سورة الأنعام

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Allah cannot be described, and how can He be described when He has said in His Book: وَ ما قَدَرُوا اللهَ حَقَّ قَدْرِهِ [And they did not appraise Allah with true appraisal]? So He is never described with any measure except that He is greater than that description.

Imam Rida (peace be upon him): Indeed, the first thing Allah made obligatory upon His servants and imposed upon His creation is the recognition of His oneness. Allah, Blessed and Exalted, says: وَ ما قَدَرُوا اللهَ حَقَّ قَدْرِهِ [And they did not appraise Allah with true appraisal], meaning they did not know Allah with the true knowledge due to Him.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): وَ ما قَدَرُوا اللهَ حَقَّ قَدْرِهِ [And they did not appraise Allah with the appraisal due to Him]; they did not fulfil the right of knowing and recognising Allah, nor did they observe the right of His greatness, nor did they worship Him with complete worship.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Whoever supposes that he knows Allah through the imagining of hearts is a polytheist. Whoever supposes that he knows Allah by the name without the meaning has acknowledged a defect in Allah, because the name is a created thing (and has no permanence or continuity). Whoever supposes that he worships the name and the meaning has set up a partner with Allah. Whoever supposes that he worships the meaning through a description he does not grasp has aimed at something absent from his mind. Whoever supposes that he worships the description and the described has destroyed tawhid (divine unity), because the description is other than the described. Whoever supposes that he ascribes the described to the description has made the Great small and has not observed the true measure of Allah as it ought to be — وَ ما قَدَرُوا اللهَ حَقَّ قَدْرِهِ [And they did not appraise Allah with the appraisal due to Him].

Imam al-Hadi (peace be upon him): Muhammad ibn Isa ibn Ubayd said: I asked Imam al-Hadi (peace be upon him) about this word of Allah the Mighty and Majestic: "While the whole earth on the Day of Resurrection is in His grip, and the heavens are folded up in His hand." (Zumar/67). He said: "This is a rebuke by Allah the Blessed and Exalted against those who likened Him to His creation. Do you not see that He has said: وَ مَا قَدَرُواْ اللهَ حَقَّ قَدْرِهِ [And they did not assign to Allah the attributes due to Him] — meaning when they said: 'The whole earth on the Day of Resurrection is in the grip of His power, and the heavens are folded up in His right hand,' [they did not know His worth and station as they should have]. Just as Allah the Mighty and Majestic said: وَ مَا قَدَرُواْ اللهَ حَقَّ قَدْرِهِ إِذْ قَالُواْ مَا أَنزَلَ اللهُ عَلَی بَشَرٍ مِّن شَیْءٍ [And they did not assign to Allah the attributes due to Him when they said: Allah has not revealed anything to a mortal]. Then Allah the Blessed and Exalted declared Himself pure and free of the grip (fist) and [the right hand], and said: 'Glory be to Him, and exalted is He above the partners they ascribe!' (Yunus/18)."

Imam Baqir (peace be upon him): Indeed, Allah the Mighty and Majestic cannot be described, and how can He be described when He has said in His Qur'an: وَ مَا قَدَرُوا اللهَ حَقَّ قَدْرِهِ [And they did not assign to Allah the attributes due to Him]. Allah cannot be encompassed by any measure [nor described by any power] except that He is greater than that. And the Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) too cannot be described — and how can a servant be described whom Allah the Mighty and Majestic has veiled behind His seven heavens, and whose obedience on earth He has made obligatory like His obedience in heaven, and has said: "Whatever the Messenger brings you, take it [and act on it], and whatever he forbids you, abstain from it." (Hashr/7). For whoever obeys him has obeyed me, and whoever disobeys him has disobeyed me, and He entrusted the matter to him. And we too cannot be described — and how can a people be described from whom Allah has removed impurity, which is doubt.

Ali ibn Ibrahim (may Allah have mercy on him): وَ مَا قَدَرُواْ اللّهَ حَقَّ قَدْرِهِ [And they did not assign to Allah the attributes due to Him] — that is, through describing Him with His attributes, they were unable to reach the greatness of Allah. إِذْ قَالُواْ مَا أَنزَلَ اللهُ عَلَی بَشَرٍ مِّن شَیْءٍ [When they said: Allah has not revealed anything to a mortal] — and they are of the Quraysh and the Jews.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Indeed, no one knows the worth of Allah.

Ibn Abbas (may Allah have mercy on him): The verse was revealed concerning the disbelievers who denied Allah's power over them. Whoever believes that Allah is capable of all things has praised Him with the power that He has.

