مَعرِفَةُ اللّه‏ِ

INNER KNOWLEDGE OF ALLAH

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2– Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘The inner knowledge of Allah, Glory be to Him, is the highest of knowable truths.’
[Ghurar al-Hikam, no. 9864]

3– Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘I would not be pleased to die as a child and be made to enter Paradise without being able to grow up and get to know my Lord, Mighty and Exalted.’
[Kanz al-`Ummal, no. 36472]

4– Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘The fruit of knowledge is attaining inner knowledge of Allah.’
[Ghurar al-Hikam, no. 4586]

5– Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘He whose heart finds peace in knowing Allah, finds peace in being needless of Allah’s creatures.’
[Ghurar al-Hikam, no. 8896]

6– Imam al-Sadiq (AS) said, ‘If people knew the virtue of knowing Allah, Mighty and Exalted, they would never extend their gaze to the splendour and bounties of the life of this world that Allah has granted to the enemies. They would then regard such people’s worldly goods to be more insignificant that the dust under their feet, and they would take great pleasure at attaining knowledge of Allah, Mighty and Exalted, and would savour it as if they were tasting the experience of being in the gardens of Paradise with the friends of Allah. Verily the inner knowledge of Allah is an intimate companion in every type of desolation, a friend in every type of loneliness, a light in every darkness, a source of strength from all weakness, and a cure for all ailments.’
[al-Kafi, v. 8, p. 247, no. 347]

7– The Prophet (SAWA) said, ‘He who attains inner knowledge of Allah and aggrandizes Him forbids his mouth from speaking
[vain] and his stomach from eating, and satisfies himself through fasting and praying.’
[Amali al-Saduq, p. 444, no. 6]

8– The Prophet (SAWA) said, ‘If you truly knew Allah as He is worthy of being known, you would be able to walk on the seas and the mountains would fall by your command.’
[Kanz al-`Ummal, no. 5893]

9– The Prophet (SAWA) said, ‘He who is most knowledgeable of Allah is most fearful of Allah.’
[Bihar al-Anwar, v. 70, p. 393, no. 64]

10– Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘The least knowledge of Allah leads one to abstain from the vanities of this world.’
[Ghurar al-Hikam, no. 10984]

11– Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘Verily it does not befit one who has attained inner knowledge of the grandeur of Allah to behave proudly, for verily the elevation of those who acknowledge His grandeur comes from their abasing themselves in front of Him.’
[Nahj al-Balagha, Sermon 147]

12– Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘The peak of inner knowledge of Allah is fear
[of Him].’
[Ghurar al-Hikam, no. 6359]

13– Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘The person who best knows Allah asks of Him the most.’
[Ghurar al-Hikam, no. 3260]

14– Imam al-Baqir (AS) said, ‘The creature of Allah most eligible for submission to the decree of Allah, Mighty and Exalted, is he who knows Allah, Mighty and Exalted.’
[al-Kafi, v. 2, p. 62, no. 9]

15– Imam al-Sadiq (AS) said, ‘He who attains inner knowledge of Allah fears Allah, and he who fears Allah restrains himself from this world.’
[Tanbih al-Khawatir, v. 2, p. 185]

16– Imam al-Sadiq (AS) said, ‘Verily the person who best knows Allah is the most content with the decree of Allah, Mighty and Exalted.’
[Tanbih al-Khawatir, v. 2, p. 184]

17– Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘The gnostic’s face is cheerful and smily, whereas his heart is apprehensive and sorrowful.’
[Ghurar al-Hikam, no. 1985]

18– Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘Longing
[for Allah] is the sincerest friend of the gnostics.’
[Ghurar al-Hikam, no. 855]

19– Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘Fear is the cloak of the gnostics.’
[Ghurar al-Hikam, no. 664]

20– Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘Crying much due to fear of Allah for any possible distance between oneself and Allah is the regular worshipful state of the gnostics.’
[Ghurar al-Hikam, no. 1791]

