the Majesty of his Lord, he was in the form of a youth in full bloom and of a man in the age of thirty with his hair hanging down on the lobes of his ears. O Mohammed, Allah is far above having the attributes of His creatures."
"Who was he whose feet were on the green yard?" asked Mohammed b. al-Husayn.
"He was Mohammed," replied the Ima`m, "When he looked at his Lord through his heart, He established him in His Light which was like the Light of the (Divine) veil, until what was behind the (Divine) veil was made manifest to him. Verily, the effulgence of Allah's Light
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is green, red, white, and the like. O Mohammed, we (the Ima`ms) only say what the Book (of Allah) and the
Sunna bear witness to.
1 "
Negation of the Like from Allah
The Ima`m, peace be on him, disproved all kinds of likes and images from Allah, the Most High, and that was through a talk took place between him and al-Fath b. Yazï~d al-Jurja`ni on his way to Khurasa`n. The Ima`m, peace be on him, said to him:
"O Fath, he who pleases the Creator pays no attention to the creature; and he who displeases the Creator, surely He empowers the displeasure of the creatures over him; and the Creator is not described except by that with which He has described Himself; and how should one describe that Creator whom senses cannot perceive, imaginations cannot attain, thoughts (
khatarat) cannot delimit and sight cannot encompass? Greater is He than what the depicters describe! He is distant in His nearness and near in His distance. He fashions (
kayyafa) 'howness' (
kayfiyyah), so it is not said of Him, 'How?' (
kayf); He determines (ayyana) the 'where?' (ayn). He sunders 'howness' (
kayfufiyyah) and whereness (
aynuniyyah).
"O Fath, every body is fed with a food except the Creator, the Provider (Allah), for He embodies bodies. He is without body and form. He can neither be analyzed nor limited. He grows not, nor decays. He is far above the parts of things. He is the Subtle, All-aware, All-hearing, All-seeing, the One, the Unique, the Un-needing. He begets not, nor is He begotten and there is none equal to Him. He is the Originator of all things. He embodies all bodies and forms all forms. If He was such as those who admit similitude (
al-mushabbihah), then the Creator cannot be distinguished from the created, nor the Provider from the provided, nor the Originator from the originated. However, He is the Originator and there must be a distinction between Him and the things to which He gave body and shape and which He originated, since nothing resembles Him nor does He resemble anything."
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1. Ibid., pp. 101-102.
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"Allah is One and man is one. Do they not; therefore, resemble each other?" asked al-Fath.
The Ima`m disproved this vague error, saying: "Impossible! May Allah keep you steadfast; the resemblance is in the meanings. As for the names, every object is one, and the names signify the objects that (severally) bear those names.
1 Likewise, when we call man one, we are predicating that man is one body, not two. Man, in himself, is not one, since he is composed of different limbs and colors. And what is composed of different colors (components) can never be regarded as one. He consists of separate parts, that are diverse and divisible. His blood is different from his flesh and his flesh is different from his blood. His nerves are different from his veins and his hair is different from his skin. His black is different from his white. And the same is the case with all other creatures. Thus, man is one in name, not in essence.
"Allah, Exalted be His Majesty, is One. There is none other than Him; nor is there any incongruity and diversity in Him; nor is there any excess and deficiency. However, man is a creation made and composed of different parts, diverse essences, and primary elements; in this state of composition he is regarded as one."
Surely, calling Allah, the Exalted, One is different from calling man one, for man is composed of different organs such as the heart, the lungs, the eyes, the kidneys, the cells, and others; and by the virtue of their gathering he is called one. As for the Almighty Creator, He is called One not because of the composition of numerous limbs and organs.
"Explain to me (the meaning of ) the Subtle, for I know that His Subtlety is different from that of other than Him, for there is a difference (between the Creator and creation," demanded al-Fath.
The Imam, peace be on him, answered: "O Fath, our statement that Allah is Subtle means that He has created subtle things and has
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1. The similitude which is negated from Allah, the Exalted, is in the essence not in the names and utterances, for they applied to Him, the Most High, and to another than Him; it is correct to apply the 'one' to Allah, the Exalted, and man.
