4. My father that Sa`d ibn `Abd Allah, on the authority of Ibrahim ibn Hashim, on the authority of Ibn Abu `Umayr, on the authority of Abu al-Hasan al-Sayrafi, on the authority of Bakkar al-Wasiti, on the authority of Abu Hamzah al-Thumali, on the authority of Humran ibn A`yun, that Abu Ja`far al-Baqir said the following concerning knowledge; “It is like your hand is from you.” Muhammad ibn `Ali, the Compiler of this book says: This (tradition) means that the knowledge of Allah is not other than Him, and is part of His Essential attributes, because Allah, the Mighty and High, is AllKnowing, All-Hearing, and All-Seeing. On the contrary, our intent in attributing Him with knowledge is to negate ignorance from Him. We do not say: “Knowledge is separate from Him” since “Allah has always been Omniscient.” If we said that His Knowledge is separate from Him, we would be saying that something eternal has always existed alongside Him. Exalted is Allah, the Elevated and Great, from such things!