21– Imam al-Sadiq (AS) said, ‘Trust in Allah and you will attain inner knowledge
[of Him].’
[Tuhaf al-`Uqoul, no. 376]

22– Imam al-Kazim (AS), when he was asked about the lowest degree of inner knowledge, replied, ‘It is to affirm that there is no god but He, and that He has no likeness or match, and that He is eternal, positively proven to exist, present and not absent, and that there is nothing like Him.’
[al-Kafi, v. 1, p. 86, no. 1]

23– Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘Get to know Allah through Allah, and the Prophet through the message he brought, and those vested with authority through their command to do good, their justice and righteousness.’
[al-Kafi, v. 1, p. 85, no. 1]

24– Imam al-Husayn (AS) said in one of his supplications, ‘My God! My own obscure doubts about the signs
[in nature] has caused my distance from my goal, so draw me near to You through Your service that may allow me to reach You. How can something that needs You for its very existence be used to prove Your existence?! Are other things more manifest than You that they be used to point to You?! When were You ever absent that You should need anything to prove Your existence?! Through You alone do I arrive at You, so guide me with Your light to Yourself.’
[Bihar al-Anwar, v. 98, p. 225]

25– Imam Zayn al-Abidin (AS) said in one of his supplications, ‘I have attained knowledge of You through You, and You are the One Who indicated me to Yourself and called me to Yourself, and were it not for You, I would not know who You are.’
[Iqbal al-A`amal, v. 1, p. 157]

26– The Prophet (SAWA) said, ‘Ponder about the creation of Allah, but do not ponder about Allah Himself lest you be ruined.’
[Kanz al-`Ummal, no. 5705]

27– Imam al-Sadiq (AS) said, ‘Beware of pondering about Allah, for verily pondering about Allah only increases one’s bewilderment. Verily Allah, Mighty and Exalted, cannot be perceived by the sights or described by any type of criteria.’
[Amali al-Saduq, p. 340, no. 3]

28– Imam al-Sadiq (AS) said, ‘How ruined is the one who examines Allah!’
[al-Mahasin, v. 1, p. 371, no. 808]

29– Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘We do not know the essence of Your greatness. All that we do know is that You are Ever-Living and Self-Subsisting through Whom all things subsist. Drowsiness and sleep do not overtake You, vision does not reach You and sight cannot perceive You.’
[Nahj al-Balagha, Sermon 160]

30– Imam Ali (AS) said in his description of the angels, ‘They are in their own places
[distinct] from You,
[and yet] their positions are near You. Their desires are all concentrated on You, their worship for You is abundant, and their neglect of Your command is little. If they were to witness the essence of what is hidden about You from them, they would regard their deeds insignificant, they would reproach themselves and would realize that they have not worshipped You as You deserve to be worshipped, and have not obeyed You as You deserve to be obeyed.’
[Nahj al-Balagha, Sermon 109]

31– Imam Zayn al-Abidin (AS) said in one of his supplications, ‘The intellects are incapable of fathoming the essence of Your Beauty, the sights are restricted to looking at other than the splendour of Your Countenance, and You have not set aside any means for Your creation to get to know You except through their complete incapacity of knowing You.’
[Bihar al-Anwar, v. 94, p. 150, no. 21]

32– Imam al-Rida (AS) said, ‘His essence is a partition between Himself and His creation.’
[al-Tawhid, p. 36, no. 2]

33– Imam al-Rida (AS) said in his description of Allah, Glory be to Him, ‘He is too exalted for sight to be able to perceive Him, for imagination to be able to fathom Him, and for the intellect to be able to grasp Him.’
[al-Tawhid, p. 252, no. 3]

34– Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘He who
[undertakes to] describe Him has defined Him, and he who defines Him has numbered Him, and he who numbers Him has nullified His eternity. He who asks ‘How?’
[about Allah] has indeed sought to describe Him, and he who asks ‘Where?’ has indeed confined Him.’
[Nahj al-Balagha, Sermon 152]

35– Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘So blessed be the One Whom the highest ambitions cannot reach and Whom the conjecture of intelligent minds cannot grasp.’
[Nahj al-Balagha, Sermon 94]

36– Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘
[He is] One, but not by enumeration. He is everlasting without extremity. He exists without any support.’
[Nahj al-Balagha, Sermon 185]

37– Imam al-Sadiq (AS) asked a man who said ‘Allah is Greater’ (Allahu Akbar), ‘Greater than what?’ So the man replied, ‘Greater than everything’, to which Imam (AS) retorted, ‘Then you have defined Him.’ The man then asked him, ‘So what should I say?’ Imam replied, ‘Say: Allah is too great for description.’
[al-Kafi, v. 1, p. 117, no. 8]

38– Imam al-Kazim (AS) said, ‘Verily Allah is too High and too Exalted and too Great for the reality of His description to ever be possible, so describe Him as He Himself has described Himself, and desist from anything other than that.’
[al-Kafi, v. 1, p. 102, no. 6]

39– Imam al-Hadi (AS) said, ‘Verily the Creator can only be described by that which He Himself has described Himself, and how can the Creator ever be described anyway, Whom the senses are incapable of perceiving and the imaginations unable to grasp and the ideas unable to confine and the sights unable to contain?! He is too exalted for the description of those who undertake to describe, and too high to be attributed by those who seek to attach attributes to Him.’
[Kashf al-Ghamma, v. 3, p. 176]

40– The Prophet (SAWA) said, ‘Allah’s divine Unity is half of religion.’
[`Uyoun Akhbar al-Ridha (AS), v. 2, p. 35, no. 75]

41– Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘Allah’s divine Unity is the life of the soul.’
[Ghurar al-Hikam, no. 540]

42– Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘
[Faith in] Allah’s divine Unity is that you do not subject Him to the limitations of your imagination.’
[Nahj al-Balagha, Saying 470]

43– Imam al-Sadiq (AS) said, ‘
[Faith in] Allah’s divine Unity is that you do not deem applicable to your Lord that which applies to you, and
[faith in] His divine Justice is that you do not blame Him for that which you are blameworthy.’
[Ma`ani al-Akhbar, p. 11, no. 2]

44– Imam al-Rida (AS) said, ‘The very first step to Allah’s worship is to attain inner knowledge of Him, and the origin of attaining inner knowledge of Allah, Exalted be His Praise, is through His divine Unity. The very basis of His divine Unity is to negate any kind of limitation from Him, since the intellects are able to witness that every limited being is created.’
[Amali al-Tusi, p. 22, no. 28]

45– Imam Ali (AS) said in his will to his son, al-Hasan (AS), ‘And know my son that if your Lord were to have a partner, his messengers would surely have come to you, and you would have seen the signs of his dominion and his power, and you would know his acts and his attributes. He, however, is One God, just as He as described Himself. He is neither opposed by anyone in His kingdom, nor will He ever cease to be.’
[Nahj al-Balagha, Letter 31]

46– Imam al-Sadiq (AS), when he was debating with an atheist, said, ‘If you say that there are two gods, then they are either in complete agreement on everything or completely separate in their spheres of influence. But when we look at this orderly creation, the continuous orbits, the alternation of night and day, and the sun and the moon, the soundness of the situation and the organisation and sound management of it indicates that the Director
[of all creation] is One.’
Then if you still claim that there are two gods, then there must necessarily be some kind of difference between them for them to be two
[and therefore distinct from each other], and this distinguishing characteristic between them is itself eternal like them, so you are forced to accept three such beings. And if you hold that there are indeed three, then you have to admit the same thing that we said for two such that they
[the three] necessarily have two distinguishing characteristics between them
[to differentiate them from each other] so then there are five
[such eternal beings] altogether, and thus does the multiplication continue until infinity.’
[al-Tawhid, p. 243, no. 1]

47– Imam al-Sadiq (AS), when asked to give proof that Allah is One, said, ‘The continuous unity of management
[in the cosmos] and the perfection of creation, as Allah, Mighty and Exalted, has said, “Had there been gods in them (i.e. the heavens and the earth) other than Allah, they would surely have fallen apart”
[ Qur’an 21:22].’
[al-Tawhid, p. 250, no. 2]

