Within the Name of Allah, the Infinitely Good, the Boundlessly Merciful

Praise to Allah, Lord of the Worlds, peace and blessings upon His near servants: Muhammad and his pure Progeny.

Existence has One Existent, the Existence of Whom incorporates all attributes of perfection.
I say that millions of Muslims and others have provided proofs, complete and well known, about His existence, and we here are going to fix them as much as our comprehension of the truth of this meaning allows and will divide it into chapters.

Chapter 1

Let us consider what the sophists say, that is, the world is the creation of imagination, and whatever a philosopher says of fixed facts is beyond that. This meaning bears no explanation, nor does it have a complete sense, but we do know what we say and what they say.

Our pursuit: providing a genuine articulation, the reality and what is real, what is factual, existence, the origin of what is originated..., is what we shall fix in order to counter theirs.

Chapter 2

Since existence is a genuine fact, and its opposite has no external presence due to its falsehood, it is, therefore, absolute. Any other supposition which we presume for it does not change it. It is one and the same. Had there been any other, or were it to be distinguished from any other, it would be false. The second cannot be supposed, for it is one in the true sense of the word.

It thus becomes obvious that this Existent combines in Him every true perfection, in Him, specifically.

And since existence by itself contradicts void and dismisses it, He by Himself is not capable of the flimsiness of void; such is a fact the existence of which is self-imposing.

The truth about this Existent is a must fact by itself, from all sides. He incorporates all attributes of perfection, elevated above all qualities of shortcoming and void.

Chapter 3

Every comprehended thing is by itself separated from another by necessity. The agreement of the concept with what is conceived is not different from defining the concept by necessity. This is necessary for one who contemplates. This reflects that a concept that is unlimited by itself, one the comprehending of which falls short, is by itself faulty; it is the shortcoming of an absolute definition.

It is also known that the status of what is borne is less than that of what is placed. Since the existence that is a must is absolute, it is unlimited, it is higher than appointing a name or a description. Any restriction is conceptual, and it applies even to such a rule. This sacred fact has the sense of absoluteness with regard to identifying a proposition even relatively to the application of the very absolution.

Chapter 4

The meaning of what we have stated is repeated in the Book and the Sunnah. There are verses, which convey the meaning that to Allah belongs whatever in the heavens and the earth, and to Allah is the domain of the heavens and the earth, and to Him belongs whatever resides in the night and the day. Clearly, such a domain is not one, which exists only in the imagination of “wise men” who feign sophistication.

Rather, it is a factual attribution. Factual attributions are not complete except one proves himself by himself, in his existence, in his essence. By my life, had there been in the Book of Allah only two verses, they would have sufficed a free thinking human to realize the facts in these meanings. These two verses are:

“We did not create the heavens, the earth and all between them merely in (idle) sport” (Qur’an, 44:38)

“We created them only for just ends, but most of them do not understand” (Qur’an, 44:39)

Had one extracted himself out of the ornaments of this life, shunned what is displayed in this shortest-lived one, concentrated his attention and directed it only towards the most Exalted Lord and faced the world of holiness, he would have seen with his own eyes that these matters which constantly change hands among earthlings,

all these pursuits, goals, objectives, aspirations, monuments of ownership, authority, greatness, presidency, progress, exalted status, genealogy and kinship, and their opposites, and thousands of their likes..., are all imagined, toys, distractions, the wares of the vain one.

Likewise are the pleasures, the possessions, the benefits towards which people compete with one another, for the achievement of which one labors very hard, even braving death in the process..., are all whims towards which Allah, Praise to Him, directed those who worship life so that the Book may rule till the end of its term; Allah’s is the Command which He affects.

Had such a person seen how the Truth, Exalted is His Name, in His Book, in the statements of His Messenger and in those of His servants, attributes to Himself the qualities of mercy, kindness, ownership, exalted status, wisdom, forgiveness, appreciation, and to Him belongs every the best attributes, that He is above any ugliness and shortcoming, and had such a person come to know that these are true meanings and attributes, fixed adjectives..., he would have realized by instinct and through good taste that these attributes are the ones behind the existence of whatever exists, all belong to the Truth, Exalted is His Name, and that He, Praise to Him, stands all alone, all by Himself.

Witnesses for the Truth, Praise to Him, confirmed this fact according to what belongs to Him and only Him; does not your Lord suffice that He is Witness over everything?!

Then evidence admitted the same about Him. The fixed factual relationship according to the same thing, such as the Creator, Praise to Him, having created everything, having owned everything, has to be confirmed in the status of the Self, for they are existing relative things, which do not become facts except through both their ends:

What is attributed to Him is by necessity factual. It is by necessity that one of two things stands through the other; otherwise, the two will have to be united, something which is impossible. The King, the Truth, Praise to Him, has made whatever exists does so through Him, Praise to Him. This applies to all other attributes and concepts; so, absorb this fact.

