Is Allah a Thing?

Hawzah News Agency- A number of our companions narrated from Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Khalid, from Muhammad ibn Isa, from a narrator which said:

سُئِلَ أَبُو جَعْفَرٍ (عَلَيْهِ السَّلام) أَ يَجُوزُ أَنْ يُقَالَ إِنَّ الله شَيْ‏ءٌ قَالَ نَعَمْ يُخْرِجُهُ مِنَ الْحَدَّيْنِ حَدِّ التَّعْطِيلِ وَحَدِّ التَّشْبِيهِ.

Imam Abu Ja‘far [Sadiq] (pbuh) was asked, “Is it permissible to say Allah is a thing?” “Yes, it is permissible because it excludes Him from being ignored altogether [1] and from being analogized or considered similar to the creatures.”

.................

[1] Meaning that if we don't count Allah as a thing and existed, people would consider Him beyond existence and something unknowable.

Al-Kāfi,Volume 1,Book 3,Chapter 2