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full awareness of subtle things. May Allah give you wisdom and keep you steadfast. Do you not see the signs of His creation in the grass, which is subtle (green and soft) and not subtle (dry and rough), and also in the most subtle (delicate and tender) creation and in the tiny birds, insects, and misquotes and in the tiny flies, and also the things still tinier to the extent that you cannot distinguish the male from the female and the young from the old. We see the infinite smallness of these in their subtlety, and how they are guided in coming near to the female of the species and escaping from what is deadly, and in the gathering of what is suited to their survival. We see (creatures) dwelling in the depth of the seas, under the bark of the trees, and in the valleys and the barren deserts. We see them communicating messages to one another and with their offspring, and also their bringing food for them. We also see their matching of colors, the red with the yellow and the white with the red. Further, we see, that on account of their smallness they are not visible to the eye. Our eyes do not see them; our hands do not touch them. Having seen all this, we have come to know that the Creator of such subtle creatures, must have used a very subtle art in the creation of what we have mentioned. Moreover, we have also come to know that all those who make things, do so out of other things. However, it is Allah¾the Creator, the Subtle, the Great Who created and made things out of nothing."
This paragraph gives an account of the marvelous signs of Allah's wonderful creatures, and that is in His creating the bodies of the tiny animals such as insects and misquotes, and even tinier than them, of which the male cannot be distinguished from the female. Allah has given them understanding and they are guided to come near to the female of the species to continue their offspring on earth. Likewise Allah has given them understanding in order to escape from dangers, so glory belongs to the Subtle Creator. Moreover they have attractive colors, and they live in the bark of trees and deserts, and other favors of Allah toward them. So glory belongs to the Almighty Creator. How great his favors toward all living beings!
"Is there a creator other than the Great Creator?" asked al-Fath.
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The Imam, peace be on him, answered: "Surely, Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, says:
Blessed is Allah the best of the creators.1 He told that there were creators among his creatures, of whom was 'Isa b. Maryam, who determined out of dust like the form of a bird with Allah's permission, and it became bird with Allah's permission. And al-Samiri created for them a calf, a mere body, which had a mooning sound."
Al-Fath opposed the Imam, saying: "Surely, Isa` created a bird out of dust as a proof of his Prophethood, and al-Samiri created a calf, a mere body, to abolish the Prophethood of Musa, and Allah willed that to be so. Certainly, this is the wonder!"
The Imam answered him with strong argument, saying: "Verily, Allah's intention is two-fold; His will is (also) two-fold: the intention which is irrevocable, and the intention which is only a resolution. (Sometimes) Allah forbids what He wills and (sometimes) He orders what He does not will. Do you not see that Allah forbade A@dam and his wife from eating of the tree, yet willed that they should eat of it? If He had not willed so, their will would not have prevailed over the will of Allah; He ordered Ibra`hï~m (Abraham) to sacrifice his son Isma`'il, but did not will that Isma`'il should be slain. If He had willed so, the will of Ibra`hï~m would not have prevailed over the will of Allah, the Great and Almighty."
The Imam, peace be on him, disproved al-Fath's vague errors through dividing the will of Allah, the Exalted, into two parts as follows: the first part is the intention which is only a resolution or the legislative will, as the theologians say, or Allah's orders and prohibitions to His servants in order to balance their behavior and put right their life in this world. The disobedience of the willed to the will is not impossible according this kind of will. In other words the servant may obey and may disobey.
And the second part is the intention which is irrevocable or genetic will as the theologians say. It is impossible for the willed to disobey this kind of will, for Allah, according to this will, says to a
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1. Quran, 23, 14.
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thing: "Be," and the thing is. As for the stories of Adam and Ibrahïm, they belong to the first part of will.
Al-Fath was amazed at the Imam's statement and said: "You have comforted me; may Allah comfort you! However, you have said: 'The All-hearing, the All-seeing: Does He hear with the ear and see with the eye?"
The Ima`m answered him: "He (Allah) hears through what He sees and sees through what He hears. He sees but not through an eye like the eye of the creatures; and He hears but not through an ear like the ear of the creatures, but for not hidden from Him is the trace of a black speck on a dark night on a black stone under the soil and the seas; we say that He sees not through the like of the eye of the creatures; we say that He hears not through the like of the hearing of the hearers, for the various kinds of words are not confused by Him and no hearing diverts Him from hearing."
The Ima`m, peace be on him, removed the vague errors from al-Fath and explained to him that the seeing and hearing of Allah, the Most High, were not like those of man.
"Yet, I have another question," declared al-Fath.
"Give it to me," demanded the Ima`m.
"You said that the Eternal (Allah) known the things before He had created them."
