Saturday 10 May 2025 - 11:25
Can God be Considered a Thing?

How can the imagination grasp Him when He is contrary to what is rational and contrary to what can be conceived in imagination?

Hawzah News Agency - Muhammad ibn Ya'qub reported from Ali ibn Ibrahim, from Muhammad ibn Isa, from Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Najran, who said:

سَأَلْتُ أَبَا جَعْفَرٍ (a.s) عَنِ التَّوْحِيدِ فَقُلْتُ أَتَوَهَّمُ شَيْئاً فَقَالَ نَعَمْ غَيْرَ مَعْقُولٍ وَلا مَحْدُودٍ فَمَا وَقَعَ وَهْمُكَ عَلَيْهِ مِنْ شَيْ‏ءٍ فَهُوَ خِلافُهُ لا يُشْبِهُهُ شَيْ‏ءٌ وَلا تُدْرِكُهُ الاوْهَامُ كَيْفَ تُدْرِكُهُ الاوْهَامُ وَهُوَ خِلافُ مَا يُعْقَلُ وَخِلافُ مَا يُتَصَوَّرُ فِي الاوْهَامِ إِنَّمَا يُتَوَهَّمُ شَيْ‏ءٌ غَيْرُ مَعْقُولٍ وَلا مَحْدُودٍ.

I asked Abu Ja'far al-Baqir (a.s) about Tawhid, and I said: "I imagine something." He replied: "Yes, it is something that is neither rational nor limited. Whatever your imagination has conceived of anything, it is the opposite of it; nothing resembles Him, and the imagination cannot comprehend Him. How can the imagination grasp Him when He is contrary to what is rational and contrary to what can be conceived in imagination? Rather, what is imagined is something that is neither rational nor limited."

Al-Kāfi, v.1, Book 3, Chapter 2

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