Among the testimonies are numerous statements about the Exalted One being one not by count, for al-Sadiq (peace be with him) has narrated in his tawhid, Al-Kisal and Al-Ma’aani al-Akhbar, through isnad to Shurayh ibn Hani who has said that a bedouin stood up before the Commander of the Faithful (peace be with him) and said, “O Commander of the Faithful! Do you say that Allah is One?”

People rebuked the bedouin and said, “O bedouin! Do not you see how the heart of the Commander of the Faithful (peace be with him) is so distracted?” The Commander of the Faithful (‘a) said, “Leave him, for what the bedouin is seeking is what the people seek.”

Then he (peace be with him) said, “O bedouin! To statement, that Allah is one is of four types two of which are not appropriate to talk about Allah, the most Honored and the most Great, and two confirm Him.

As for the two which are inappropriate, they are when someone says He is ‘one’ with the intention of applying a numerical system for Him; this is not permissible because One Who has no second to Him cannot be included in any count. Do not you see how a person becomes apostate if he says that He is the third of three? The other [inappropriate statement] is when one says that he himself is one of the people, meaning one of the species.

This, too, is not appropriate because it is setting a making a similitude. Our Lord, Great and Exalted is He, is greater than can be compared with anything at all. As for the two types, which are applicable to Him, one is when someone says that He is One having no similitude at all; such is our Lord.

And the other [appropriate] statement is when one says that He, the most Exalted and the most Great, is One in connotation, i.e. He cannot be divided in His existence, nor can He be realized by any mind nor by any imagination; such is our Lord, the most Exalted and the most Great.”

In the Tawhid by way of isnad to Haron ibn Abd al-Malik, the latter said that Imam al-Sadiq (peace be with him) was asked once about tawhid. He (as) said, “He, the most Great, the most Exalted, is confirmed in His existence, neither can he be canceled nor counted.”

In one of the Imam’s sermons in Nahjul-Balaghah, he (peace be with him) says, “He is One not numerically.” In another sermon he says, “He is One, not derived from a number.” And in another sermon, he says, “Anyone who limits Him counts Him.”

On the whole, narratives and sermons abound in conveying this meaning. This is frank in stating that His existence, the most Exalted One that He is, is an absolute truth; no existence escapes His knowledge, for had there been with His existence an existence in the true sense, count will necessarily be applied to them: this is one, and that is two, etc.

There is no existence besides His, Praised is He, except that it depends for existence on Him as in the statement of Imam Musa ibn Ja’far (peace be with him):“Allah was there, and there was nothing with Him, and He is now just as He was.”

In Al-Tawhid, Al-Ma’aani al-Akhbar and Al-Ihtijaj, Hisham is quoted as having said that Imam al-Sadiq (as) said the following to an atheist who asked about “what” Allah was. The Imam (as) said, “He is a thing different from all other things,” thus confirming the meaning [stated above], that the truth about a “thing” applies to Him except He has neither body nor form. Among them also are narratives in the subject of tawhid.

In the books titled Al-Tawhid and Al-Amali, as well as in other books, with isnad to Imam al-Rida (peace be with him), in one of his sermons he said, “One, but not by connoting a number, Manifest, but not through connoting moving out of hiding, Great but not by seeing His Greatness, Hidden, but not in the sense of obstruction, etc.”

In Al-Tawhid, through isnad to Amr al-Nusaibi, the latter said he asked Imam Ja’far ibn Muhammad (peace be with him) about Tawhid. The Imam (peace be with him) said, “One, Self-sustaining, Eternal, Self-reliant; there is no shade that holds Him while He holds things by their shade, knowing the unknown, known by every ignorant one, Unique: Neither is He in His creation, nor is His creation in Him.”

To hold something by its shade means the Truth, Exalted and Great is His Name, evaluating things by what they are, while He remains the Absolute One. An interpretation of the “shade” has occurred in some statements about the mud mold.

For example, in a statement by Abdullah ibn Muhammad al-Ju’fi and Uqbah al-Marwi, as recorded in the tafsir books by Ali ibn Ibrahim and al-Ayyashi, where Abu Ja’far (peace be with him) says, “... Then He sent them into the shades.” I said, “What thing is the shade?” The Imam (‘a) said, “Have you not looked at your shade in the sun? It is a thing but not a [tangible, touchable] thing.”Such are the things, or what is existent, described metaphorically.

In one of his sermons, Imam Ali (peace be with him) says, “What leads to Him are His Signs; His ‘existence’ means confirming Him; knowing HImam eans believing in His Unity; Unifying Him is distinguishing Him from His creation and making such a distinction is highlighting an attribute, not proving an isolation.”

In Al-Tawhid, through isnad to Aws who cites Imam Ali (peace be with him) saying, “Rather, He is in all things without a means.” Such a meaning and anything close to it is consecutively reported in many sermons and statements. Among the latter are those which negate qualities, and they exist in this sense in the third Chapter.

