So the Master as-Sadiq, glorified is his glory, said to the one who conveyed this speech to him: "He intended by this the affirmation; so his saying: (a body unlike bodies) negates from Him all properties of a body, until nothing remains except the name of the body."

And it was narrated from Abu Ja'far, glorified is his glory, that he said to a man: "What do you say if it is said to you: 'Inform me about Allah, is He a thing? Or is He no thing?'" The man said: "The Exalted has affirmed that He is a thing by His saying: {Say, "What thing is greatest in testimony?"}, so I say: He is a thing unlike things, since the negation of 'thingness' is a stripping away of His reality (ibtāl) and a negation of His existence." The Master, glorified is his glory, said to him: "You have spoken the truth and you have been correct."

And it was narrated that one of the heretics asked our Master as-Sadiq, glorified is his glory: "What is Allah?" So he said to him: "He is a thing contrary to things. I return by my saying 'a thing' to an affirmation of meaning, and that He is a thing by the reality of thingness, except that He possesses no body, nor form, nor is He touched, nor felt, nor perceived by the senses."