48– Imam al-Rida (AS) was asked the following by a man believing in dualism, ‘I believe that the creator of the world are two, so what is the proof that He is One?’ ImÁm replied, ‘Your belief that there are two is proof in itself that He is One, for verily you have only claimed the second after having affirmed the existence of the One. So the One is already a unanimous fact – it is more than one that is controversial
[and remains to be proven].’
[al-Tawhid, p. 270, no. 6]

49– It is written in Tafsir al-Qummi: ‘Then Allah, Mighty and Exalted, answered dualism and those who professed that there were two gods, saying: “Allah has not taken any offspring, neither is there any god besides Him, for then each god would take away what he created, and some of them would surely rise up against others. Clear is Allah of what they allege!”
[Qur’an 23:91] If there were two gods, as you claim, each one of them would seek superiority, and if one of them desired to create a man, the other would desire to oppose him and create an animal, so their joint creation would have to be the product of both their desires, in spite of their differing wills, man and beast at the same time. And this is the most impossible thing that does not even exist. And if this argument is invalid and there is no difference between them, then the whole duality is invalid
[with no distinction left between the two] and there is only one. Therefore, this order, unity of arrangement, subsistence of some things through other things, all indicate to One Maker, and this is the purport of Allah’s verse in the Qur’an: “Allah has not taken any offspring neither is there any god besides Him…” and “Had there been gods in them (i.e. the heavens and the earth) other than Allah, they would surely have fallen apart.”
[ Nur al-Thaqalayn, v. 3, p. 550, no. 107]

50– The Prophet (SAWA) said, ‘When I was taken on my Night Journey to the heavens, Gabriel took me up until a place wherein he himself had never set foot. The veils were pulled away for me and Allah, Mighty and Exalted, showed me whatever He liked from the light of His Greatness.’
[al-Tawhid, p. 108, no. 4]

51– Imam Ali (AS) said in reply to Dha`alab’s question about his being able to see his Lord, ‘Woe to you O Dha`alab! I do not worship a Lord Whom I cannot see!’ So Dha`alab asked, ‘But how do you see Him? Describe Him to us.’ Imam (AS) replied, ‘Woe betide you! Eyes do not see Him by looking with the sights; it is the hearts that behold Him with the realities of faith.’
[Amali al-Saduq, p. 281, no. 1]

52– Imam al-Rida (AS), with regards to Allah’s verse in the Qur’an: “The sights do not apprehend Him…” said, ‘The hearts’ fancies cannot apprehend Him so how can the eyesights apprehend Him?!’
[Amali al-Saduq, p. 334, no. 2]

53– Imam al-`Aaskari (AS) said, ‘Verily Allah, Blessed and most High, displayed to His Prophet in his heart, whatever He liked from the light of His Greatness.’
[al-Kafi, v. 1, p. 95, no. 1]

54– Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘Praise be to Allah, the First before every first, and the Last after every last, and His Firstness necessitates that there is no beginning to Him, and His Lastness necessitates that there is no end to Him.’
[Nahj al-Balagha, Sermon 101]

55– Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘He never ceases to exist and will always be, the First before all things without a beginning, and the Last after all things without an end.’
[Nahj al-Balagha, Letter 31]

56– Imam Ali (AS) was once asked by a Jew, ‘When did our Lord, Mighty and Exalted, come to be?’, to which he replied, ‘O Jew, It is not that our Lord was not and then came to be, for the question ‘When did x come to be?’ is posed regarding something that is not there and then comes to be. He exists without coming into being; He is ever existing having nothing before Him. He is before ‘before’ itself, before any limit. Limits do not apply to Him for He is the ultimate limit of all limits.’
[Bihar al-Anwar, v. 77, p. 331, no. 18]

