Another fine witness we extracted with God's aid, which confirms what I have written, is the word of the Almighty: {So let them worship the Lord of this House}. Is the House anything but the Name whose outward is the Kaaba and Qibla, and whose inward is the Supreme Lord, the Mim, the establisher of every law and group? Thus he confessed to being a servant, and we have been commanded with worship for his Lord, the High, the Most High, the Sought One.

(331) We increase this in clarity through what was spoken in the traditional report, to whose correctness the majority bear witness. It is what Abu Muhammad al-Hasan ibn Shu'ba—may God be pleased with him—related, reaching Hisham ibn al-Hakam—peace be upon him—who was one of the Nakibs in the time of al-Sadiq, exalted be his glory. Hisham said: I asked our Master al-Sadiq—exalted be his glory—regarding the names of God the Almighty and their derivation: "What is God (Allah) and from what is it?"

He replied: "O Hisham, as for 'God' (Allah), it is derived from 'Deity' (ilah), and a Deity necessitates one who is deified. The Name is other than the Namer. Whoever worships the Name without the Meaning has disbelieved and worshipped nothing. Whoever worships the Name and the Meaning has associated partners and worshipped two. But whoever worships the Meaning without the Name, that is pure Oneness. Have you understood, O Hisham?" I said: "Give me more, O my Master." He said: "O Hisham, God has ninety-nine names; if the Name were the Namer, then every name among them would be a god. However, God the Almighty is a Meaning pointed to by these names, and all of them are other than Him, O Hisham: Bread is the name of the eaten, Water is the name of the drunk, the Garment is the name of the worn, and Fire is the name of the burning. Have you understood, O Hisham? This is how we repel our adversary and contend with our heretical enemies who take others alongside God."