4. Muhammad ibn abu ‘Abdallah has narrated from Muhammad ibn Isma‘il from some of his people from Bakr ibn Salih from Ali ibn Salih from al-Hassan ibn Muhammad ibn Khalid ibn Yazid from ‘Abd al-A‘la from abu ‘Abdallah , who has said the following.

“The name of Allah is something other than Allah Himself. Every thing that is called a thing is created except Allah. Whatever is expressed by the tongue or is worked out by hands are all created. The word Allah is an intent amongst His intents, and the intended one is different from the intention. The purpose is describable, and every describable thing is made. The Maker of things is not describable by the limits of the fact behind the name. He did not become, so His becoming a being would have been recognized through the making of what is other than Him. He did not end up where there was another’s end. Do not ever move away from understanding this rule. This is the true and pure belief in the Oneness of Allah. Observe it, acknowledge it and understand it by the permission of Allah. Those who think they understand Allah by means of a barrier, form or examples they become polytheists because his barrier, form and example are not Him. He is only One and One alone. How can one form a belief in His Oneness by thinking that one may know Him through things other than Him. One comes to know Allah only by Allah His Own self. One who can not know Him by His Own self he has not known Him. He only comes to know some thing else. There is nothing between the Creator and the created. Allah is the Creator of things but not from a thing that was there already. Allah’s names are His names but He is different from His Own names and the names are other than Him.”