The Imam, peace be on him, said: "Do you not hear that Allah says:
If there had been in them (the heavens and the earth) any gods except Allah, they would both have certainly been in a state of disorder,1 that He says: And some of them would certainly have overpowered others2 , that He says, relating the statement of the inhabitants of the Fire:
O our Lord, take us out, we will do good deeds other than those which we used to do,3 and that He says:
And if they were sent back, they would certainly go back to that from which they were forbidden ?"4
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1. Ibid., 21,22.
2. Ibid., 23, 91.
3. Ibid., 35, 37.
4. Ibid., 6, 28.
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Al-Fath admired the knowledge of the Ima`m, peace be on him, and his understanding difficult, theological matters. He tried to kiss the Ima`m's hand and foot, but the Ima`m did not allow him to do that. So he kissed the Ima`m's holy head and went out with happiness, for the Ima`m removed all doubts and imaginations which sounded in his mind.
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During his debate with al-Fath, the Ima`m, peace be on him, discussed and explained many ambiguous matters on the Unity of Allah.
The Essence of Allah's Oneness
Imam al-Rida, peace be on him, stated traditions about the core of Allah's Oneness. The following are some of them:
1. Mohammed b. Yazï~d asked the Ima`m about Allah's Unity, and he dictated to him the following: "Praise belongs to Allah, Who originally creates all things and designs them with a design through His Power and Wisdom. He does not create them from things so that His power of creation could be negated; nor does He design them for any ulterior reason or through any means so that His designing could be questioned. He creates whatever He likes and whosoever He likes¾all by Himself, that He may manifest His wisdom and the truth of His Providence. Reason cannot grasp Him; imagination cannot reach Him; and eyes cannot attain Him. He is beyond any calculation. The power of expression is helpless to (interpret Him). All the powers of sight are blurred (from seeing Him); and the power of describing and defining goes astray in describing and defining Him. He is veiled without any veil and is concealed without any covering. He is known without being seen, described without any form, and depicted without any body. There is no god but Allah, the Great, the Most High. "
2
This tradition gives an account of the power of the Almighty Creator, Who creates all things from nothing nor from a previous example. So glory belongs to Him! How great He is! The eyes cannot
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1. Al-Tawhid, pp. 60-65.
2. Ibid.,p. 95. Usul al-Kafi, vol. 1, p. 105.
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attain Him; imaginations cannot encompass Him; and words cannot embrace the core of His mightiness!
2. Mohammed b. 'Isa b. 'Ubayd had the honor of meeting the Ima`m, peace be on him, and he asked him the following:
"What do you say when someone asks you to tell him about Allah, the Great and Almighty, whether He is a thing or not?"
Mohammed skillfully answered, saying: "Certainly, Allah, the Great and Almighty, has established Himself as a thing when He said:
Say: What thing is weightiest in testimony? Say: Allah is witness between you and me. 1 So I say that He is a thing not like other things. For if we negate His Being as a thing, we will abolish and negate Him."
The Ima`m approved this answer of Mohammed and said to him: "You said the truth and were right." He added: "The people have three creeds concerning Allah's Oneness: negation, comparison, and establishment without any comparison. The creed of negation is not permissible; the creed of comparison is not permissible, for Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, is not likened to anything; and the way is the third creed: establishment without any comparison. "
2
The Power of Allah
Mohammed b. 'Arafa asked the Ima`m, peace be on him, the following questions: "Did Allah create things with the power or without the power? "
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The Ima`m answered him: "It is not permissible (to say that) He created things with the power, for if you said: 'He created things with the power,' it would be as if that you regarded the power as a thing other than Him, and you regarded it as His tool through which He created things, and this is polytheism; and if you said that He created things with the power, you would only describe that He created them through His might and power over them, but He is neither weak nor feeble nor is He in need of other than Him."
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1. Qur'an, 6 19.
2. Al-Tawhid, p. 107.
3. Ibid., 130.
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The meaning of the speech of the Ima`m, peace be on him, is that Allah, the Most High, is powerful, that this attribute is the same as Himself, and that He does not create things through a power outside Himself, for all His Noble Attributes are the same as Himself, as it has been established in theology.
Moreover, the Ima`m himself emphasized that in his speech when he said: "Glory belongs to Him who created the creatures through His power, mastered what He created through His wisdom, and placed everything in its place through His knowledge. Glory belongs to Him who
knows the stealthy looks and that which the breasts conceal; there is nothing like Him; and He is the All-hearing, the All-seeing."