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family): A man from the Jews named Malik ibn al-Sayf came to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) for a debate. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) said to him: "I adjure you by the One who sent down the Torah to Musa (peace be upon him), tell me — has Allah not revealed in the Torah that He hates the fat Jewish scholar?" He himself was a stout, fat man. He became angry and said: "Allah has not revealed anything to any human being." His companions objected and said: "Not even upon Musa (peace be upon him) did He reveal anything?" This verse was revealed concerning this matter. This tafsir has been narrated from Sa'id ibn Jubayr.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Abdullah ibn Sinan said: I asked Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) about the words of Allah, Blessed and Exalted, قُلْ مَنْ أَنزَلَ الْکِتَابَ الَّذِی جَاء بِهِ مُوسَی نُورًا وَ هُدًی لِّلنَّاسِ تَجْعَلُونَهُ قَرَاطِیسَ تُبْدُونَهَا [Say: Who revealed the Book which Musa brought, a light and a guidance to men, which you make into scattered writings which you show?]. He said: "They used to conceal whatever they wished and reveal whatever they wished."

Ali ibn Ibrahim (may Allah have mercy on him): إِذْ قَالُواْ مَا أَنزَلَ اللهُ عَلَی بَشَرٍ مِّن شَیْءٍ [When they said: Allah has not revealed anything to a mortal] — and they are the Quraysh and the Jews. So Allah replied to them and argued and said: O Muhammad (peace be upon him and his family)! Say to them: مَنْ أَنزَلَ الْکِتَابَ الَّذِی جَاء بِهِ مُوسَی نُورًا وَ هُدًی لِّلنَّاسِ تَجْعَلُونَهُ قَرَاطِیسَ تُبْدُونَهَا [Who revealed the Book which Musa brought, a light and a guidance to men, which you make into scattered writings which you show?]; meaning: you recite some of them, and تُخْفُونَ کَثِیراً [you conceal much], meaning you conceal much of the reports about the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family). وَ عُلِّمْتُم مَّا لَمْ تَعْلَمُواْ أَنتُمْ وَ لاَ آبَاؤُکُمْ [And you were taught what you did not know, neither you nor your fathers].

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): They used to write it on paper, then reveal whatever they wished and conceal whatever they wished. Every book that has been revealed is with the people of knowledge.

Imam Ali (peace be upon him): Then they asked him {Amir al-Mu'minin (peace be upon him)} about the meanings of "light" (nur) in the Quran, and he said: "al-Nur is the Quran, and al-Nur is a name among the names of Allah the Exalted, and it is also used in the meaning of immediacy (nuriyyah), the moon, and the radiance of the believer, which is walayah (allegiance), by which he will be clothed in light on the Day of Resurrection. And in places in the Torah, the Injil and the Quran, al-Nur means the proof (hujjah) of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, upon His servants, and that is the Infallible one. Allah, Blessed and Exalted, said in Surah al-An'am in mentioning the Torah and that it is a light: قُلْ مَنْ أَنْزَلَ الْکِتَابَ الَّذِی جَاءَ بِهِ مُوسَی نُوراً وَ هُدًی لِلنَّاسِ [Say: Who revealed the Book which Musa brought, a light and a guidance to men]."

Ali ibn Ibrahim (may Allah have mercy on him): قُلِ اللهُ ثُمَّ ذَرْهُمْ فِی خَوْضِهِمْ یَلْعَبُونَ [Say: Allah, then leave them sporting in their vain discourses]; meaning the denial in which they were plunged into the depths of their falsehood, occupied with play. Then He said: وَ هَذَا کِتَابٌ [And this is a Book]; meaning the Quran. أَنزَلْنَاهُ مُبَارَکٌ مُّصَدِّقُ الَّذِی بَیْنَ یَدَیْهِ [We have revealed it, blessed, verifying that which is before it]; meaning the Tawrat, the Injil and the Zabur. وَ لِتُنذِرَ أُمَّ الْقُرَی وَ مَنْ حَوْلَهَا [and that you may warn Ummul Qura and those around her]; meaning Makkah, and it was called Ummul Qura because it is the first place that Allah, Blessed and Exalted, created. وَ الَّذِینَ یُؤْمِنُونَ بِالآخِرَةِ یُؤْمِنُونَ بِهِ [And those who believe in the hereafter believe in it]; meaning in the Noble Prophet (peace be upon him and his family) and the Quran.