2. And with this chain of narrations, on the authority of Ahmad ibn Abu `Abd Allah, on the authority of his father, who eliminated the source of report2 to Abu `Abd Allah that Abu `Abd Allah al-Sadiq was asked to interpret the Word of Allah, the Mighty and High: Then when they displeased Us, We inflicted retribution on them.1 He said: Verily, Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, is not displeased like our displeasure. However, He has created Guardians who are displeased and pleased. They are created and reflect. Thus, He has places His Own Pleasure in their pleasure and His Own Anger in their displeasure. This is because He has made them Callers to Him and Guides to Him. That is why they have become like that and it does not reach Allah like it does to His Creation. Rather, this is the meaning of what He has said. He has also said: “Whoever disrespects My Guardian, wages war upon Me to which I will respond.” He has also said: `Whoever obey the Messenger, he indeed obeys Allah.’2 And He also said: `Surely those who swear allegiance to you do but swear allegiance to Allah.’3 All of this and its likes are as I mentioned them to you. Such is the case with pleasure and anger and things that are similar to these two. If displeasure and annoyance were to reach the Creator, while He brought them about and originated them, it would be permissible to say: “The Creator will become extinct one day, because if annoyance and anger can affect Him, then change can affect Him, and if change can affect Him, then He is not safe from annihilation.” If that were the case, then the Creator could not be distinguished from the created, nor the All-Powerful from the overpowered, not the Creator from the Created. Exalted is Allah, the Elevated and Great, from this statement. He is the Creator of All Things, but in need of nothing. Hence, if there is no nee, then a boundary is impossible, and so is quality. Try to understand this, if Allah wills.

3. Muhammad ibn Musa ibn al-Mutawakkil (may Allah be pleased with him) said: `Ali ibn Ibrahim ibn Hashim said, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-`Abbas ibn `Amr al-Fuqaymi, on the authority of Hisham ibn al-Hakam that A man asked Abu `Abd Allah al-Sadiq whether Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, feels pleasure or anger. Thus, he replied, Yes; however, it is not like the pleasure or anger found in created beings. Unlike human beings, pleasure and anger do not change Allah from one emotional state to another. Human beings are operated and composed. Things can affect human beings, while things cannot affect our Creator. He is One in Essence and Concept. Thus, His Pleasure is His Reward, and His Anger is His Punishment, without anything interfering with Him so as to ridicule Him and transform Him from one sate to another. Emotional changes are an attribute of the crated, the helpless, and the needy. While He, the Blessed and Exalted, is the Supreme and the Honorable, who has no need from any of His Creation although all of His Creation is in need of Him. Verily, He created everything without any need to create or innovate.

4. Ahmad ibn al-Hasan al-Qittan said: al-Hasan ibn `Ali al-Sakkari said: Muhammad ibn Zakariyya al-Jawhari said, on the authority of Ja`far ibn Muhammad ibn `Umrah, on the authority of his father that I asked al-Sadiq Ja`far ibn Muhammad : “O Son of the Messenger of Allah! Inform me about Allah, the Mighty and High. Does He feel pleasure or anger?” Thus he replied, “Yes; however, not in the sense that applied to created beings. When it comes to Allah, His Anger is His Punishment, and His Pleasure is His Reward.”