The Great Creator and His Attributes are Eternal
Among the important researches which the Ima`m, peace be on him, stated was that the Great Creator and His attributes were eternal. He, peace be on him, said to a companion of his:
"May Allah give you the knowledge of the good. Know that Allah, the Hallowed, the Exalted, is eternal and this attribute of His being eternal indicates to the wise that neither was there anything before Him, nor is there anything associated with Him. After the general admission (by the men of wisdom) regarding this unique and exclusive attribute of Allah's being eternal, it is quite evident to us that there existed nothing before Him, and that there is nothing associated with Him in His being everlasting. Hence the claim of those who think that there was anything before Allah, or there is anything associated with Him is totally repudiated. The reason is that if there was anything sharing with Him in His eternity, it would not be proper to regard Allah as the Creator of that thing, for it had been with Allah all the time. How could Allah be the Creator of what had been with Him all along? If there was anything before Allah, then that thing would be the first, (not Allah), and that first (thing conjectured to exist before Allah) has got the preferential right to be regarded as the Creator of this first (Allah, the Eternal).
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"Then Allah, the Hallowed, the Exalted, invested Himself with names, and when He created (His creatures) and enjoined upon them His worship, and put on them trial and tribulation, He summoned them to call Him by those names. So, He named Himself the All-hearing, the All-seeing, the All-powerful, the Self-subsistent, the Articulated, the Revealed (or the Manifest), the Concealed, the Gracious, the Omniscient, the All-strong, the All-mighty, the All-wise, the All-knowing and other names like these. When the evil-minded repudiators saw this and heard us stating that nothing is like Allah, and nothing in creations is in His modality, they raised an objection: 'Tell us when you assert that nothing is like Allah, nor resembles Him, then how have you associated yourself with Him in His most beautiful names, for you have given all these names to yourself?
"'Verily, in this there is a clear proof that you are like Allah in all aspects or at least in some aspects and modalities; since you have gathered for yourself all these good names.' Let them be told, 'Verily, Allah, the All-mighty, the Exalted, has applied some of His names to some of His servants (creatures) but with a different meaning. One and the same name bears different meanings. The justification for it is the practice of the people themselves, valid according to them and widely prevalent among them. Allah addresses His creatures in the same practice of speech (prevalent among people). He speaks to them in a way which they understand so that they themselves will stand responsible for any loss they suffer (due to not caring to understand). Just as people generally call a man a dog, a donkey, a cow, sweet, bitter, or a lion, and this is antagonistic to man's nature and condition, these names are not applied in the (literal) sense that has been given to them, since they have quite a different context here for the man is neither a lion, nor a dog. So understand this point, may Allah have mercy on you!
"Allah has named (Himself) with (the attribute of) Knowledge, but (eternal) not contingent knowledge through which conception of things may be possible or knowledge which may assist Him in guarding what He is going to ordain in future or in planning what He is going to create in His creation (in the present) or in disposing of
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what He has annihilated from His creation (in the past) or knowledge which, if it is not available to Him and has become hidden from Him, then he will be rendered ignorant and helpless. As we see the learned among the creatures, we call them men of knowledge, because of the contingent which appears in them and of which they were ignorant. And it also often happens that the knowledge of things departs from them and then they relapse into ignorance. However, Allah is called All-knowing in the sense that He is not ignorant of anything at any time (past, present, or future). Thus, the name 'one who knows' is common to both the Creator and the created, but the connotation is quite different (in both the cases), as you saw.
"Our Lord has been given the name 'All-hearing'¾not that He has the channel of the ear through which He hears sounds but with which He cannot see, as we have the orifice of the ear through which we hear but with which we cannot see. However, Allah Himself tells us that nothing in the world of sound is hidden from Him. Nor is there any limitation in the range of sound as in the case of our hearing. Thus, the name of 'Hearing' is common (between Allah and the mankind) but their connotation is quite different.
"Likewise, His seeing not through the channel of the eyes. On the other hand in our case, we see with the instrument of our eyes and they are of no use to us for any other purpose. Allah is seeing in the sense that He is in no doubt about anything that can be seen. Nothing visible is out of His sight. Here too, the name is common but the connotation is quite different.
"Allah is the Self-subsistent (
Qa'im), not in the sense that He supports Himself by standing erect and holding His knees together as others do. However, 'Self-subsistent' connotes that He is the Protector, the Watcher, just as people say: 'the supporter of our affairs is so-and-so.
