Imam Rida (peace be upon him): It is narrated from Hasan ibn Muhammad al-Nawfali: ... Imam Rida (peace be upon him) said: Know that ibda' (origination), mashiyyah (will) and iradah (intention) are three words with one meaning. The first thing He originated, and to which His will attached, and which He intended, were the letters, which He made the root of everything, the guide to every perceivable thing, and the distinguisher of every form. By these very letters every false name is distinguished from every true one, and every verb from its object, and meaning from what has no meaning, and upon them all matters converge. He set no meaning for the letters in their origination other than the letters themselves [that is, the meaning of "lam" is only the letter lam itself], and they have no [prior] existence, because they were brought into being by ibda' [perhaps meaning that the letters have no prior essence, root or origin from which they were taken]. Light here is the first act of Allah, who is the light of the heavens and the earth. The letters are the object of this act, and they are the same letters from which speech and expressions issue from Allah, which He taught to people and to His creation. Their number is thirty-three letters, of which twenty-eight indicate the sounds of Arabic; and of those twenty-eight, twenty-two are the guide and root of the Syriac and Hebrew tongues; and five other letters are used in the other, non-Arab languages, for all the various tongues of the world. Together with the twenty-eight, the total comes to thirty-three letters. As for those five differing letters, they were brought into being through causes and reasons which it is not permitted for me to speak of beyond this. Then Allah, after limiting the letters to a definite number, made them an act of His — as in His statement, the Mighty and Majestic, کُنْ فَیَکُونُ [Be, and it is]; and this word "کُنْ" is on Allah's part an act of making, and whatever came into being through this word is Allah's handiwork. So the first creation of Allah was ibda', which had no weight, no motion, no sound, no colour and no sensation. The second creation was the letters, which likewise had no weight and no colour, but were heard and described, though not seen; and there was no regard given to the letters themselves in terms of meaning. The [third] creation of people was the various kinds of sensible and tangible things, possessing taste and flavour, and looked upon in themselves [such as water, earth, sky]. Allah, Blessed and Exalted, was before ibda', because nothing existed before Allah and nothing was with Him; but ibda' came into being before the letters, and the letters indicate nothing but themselves.
Ma'mun said: "How is it that the letters indicate nothing but themselves?" Imam Rida (peace be upon him) said: "Because Allah has not set the combination of letters except for a meaning. Whenever four or five or six letters, or more or fewer, are combined, it is only for the understanding of one particular meaning — rather, to indicate a new meaning that had no prior existence." Imran said: "How are we to grasp this matter?" Imam Rida (peace be upon him) said: "The explanation is this: when you utter these letters and intend nothing but the letters themselves, you utter them singly and one by one — you say alif, ba, ta, tha, jim, ha, kha, to the end, and in that case they have no meaning other than themselves. But when you combine them and form them into a name or attribute for a purpose you have in mind and a thing you intend, then they take on that particular meaning and become the guide to that concept. Have you understood, Imran?" He said: "Yes." He said: "Imran, know that there is no attribute without something described, and no name without a meaning. Measurement pertains only to limited things, but the attributes and names are witnesses to perfection and existence, and are no proof of encompassing, as measurements guide us to a particular condition, such as being square, triangular or hexagonal. For Allah is known through attributes and names, but is never described by length, breadth, fewness, multitude, colour, weight or the like, and none of these limits applies to His essence — such that people, in the way they know themselves by limit, measure, taste and flavour, would know Allah in the same way. The guide to Allah, the Mighty, are His attributes and names, and the proof of His existence is through His creation, so that for the doubting person no doubt or hesitation remains, and he has no need of seeing, of hearing with the ear, of touching with the hand, or of picturing in the heart. If the attributes of Allah, the Mighty, did not indicate Him, and His names were not our guide to Him, and the researchers among people did not grasp their meaning, then people would inevitably be worshipping His names and attributes rather than their meaning. In such a supposition, the One worshipped would be other than the essence of Allah [that is, the object of worship would become the very words of the names and attributes], because the names and attributes of Allah are other than Allah [the word Dayyan, which is not Allah, and likewise the word Rahman — the object worshipped would multiply according to the multiplicity of these words]. Have you understood correctly, Imran?" He said: "Yes, but explain more to me." Imam Rida (peace be upon him) said: "Imran, beware of being deceived by those who are astray and blind — those who believe that Allah will be seen in the hereafter for reckoning, reward and punishment, but will not be seen in this world for worship and hope of forgiveness. If seeing Allah in this world necessitates a [limiting] word for Him, then He should not be seen in the hereafter either. But they have become bewildered, astray, blind and deaf to grasping the reality. This verse of the Qur'an refers to such people: whoever is blind [to seeing the face of Truth] in this world is blind in the hereafter too, and even more astray! (Isra/72). The wise know that what is inferred in the hereafter is the very same as what is inferred in this world. Whoever seeks to grasp Allah through his own opinion and by comparing Him to himself will gain nothing but distance from the reality, for Allah has reserved this knowledge for those who employ intellect and reflection, and understand." Imran said: "Will you not explain whether ibda' is created or uncreated?" He said: "It is a still creation, not perceivable by [its] stillness. It is a creation because it was brought into being and is not eternal, and Allah brought it into being — so it is His creation. In this matter it must be said: there is only Allah the One, together with His creation; there is no third between them [meaning that whatever is other than Allah is His creation], and no third besides the two. But some of His creations are still and moving, differing and composed, known and resembling one another; whatever can be limited is Allah's creation. Bear in mind that whatever your senses grasp is a concept perceivable by the senses, and each sense is designated for the perception of its particular perceptible; but discernment and understanding for all of them comes from the mind's reflection. Know, Imran, that the One who is subsistent without measure or limit created the creations, and they are limited and have measure. What He created was of two kinds: one is the letters and the other the limits subsisting through Him. In neither of them is there colour, weight or taste. He made one of them perceivable through the other, and both are perceived in themselves. He never created a thing that stood alone by itself, independent of anything else, because He willed that all creations should point to His essence and be a cause for establishing Allah's existence. So Allah, Blessed and Exalted, is unique and unparalleled; He has no second to sustain Him, to assist Him or to contain Him. Rather, the creations hold one another up by the permission and will of Allah. People in the way of knowing Him have become so bewildered and lost that, seeking release from the whirlpool of darkness, they have taken refuge in darkness and ignorance. In describing Allah with the attributes of their own selves [such as being seen], instead of finding the way, they have continually grown more distant from the reality. If they were to describe Allah with His own attributes, and the creation with its own attributes, they would arrive at the reality."