1. Muhammad ibn `Ali Majilwayh said: `Ali ibn Ibrahim ibn Hashim said on the authority Muhammad ibn Khalid al-Tayalisi al-Khazzaz al-Kufi on the authority of Safwan ibn Yahya on the authority of Ibn Muskan on the authority of Abu Basir that Abu 'Abdillah said: Even in His Essence, and before anything existed, Allah, our Lord, the High and the Mighty, possessed all knowledge. Even in His Essence, and before a sound could be heard, He was All-Hearing. Even in His Essence, when there was nothing to be seen, He was All-Seeing. Even in His Essence, when there was no physical existence, He was Omnipotent. Although they existed prior to creation, it was only creation that these attributes manifested themselves: His Hearing upon the heard, His Seeing upon the seen, and His Omnipotence over the physical world. He says: I asked, “Then, Allah was not a Speaker?” He replied, “Verily, speech is an originated [muhdathah] attribute and not eternal [azaliyyah]. Allah, the Mighty and High, existed when no speakers existed.”