The Transcendent Lord It was related by ‘Ali ibn Musa...

The Transcendent Lord It was related by ‘Ali ibn Musa al-Rida (the eighth Imam) from the earlier Imams in succession that al-Husayn ibn ‘Ali (the third Imam) spoke as follows: The Commander of the Faithful-upon whom be peace-addressed the people in the mosque at Kufa and said: “Praise belongs to God, who did not originate from anything, nor did He bring what exists into being from anything.

[12] His beginninglessness is attested to by the temporality (huduth) ofthings, His power by the impotence with which He has branded them, and His everlastingness (dawam) by the annihilation (fana’) which He has forced upon them. No place is empty of Him that He might be perceived through localization (ayniyyah), no object (shabah) is like Him that He might be described by quality (kayfiyyah), nor is He absent from anything that He might be known through the situation (haythiyyah).” [13].

“He is distinct (muba’in) in attributes from all that He has originated, inaccessible to perception because of the changing essences He has created (in things), [14] and outside of all domination (tasarruf) by changing states (halat) because of grandeur and tremendousness.

Forbidden is His delimitation (tahdid) to the penetrating acumen of sagacities, His description (takyif) to the piercing profundities of thought and His representation (taswir) to the searching probes of insight.” “Because of His tremendousness places encompass Him not, because of His majesty measures gauge Him not, and because of His grandeur standards judge Him not.

Impossible is it for imaginations (awham) to fathom Him, understandings (afham) to comprehend Him or minds (adhhan) to imagine Him.

Powers of reason (uqul) with lofty aspiration despair of contriving to comprehend Him, oceans of knowledge run dry without alluding to Him in-depth, [15] and the subtleties of disputants fall from loftiness to pettiness in describing His power.” “He is One (wahid), not in terms of number (adad); Everlasting (da’im), without duration (amad); Standing (Qa’im), without supports (umud).

He is not of a kind (jins) that ( other ) kind should be on a par with Him, nor an object that objects should be similar to Him, nor like things that attribute should apply to Him.