What was approved by us in our interpretation was that it...

What was approved by us in our interpretation was that it has the meaning of 'emerging', as we demonstrated above, and it means merely the emergence of what was unexpected and extraordinary, since, if it comes to be generalized so as to cover each one of the particular actions of Allah, then it will involve the attribution of mutability to Allah, and this is unanimously held to be absurd.

[^1]: Isma‘i1 ibn Ja‘far as-Sadiq: The eldest son of the sixth Imam, His father at first nominated him as his successor to the imamate, but later on deposed him from this position because of his excessive addiction to drink. Though he died five years before his father at Medina in 143/760-1, and though his body was publicly exposed and his death attested to by numerous witnesses, many among his followers held that he survived his father and ascribed to him many miraculous acts.

The Seveners (as- Sab‘iyyah), that is, the Isma‘iliyyah sect of the Shi‘ah, with its various offshoots, derives its name from him. See al-Maqrizi, Itti‘azu 'l-hunafa’, vol.l, p.16; Ibnu '1-Jawzi, Talbis Iblis, p.102; an-Nawbakhti, Firaqu 'sh- Shi‘ah, p.35; ash-Shahristani, al-Milal, vol.2, p.5; Lewis, B., The Origins of Isma‘ilism, p.38; E.I., the article "Isma‘il ibn Ja‘far", by Huart, C.H., vol.2, i, p.549.

[This view has been quoted from the non-Imamite sources, but for the right opinion concerning Isma‘il and his life history see our "Introduction" to the English translation of Kitab al-Irshad which will be published by the Will of Allah (ed.).] Previous…