For example, in Nahjul-Balaghah, in one of his sermons the Imam (peace be with him) says,

“The beginning of the creed is knowing Him; the perfection of knowing Him is believing in Him; the perfection of believing in Him is believing in His Oneness; the perfection in believing in His Oneness is to worship none but Him; the perfection of such worship is to negate any qualities from Him.”

In another sermon by him (peace be with him), the Imam (peace be with him) says, “The first step towards worshiping Allah is knowing Him; the foundation of knowing Him is believing in His Oneness, and the system of believing in His Oneness is to negate any qualities from Him.”

In this same sense, many statements exist, too, and these statements are explained by other statements as well, all indicating that the negated qualities are not the ones that are brought into being; rather, the essence of description is to apply what defines and what is different from what is being described.

For example, in al-Mas’udi’s book titled Ithbat al-Wasiyyah, where Imam Ali (as) is quoted as saying the following in one of his sermons: “Praised are You! You filled everything, distinguished everything, so nothing excludes You, and You are the Doer of whatever You wish. Blessed are You, O One Who realizes each and every creation of His and each and every thing defined from among His creation.”

In Al-Tawhid, through isnad to Abd al-A’la, the latter cites Imam al-Sadiq (peace be with him) as saying, “Call yourselves by His Names, for He is not the same as His Names, and these Names are different from Him: what is described is different from the description.”

His statement (peace be with him) that what is described is different from the description refers to the “difference” necessitated by the concept of a limited description as a testimony, not that what is articulated of Attributes differ from Him, Praise to Him.

In this category is included the tradition saying that the meaning of “Allahu Akbar” is that Allah is Greater than can be described as narrated by al-Sadiq (peace be with him) in Al-Ma’ ani al-Akhbar in two different ways.

Among them is what is stated in Al-Kafi and Al-Tawhid from Ibrahim ibn ‘Umar’ who cites Imam al-Sadiq (peace be with him) saying,

“Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, created names with letters but without making any sound, with the pronouncement without articulating, with His person without His having a body, with similitude without a described object and with color without painting. Lands do not hold Him, borders are veiled from Him, the senses of anyone who fancies are veiled but not hidden from Him.”

Thus, his statement is complete in four parts: None of them has to precede the other. He manifested from them three things due to the creation’s need for them, hiding one of them, which is the treasured one, through the three, which He manifested.

What is clear is that Allah is the Manifest One, Praised and Glorified is He. For each of these names there are four pillars, thus making them twelve. Then He created for each pillar thirty names each one of which is a verb connected with them.

He, then, is the most Merciful One, the mercy giving, the King, the Holy One, the Creator, the One Who initiates creation out of nothing, the One Who forms things, the Living, the One Who sustains all, neither slumber nor sleep overtakes him, the Knowing, the One Whose Knowledge encompassed everything, the Believer, the Overwhelming One, the One Who initiates what is initiated,

Who perfects creation, the Sublime, the Great, the most Honored, the Sustaining, the One Who brings things to life, Who causes them to die, Who resurrects the dead, Who inherits everything. These and “al-asmaa al-husna”, the most beautiful Names, are pillars for the one and only Name which is treasured by these three Names.

This is the meaning of this verse: “Say:

“Call upon Allah, or call upon the Rahman: By whatever name you call upon Him, (it is well) For the Most Beautiful Names belong to Him” (Qur’an, 17:110)

This sacred tradition, in its indication that names fall short of applying the absolute, do not need any explanation, and they lead to many origins from the science of names, deriving names from names; creation branch out of them.

And among them is included in Al-Irshad and other books where the Commander of the Faithful (peace be with him) is quoted such as this:

“Allah is greater than obstructing Himself from anything He anything obstructing itself from Him.”

In Al-Tawhid, through isnad to Ya’qub ibn Ja’far al- Ja’fari who qoutes Imam Musa ibn Ja’far (peace be with him) saying, “There is no barrier between Him and His creation except His creation. He veiled Himself without a veil, obstructing Himself without an obstruction.” This statement incorporates His manifestation, the Exalted One that He is, through things and also obstructing Himself by the same.

It is a very interesting meaning rendered to His being hidden because of the intensity of His being apparent.

It has appeared that absolute Tawhid enjoys a higher status and is greater than can be described. One tradition says that a person who asks about Tawhid is ignorant, and one who answers him is polytheist.

Chapter 5

This meaning for tawhid, I mean the absolute, has been proven exclusively by adherents to the sacred Islamic creed which has surpassed in it the past codes and kingdoms, for we have obviously come to know their concept of tawhid to mean nothing more the Oneness of the Almighty, and that He, the most Exalted One, incorporates in Himself the attributes of perfection.

The conclusion of what reached us from the concept of tawhid in other past creeds and theologians is what we have already stated in Chapter 2; surely Allah guides whomsoever He pleases to the Right Path, and peace and blessings with Muhammad (peace be with him) and his Progeny.