From Bishr ibn Bashshar al-Naysaburi, he said: I wrote to our Master Abu al-Hasan al-Rida (may his glory be exalted): "Those before us have differed regarding Tawhid. Some of them say He is a 'Body,' and some of them say 'Image.'" So he (may his glory be exalted) wrote: "Glory be to Him Who is not defined, not described, nothing resembles Him, and there is nothing like Him, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing."¹

Here, he called the Creator a "Thing" and negated outlines and forms from Him. Glory be to Him Who is thus, and no other is thus.

The strange thing in these two reports is that the dispute occurring among the companions was whether God has a "Body" or an "Image"!

Meaning, the concept of "Body" and "Image" was present and widespread, not as the "detracting" "negators" speak today, as if God has no image or appearance. The two reports do not, for example, say: "Our companions have differed on whether God *has* an image or *does not have* an image." Rather, the two reports said: "Our companions have differed on whether He is a 'Body' or an 'Image'!!"

Certainly, what is meant by the "Image" or the "Body" is a Body not like bodies, and an Image not like images, and a Thing not like things. Glory be to our Lord above outlines and forms.

From 'Abd al-Malik ibn Hisham al-Hannat, I said to our Master Abu al-Hasan al-Rida (may his glory be exalted): "May I ask you, may God make me your ransom?" He said: "Ask, O Jabali, what are you asking me about?" I said: "May I be made your ransom, Hisham ibn Salim claimed that God (may He be exalted and glorified) has an image and that Adam was created in the likeness of the Lord; half of this and half of this,"—and I gestured to my side and the hair of my head—"Yunus, the mawla of the family of Yaqtin, and Hisham ibn al-Hakam claimed that God is a Thing not like things, that things are distinct from Him, and that He is distinct from things. They both claimed that the affirmation of the 'Thing' is to say 'Body,' so He is a Body not like bodies, a Thing not like things, affirmed, existing, not absent, nor non-existent, outside of the two limits: the limit of negation and the limit of anthropomorphism. So which of the two sayings should I adopt?"