A Commentary on the phrase Alladhi laysa ka-mithli-hi shay’

الَّذِي لَيْسَ كَمِثْلِهِ شَيْءٌ

The like of Whom there is none

لَيْسَ كَمِثْلِهِ شَيْءٌ وَهُوَ السَّمِيعُ الْبَصِيرُ

“... Nothing is like Him, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing” (42:11).

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التي

One who...

Alladhi is a relative pronoun that refers to and speaks about the Tremendous Lord (ar-Rabb al-‘Azlm). We describe Him as He describes Himself. He is one the like of whom there is none. This is because He is Essentially Independent and Infinite while the world of creation is dependent and finite.

الَّذِي لَيْسَ كَمِثْلِهِ شَيْءٌ

He, the like of whom there is none

Hence there is no comparison between Him and any kind of attributive lord that the ignorant ones try to believe in. In fact, since He is the Tremendous and Infinite Lord, no other being can ever be conceived.

In an interesting hadith narrated in al-Kafi of the esteemed muhaddith (narrator of hadith) Thiqat al-Islam al-Kulaynl, Imam as-Sadiq (‘a) is reported to have asked Ibn ‘Umayr, one of his companions, about his understanding of the expression ‘Allahu Akbar (Allah is Greater)’, and Ibn ‘Umayr responded saying: ‘It means Allah is greater than everything.’ Thereupon the Imam (‘a) said:

وَكَانَ ثَمَ شَيْءٌ فَيَكُونُ أَكْبَرُ مِنْهُ؟

Hence does it mean that there was something, so that He is greater than it?

Ibn ‘Umayr said:

وَمَا هُوَ؟

Then what does it mean?

The Imam (‘a) said:

اللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ مِنْ أَنْ يُوْصَفَ

Allah is greater than description1.

Those well-acquainted with subtle allusions comprehend how important and fundamental this tradition is. The Imam (‘a) actually does not conceive a second for God, whether before or after His existence, so that any comparison can be made.

…لَيْسَ كَمِثْلِهِ شَيْءٌ

... There is none like Him

This phrase refers to the aforementioned Qur’anic verse Laysa kamithlihi shay’un wa Huwa as-Sami‘u al-Basir (Nothing is like Him, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing) which reveals Allah’s transcendental reality.

The anthropomorphists (mushabbihah) overlooked this explicit direction and stumbled to believe that God resembles the human being.

• 1. Shaykh al-Kulayni, al-Kafi, v. 1, p. 118.