57– Imam al-Baqir (AS) said, ‘Verily Allah, Blessed and most High, existed when nothing else did, He is light not darkness, truthful with no falsehood about Him, all-knowing with no ignorance about Him, ever-living with no death about Him, and He is such today, and thus will He remain forever.’
[al-Tawhid, p. 141, no. 5]

58– Imam al-Sadiq (AS) said, ‘Verily Allah is all knowledge with no ignorance about Him, He is all Life without any death around Him, and all Light with no darkness about Him.’
[al-Tawhid, p. 137, no. 11]

59– Imam al-Kazim (AS) said, ‘Allah is Omnipresent without any external source of life … rather He lives through Himself.’
[al-Tawhid, p. 142, no. 6]

60– Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘The number of droplets of water, or of stars in the sky, or of gusts of wind in the air are not unknown to Him, and neither is the crawling of ants on rocks, nor the settling place of tiny particles in the darkness of the night. He knows the spots where leaves fall and the subtle movement of the pupils of the eyes.’
[Nahj al-Balagha, Sermon 178]

61– Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘He knows the howls of beasts in the forests, the sins of the people committed in secret, the fish’s frequenting the deep seas and the rising of the waters by tempestuous winds.’
[Nahj al-Balagha, Sermon 198]

62– Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘His knowledge pierces through the inside of unknown secrets and encompasses the innermost beliefs of the hearts.’
[Nahj al-Balagha, Sermon 108]

63– Imam al-Baqir (AS) said, ‘He always knows what is to be, such that His knowledge of it before its coming into being is the same as His knowledge after its coming into being.’
[al-Kafi, v. 1, p. 107, no. 2]

64– Imam al-Sadiq (AS) was once asked about Allah’s knowledge of space
[i.e. the concept] and whether He knows it before its coming into existence or during it or after it, to which he replied, ‘Most High is Allah! He always knows space before its conception just as He knows it after He has created it, and such is His knowledge of all things like His knowledge of space.’
[al-Tawhid, p. 137, no. 9]

65– Imam al-Sadiq (AS) said, ‘Knowledge is His very essence and not the object of knowing
[or a known], such that when He created things, knowledge projected from Him onto the known things.’
[Nur al-Thaqalayn, v. 5, p. 237, no. 41]

66– Imam al-Kazim (AS) said, ‘The knowledge of Allah cannot be defined by where, nor can Allah’s knowledge be described by how. Allah’s knowledge cannot be separated from Him, nor can Allah be distinguished from it, and there is no barrier between Allah and His knowledge.’
[al-Tawhid, p. 138, no. 16]

67– Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘And I bear witness that He is just and acts justly, and is an arbitrator who decides fairly.’
[Nahj al-Balagha, Sermon 214]

68– Imam Ali (AS) when asked about faith in Allah’s divine justice, replied, ‘
[Faith in] divine justice is that you do not accuse Him of anything.’
[Nahj al-Balagha, Saying 470]

69– Imam Zayn al-Abidin (AS) said in his supplication for Friday and for the `Aayd al-Azha, ‘But I know that there is no wrong in Your decree and no hurry in Your vengeance. He alone hurries who fears to miss, and only the weak needs to wrong. But You are exalted, my God, high indeed above all that!’
[al-Sahifat al-Sajjadiyya, p. 297, Supplication 48]

70– Imam al-Sadiq (AS) was asked about the foundation of religion, to which he replied, ‘
[It is faith in] Allah’s divine Unity and divine Justice …
[Faith in] Allah’s divine Unity is that you do not deem applicable to your Lord that which applies to you, and
[faith in] His divine Justice is that you do not attribute to Him that of which you are blameworthy.’
[al-Tawhid, p. 96, no. 1]