' Allah is He Who stands (Qa`'im) over every soul for what it has earned. 1 Generally, Qa`'im or Self-subsistent also means the Ever-lasting. It has also the connotation of supporting and satisfying just as you may say to a person: 'Stand (
qum) forth to
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1. Qur'an, 13, 33.
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support and satisfy such and such family,' meaning support them fully, whereas, for us
'Qa'im' (subsistent) means standing on our feet. Thus, the name 'Qa`'im' or 'subsistent' is common to us (Allah and men) but the sense or the meaning is different.
"(In the same way), Allah is named
al-Latïf (the Subtle, the Delicate) not in sense of being diminutive or slim and slender or small. However, Allah is Subtle and Delicate in the sense that He is effectual through and through and in the inmost of all things (however minute) and also in the sense that it is impossible to perceive and comprehend Him, just as you may say to a person: 'This matter is too subtle (
latïf) for me or such and such is refined (
latïf) in his conduct and speech.' You, in other words, tell him that intelligence has failed to grasp the matter, and effort has lost the trace of it and it has become so deep and delicate that imagination cannot reach it. Such is the subtlety of Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, since He is too subtle to be apprehended by any definition or be limited within any description, whereas subtlety (
latafah), in our context, connotes smallness or diminutiveness. Here again the name is common but the meaning is different.
"As for Allah's being the Omniscient and All-aware (
al-Khabïr), this means that nothing is hidden from Him and nothing escapes Him. His knowledge is not (the result of) experiment, nor (the fruit of) the authority of tradition. Experimentation and authority of tradition are the two (sources of) knowledge. If there is neither making experiment nor following tradition there would be no knowledge, and the man is ignorant. Allah is eternally conversant with what is to be created, while amongst mankind the man of knowledge or the conversant man is one who has become conversant or knowledgeable (passing through the stage) of the ignorance of the learner. Thus, here too the name is common but the connotation is quite different.
"Allah is
al-Zahir (the Manifest, one who prevails), not in the sense that He appeared above everything and rode them and settled on them and out-topped them. (So, nothing can hide Him from the right.) However, He is
al-Zahir or Manifest and prevails over everything in
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the sense that He holds all authority, dominion and power over each and everything, just as a person would say: 'I have prevailed over my enemy and Allah has given me power over him.' It signifies victory and domination. Such is
al-Zahir of Allah over everything. There is another sense of
al-Zahir the Manifest. He is Manifest to everyone who intends to seek him. He is not hidden to His seekers and nothing is hidden from Him. He is the Disposer of each and everything He has created. So, which appearance is more manifest and evident than Allah, the Blessed and Exalted? Since in whichever direction you turn, His wonderful (creation) cannot remain hidden from you. Even within your own self there are sufficient signs to satisfy you, (but) in our case, the manifest means something which comes into view by itself or is known by its limits and location. Thus here too, the name is common, but the connotation is quite different.
"Allah is
al-Batin (hidden), hidden not in the sense that He is inside things, or that He has descended deep in them, but in the sense that His knowledge, providence and plan permeate the inside of everything, just as a person says: 'I have gone deep into the matter in the sense I have experienced it and have fully known all its hidden secrets.' However, for us 'hidden' means the disappearance of a thing inside some other things. Here again we have the name in common, but the connotation is quite different.
"Allah is
al-Qahir(the Omnipotent) not in the sense of deliberation, and painful endeavor, and exertion, and planning, and diplomacy and intrigue, which His creatures exert themselves in to gain power over each other, and for the vanquished to become victorious, and for the victorious to become vanquished. However, Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, is Omnipotent (
al-Qahir) in the sense that everything He has created is clothed with lowliness and self-abasement before Him, the Creator, and can offer no obstruction to what He wills regarding it. It is not even the twinkling of an eye for Him to utter 'Be' and forthwith 'It is'. And victory among us is as we have already discussed and described (above). Thus, here too, the name is common but the meaning is quite different. Similar is the case
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in respect of all the names of Allah. Although we have not brought together all His names here; yet whatever we have expounded to them is sufficient for correct inference and understanding. Allah alone is your help and mine too, for our guidance and success. "
1
This speech of the Ima`m, peace be on him, contains many proofs of the eternity of the Great Creator, the Originator and Maker of all various things. It includes the attributes of Allah, the Exalted, and shows that they, though given to man, are quite different. Giving these attributes to Allah is other than giving them to man, who is in need of Allah in all affairs and states. It is worth mentioning that al-Kulayni regarded this speech of the Imam as a loose tradition (
hadith mursal), not a supported tradition (
hadith musnad).
