And from Muhammad b. Abdullah, raising it to Abu Ja'far al-Baqir—may his might be exalted—that he was asked: "Is it permissible to say Allah is a 'Thing'?"

He said: "Yes! You take Him out of the two limits: the limit of Nullification (Ta'til) and the limit of Anthropomorphism (Tashbih)."

And it was said to the Commander of the Faithful (Amir al-Mu'minin)—may his might be exalted: "Where was our Lord before He created the heaven or the earth?"

He said: "The question is about place, and Allah was when there was no place."

And from Ali b. Abdullah al-Bahri, raising it to Al-Baqir—may his might be exalted—that he said one day to his listeners:

"Verily, we have a station with Allah; when we are in it, we are He; and when He removes us from it, we are we, as we are, and He is as He is."

How excellent is this allusion to the Manifestation (Zuhur) and the negation of the Form!