71– Marwan b. Muslim narrated: ‘Ibn Abi al-`Aawja’ once came to Abu `Aabdillah (AS)
[i.e. Imam al-Sadiq], and asked, ‘Is it not true that you claim that Allah is the Creator of all things?’ to which Abu `Aabdillah (AS) replied, ‘Yes.’ So he retorted, ‘I create!’ So Imam asked him, ‘How do you create?!’ He replied, ‘I defecate in a place, then wait for it, and it becomes a creature, which I have created!’ So Abu `Aabdillah (AS) said, ‘Is it not true that the creator of something should know what he has created?’ to which he replied yes. Imam continued, ‘Well do you know the female from the male
[of what you have supposedly created], and do you know its lifespan?’ to which he had no answer.’
[al-Tawhid, p. 295, no. 5]

72– Imam al-Rida (AS) said, ‘The Originator of all things from their conception, and their Inventor from the very beginning with His Power and Wisdom,
[He creates] not from anything otherwise the very concept of invention would be nullified, nor for any cause otherwise the very concept of origination would be inapplicable. He creates whatever He pleases however He pleases.’
[al-Tawhid, p. 98, no. 5]

73– Prophet Jesus (AS) was once asked, ‘Can your Lord fit the world into an egg?’ to which he replied, ‘Verily Allah, Mighty and Exalted, cannot be attributed with incapacity, but that which you are asking cannot ever be.’
[Mishkat al-Anwar, p. 259]

74– Imam al-Sadiq (AS) narrated, ‘Iblis
[Satan] asked Jesus son of Mary (AS), ‘Is your Lord capable of fitting the earth inside an egg, without shrinking the earth or enlarging the egg?’ So Jesus (AS) replied, ‘Woe betide you! Verily Allah can never be ascribed with incapacity, and who is there more powerful than the One who can shrink the earth and enlarge the egg
[if He so wills]?!
[ al-Tawhid, p. 127, no. 5]

75– Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘He expresses information but not through a tongue or voice. He listens but not with the holes and organs of hearing. He speaks but does not utter words; He remembers but does not learn… When He wishes to create something, He says to it ‘Be’ and it is, but not through a voice that can strike the ears, nor a calling that can be heard. Rather, His speech, Glory be to Him, is an act of His that He creates and incorporates, which did not exist before, for were it an ever-existing thing it would be a second god.’
[Nahj al-Balagha, Sermon 186]

76– Imam al-Kazim (AS) said, ‘Verily things come into being solely by His will and His wish; without the need for speech, alternation of breath or utterance with the tongue.’
[al-Tawhid, p. 100, no. 8]

77– Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘He manifests the wonders of His management for the onlookers, but by virtue of the exaltedness of His Might He is Hidden from the imagination of the thinkers.’
[Nahj al-Balagha, Sermon 213]

78– Imam al-Rida (AS) said, ‘He is manifest though indiscernible through direct contact; He is evident though unapprehended by vision; He is hidden though not through withdrawal.’
[al-Tawhid, p. 37, no. 2]

79– Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘Every master other than Him is a slave.’
[Nahj al-Balagha, Sermon 65]

80– Imam Ali (AS), in his explanation of the phrase ‘There is no power or strength save in Allah’, said, ‘Verily we are not masters over anything with Allah, nor are we masters over anything except what He has given us mastery over. So by making us masters over that which He is a superior Master, He has given us responsibility, and by taking away mastership from us He absolves us of our responsibilities.’
[Nahj al-Balagha, Saying 404]

81– Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘He is the All-hearing but not by means of any organ.’
[Nahj al-Balagha, Sermon 152]

82– Imam al-Baqir (AS) said, ‘Verily He is all-hearing and all-seeing, such that He hears with that by means of which He sees and He sees with that by means of which He hears.’
[al-Tawhid, p. 144, no. 9]

83– Imam al-Rida (AS) said, ‘Because of the fact that the secret trace of a black mustard seed on a massive rock in the darkness of the night, be it in the ground or in the seas, cannot remain hidden from Him, is what compels us to say that He is all-seeing.’
[al-Tawhid, p. 65, no. 18]

