It has been related that Ali-upon whom be peace-delivered the following sermon at Kufa. He was standing on a stone that had been set up for him by Ja'dah ibn Hubayrah al-Makhzumi.1 He wore an outer garment of wool. His sword belt and his shoes were made of fiber. His forehead was like the knee of a camel. He said, "Praise belongs to God, unto whom are the homecomings of creation and the issues of the affair.3 We praise Him for His mighty goodness, His radiant proof (burhan) and the profusion of His bounty and gracious giving; a praise which might render Him His rightfully due, accomplish His thanks, bring (us) near to His reward and cause the fairest of His increase.4 We pray to Him for succour,5 the prayer of one hoping for His bounty, anticipating His benefit, having confidence in Him to avert (evil), acknowledging His blessings and submitting to Him in deed and word. We believe in Him with the faith (iman) of one who hopes for Him with certainty, turns to Him as a believer, humbles himself before Him in submission, sincerely professes His Unity (akhlas muwahhidan), magnifies Him in glorification and seeks refuge in Him, desiring and striving (raghiban mujtahidan)."
"'He has not been begotten' (CXII 3) - glory be to Him that He should share in Might, and 'He has not begotten' (CXII 3) that He should bequeath and perish. Time (waqt) precedes Him not, nor duration, and increase and decrease seize Him not by turns."
"Nay, He appears to the powers of reason by the marks He has shown us of (His) perfect directing and certain decree. So of the witnesses of His creation is the creation of the heavens without pillars,6 standing without
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1. The son of 'Ali's sister, Umm Hani bint Abi Talib. For the scant bibliographical references see Bihar al-anwar, vol. 4, p.3I3 and the Lughat-namah of Dihkhuda (Tehran, 1325/1946 onward).
2. A reference to much prostration in prayer. Cf. Q= XLVIII, 29: "Their mark is on their face, the trace of prostration."
3. The Quran emphasises that "To God is the homecoming" (XXXV, I8; cf. also II, 285; III, 28, etc). Likewise, "Unto God belongs the issue of all affairs" is a Quranic expression (XXII, 4I; XXXI, 22).
4. Cf. Quran XLII, 26: "And He answers those who believe and do righteous deeds, and gives them increase of His bounty."
5. Reference to Quran I, 4: "To Thee alone we pray for succour."
6. "God is He who raised up the heavens without pillars you can see ..." (Quran XIII, 2; cf. XXXI, I0).
supports. He called them and they answered, obeying, submissive, without hesitation or delay.1 Had it not been for their acknowledging (iqrar) Him in lordship and their willing submission (to Him), He would not have appointed them the locus of His Throne, nor the dwelling place for His angels, nor the place of ascent of good words and the righteous deed of His creation.2 He appointed their stars waymarks by which the bewildered traveler is guided in the divergent paths of the lands. The thickness of the dark night's curtain prevents not the shining of their light, and the garments of the black night's blackness cannot push back the brilliance of the light of the moon that spreads in the heavens."
"So glory be to Him, from whom is not hidden the blackness of a gloomy dusk or still night in the hollows of lands low, nor in the peaks of neighboring mountains;3 (nor) that with which the thunder reverberates in the horizon of heaven; (nor) that from which the lightning of the clouds vanishes;4 (nor) the leaf which falls, removed from its place of falling by the gales caused by the stars (al-anwa')5 and the pouring down of the rain. He knows the place where the raindrop falls and where it takes its rest, the route by which the tiny ant draws and drags (on the ground), what is sufficient food for a gnat6 and what the female bears within her womb."7
"Praise belongs to God, the Existent (al-ka'in) before there was a Pedestal (kursi), or Throne (arsh), or heaven, or earth, or jinn, or man. He is not perceived by imagination (wahm) or
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1. A reference to their creation: "The only words We say to a thing, when We desire it, is that We say to it 'Be', and it is" (Q= XVI, 40).
2. A reference to Q= XXXV, I0: "To Him good words go up, and the righteous deed-He uplifts it."
3. Literally, "the neighboring dark-reds", i.e., as explained by Muhammad 'Abduh in his commentary on the Nahj al-balaghah (vol. II, p. I26), a reference to the mountains in terms of their color from afar.
4. Majlisi remarks, "If you say, 'He-glory be to Him - knows what the lighting illumines and what it does not illumine, so why should the Imam specify what the lighting vanishes from?' I would answer, 'Because His knowledge of what is not illumined is stranger and more wonderful. Since, as for what is illumined by the lighting, it is possible that anyone of correct vision would also know it" (p. 3I6).
5. A reference to ancient Arabian beliefs concerning the influence of the moon in its various mansions on the weather. See the article "Anwa' " in the Encyclopaedia of Islam (new edition), vol.I, pp.523-4.
6. Cf. Q= II, 26: "God is not ashamed to strike a similitude even of a gnat".
7. "God knows what every female bears" (Quran XIII, 8).
measured by understanding (fahm). Petitioners busy Him not and giving diminishes Him not. He is not observed by eyes, nor delimited by location ("where", ayn), nor described by pairs.1 He creates not through application'2 is perceived not by the senses and is compared not with man."
"He it is who spoke to Moses directly3 and showed him one of His mighty signs'4 without members (jawarih), instruments (adawat), speech or throat.5 Nay, if thou speakest truly, O thou who affectest to describe thy Lord, then describe Gabriel, Michael and the hosts of the angels brought nigh, bowing in the sacred chambers (hujarat al-quds), their intellects in adoring perplexity to delimit the 'Fairest of Creators'.6 Surely only those are perceived through attributes who possess forms and instruments and who end in annihilation when they reach the limit of their term. There is no god but He. He illumines with His Light every darkness and He darkens with His Darkness every light."
