He does not cross any mind, nor is He confined to a form, a likeness, a phantom, a shadow, or a perception, nor does any speaker possess a discourse concerning Him. All of that was before His creation, in the state wherein there was nothing else besides Him—the state being inherent to the locus. And every [discourse] 1 that applies to Him consists merely of originated attributes and the translation of an interpreter, by which whoever understood gained understanding.
This is the statement of our master al-Sadiq, His glory is magnificent, regarding the oneness of the Originator and His absolute uniqueness—not as the anthropomorphizers claim: that the Originator is, in His Essence, [a physical, corporeal, personified body] 2 . Rather, the existence of the Originator is Truth, and His manifestation is not denied by any monotheist. Indeed, regarding the form of existence, whoever claims that the Originator is other than it at the time of His manifestation has disbelieved. We say: the Originator is only seen as a form due to a cause residing within creation, not within Him.