84– Imam al-Rida (AS) said, ‘He is subtle not in terms of lack or delicateness or smallness, rather
[He is subtle] in His penetration into everything without being perceived. He is all-aware through the fact that nothing escapes His attention or evades Him, independent of experience or consideration of things, for experience and consideration in turn result in two types of knowledge, without which He would not know
[if he were to be dependent on them], and would therefore be ignorant.’
[al-Kafi, v. 1, p. 122, no. 2]

85– Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘And every strong person besides Allah is weak.’
[Nahj al-Balagha, Sermon 65]

86– Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘Everything humbles before Him, and everything subsists through Him. He is the contentment of every poor, the honour of every disgraced one, and the strength of every weak one.’
[Nahj al-Balagha, Sermon 109]

87– Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘Every mighty one besides Him is abased.’
[Nahj al-Balagha, Sermon 65]

88– Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘Praise be to Allah who wears the cloak of might and majesty, and has chosen them for Himself over the rest of His creation.’
[Nahj al-Balagha, Sermon 192]

89– Imam al-Baqir (AS) was once asked why it is that Allah cannot be questioned about what He does, to which he replied, ‘Because He only does what is wise and good.’
[al-Tawhid, p. 397, no. 13]

90– Imam al-Husayn (AS) said, ‘The All-embracing is the One Who has no lack within Him; the All-embracing is the One Whose mastership is complete; the All-embracing is the One Who neither eats nor drinks; the All-embracing is the One Who does not sleep; the All-embracing is the Eternal One who is and will always be.’
[al-Tawhid, p. 90, no. 3]

91– Imam Ali (AS) said, describing Allah, Glory be to Him, ‘And verily He is everywhere, each and every moment and time, and with every human and Jinn.’
[Nahj al-Balagha, Sermon 195]

92– Imam al-Sadiq (AS) was asked by Abu Jau`afar regarding Allah’s verse in the Qur’an: “And He is Allah in the heavens and in the earth”, to which he replied, ‘Yes, similarly He is in every place.’ I
[Abu Ja`afar] asked, ‘In His essence?’ Imam replied, ‘Woe betide you! Verily places are the objects of divine decree, so by your saying that He is in a place in essence, you are in fact compelled to say that He is both in the objects of His divine decree and separate thereof. He is, however, distinct from His creation, entirely encompassing what He creates in knowledge, power, control, authority and dominion.’
[al-Tawhid, p. 133, no. 15]

93– Imam al-Sadiq (AS) said, ‘Our Lord is luminant in His very essence, Living in His very essence, All-knowing in His very essence, All-embracing in His very essence.’
[al-Tawhid, p. 140, no. 4]

94– Imam al-Rida (AS) said, ‘Wish and will are among the attributes of Allah’s action, so whoever claims that Allah, most High, is eternally willing and wishing has not understood His divine unity.’
[al-Tawhid, p. 338, no. 5]

95– Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘The very first step in religion is acknowledging Him, and the perfect way to acknowledge Him is to testify to Him, and the perfect way to testify to Him is to believe in His divine unity, and the perfect way to believe in His divine unity is to regard Him as absolutely pure, and the perfect way to regard Him as absolutely pure is to negate all attributes from Him, for every attribute is a proof of its own distinction from the thing to which it is attributed, and everything that is attached and attributed is distinct from the attribute. Thus, whoever attaches attributes to Allah, Glory be to Him, associates Him with something else, and whoever associates Him regards Him as two, and whoever regards Him as two identifies parts to Him, and whoever identifies parts to Him has indeed misunderstood Him, and whoever misunderstands Him singles Him out, and whoever singles Him out has confined Him, and whoever confines Him has enumerated Him. Whoever asks ‘In what
[is He]?’ holds that He is contained, and whoever asks ‘On what
[is He]?’ has excluded Him. He is
[a Being] but not through any phenomenon of coming into being, He exists but not from non-existence. He is with everything but not in physical proximity, and is separate from everything but not through physical separation. He acts but without need for movements and instruments. He sees without need for an object of sight from among His creation. He is One such that He has no need for a source of comfort that may keep Him company nor any whom He may miss in his absence.’
[Nahj al-Balagha, Sermon 1]