Shaykh Muḥammad b. ʿAlī al-Ṣaduq · The Mighty and High is Devoid of both Body and Image
14 - حدثنا أحمد بن محمد بن يحيى العطار رحمه الله، عن أبيه، عن سهل بن زياد، قال: كتبت إلى أبي محمد عليه السلام سنة خمس وخمسين ومائتين: قد اختلف يا سيدي أصحابنا في التوحيد منهم من يقول هو جسم، ومنهم من يقول هو صورة، فإن رأيت يا سيدي أن تعلمني من ذلك ما أقف عليه ولا أجوزه فعلت متطولا على عبدك، فوقع عليه السلام بخطه: سألت عن التوحيد، وهذا عنكم معزول ، الله تعالى واحد، أحد، صمد، لم يلد ولم يولد، ولم يكن له كفوا أحد، خالق وليس بمخلوق، يخلق تبارك وتعالى ما يشاء من الأجسام وغير ذلك، ويصور ما يشاء، وليس بمصور، جل ثناؤه، وتقدست أسماؤه، وتعالى عن أن يكون له شبيه، هو لا غيره ليس كمثله شئ، وهو السمع البصير.
14. Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Yahya al-`Attar (rh) said: on the authority of his father, on the authority of Sahl ibn Ziyad who said: I wrote the following to Abu Muhammad (AS) in the year 255 AH: O my Master! Our scholars are divided on the question of Divine Unity (tawhid). Some of them say that “He (Allah) is a body,” while others say that “He is an image.” O my Master! If you deem it appropriate, teach me the correct view since I do not know the answer, and be gracious to your servant. <br>Hence, he (AS) wrote to me the following in his own handwriting: You enquired about Divine Unity. This is far from your honorable reach. Allah, the Exalted, is One, Alone, and Needless. He begets not, nor is He begotten, and none is equal unto Him. He is the Creator, and not created. He, the Blessed and Exalted, creates bodies and other things as He wishes. He fashions images as He wishes, but He is not a fashioned image. Exalted be His Praise, and Hallowed be His names. He is far above having a resemblance. There is no other than Him. Nothing whatsoever is like unto Him, and He is the All-Hearing and the All-Seeing.
Translation: Sayed Ali Raza Rizvi — published with the edition, reproduced verbatim.
Narrator names are reproduced from the edition. Biographical profiles (Rijal al-Najashi, Rijal al-Tusi, Muʿjam Rijal al-Hadith) are not yet ingested, so SacredTwo does not link a narrator to a profile it cannot show.
This edition publishes no authenticity assessment for this narration. SacredTwo does not assign one.
Persian rendering (AI)
No published Persian translation of this edition is available. This rendering is produced by SacredTwo's model and is not a published translation.
AI-assisted translation — not a verified published translation.