‫‪1. Muhammad ibn `Ali ibn Majilwayh (may Allah have mercy on him) said: `Ali ibn Ibrahim ibn‬‬ ‫‪Hashim said, on the authority of al-Mukhtar ibn Muhammad ibn al-Mukhtar al-Hamdani said,‬‬ ‫‪on the authority of al-Fath ibn Yazid al-Jurjani, that‬‬ I heard Abu al-Hasan al-Rida say: He is the Subtle, the All-Aware, the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing, the One, the Unique, the Needless, who begets not nor is begotten, and there is none like unto Him. He is the Producer of all Things, the Former of Bodies, and the Maker of Images. If He was as they say, then the Creator would not be distinguished from the created, nor the Producer from the production. However, He is the Producer. The difference between Him and bodes and images I that he created them, and there is nothing like unto Him. I asked, “By all means. May Allah make me your ransom! However, you said: `The Alone, the Needless’ and you also said: `He is not like anything.’ If Allah is One, and man is one, are they not similar in unity?” He replied, O Fath! You paid attention, may Allah secure you! Verily, the similarity is limited to meaning. Identifiers are merely means of identifying the identified. If it is said that there is one man, it means that there is one body, as opposed to two. However, although we say that man is one, he is not truly one, as he has different body parts and different colors. Although we say that he is one, he is composed of many different parts which are not he same. His blood is other than his flesh, his flesh is other than his blood, his nerves are other than his veins, his hair is other than his skin, and the darkness of his skin is other than the paleness of his skin. Likewise is the rest of creation. Thus, the human being is “one” in name, but he is other than “one” in meaning. Not only is Allah, lofty be His Majesty, One in name, He is also One in meaning as there is none other than Him. There is no variation in Him, no contrast, nor any increase or decrease. As a crated being, the human being is composed of different parts and substances. H e is one “one” in combination. I enquired: “You have relieved me. May Allah relieve you! As for your statement: `The Subtle, All-Aware,’ could you explain it to me as you explained to me the meaning of `the One.’ I really need to know how His Subtlety is different from the subtlety of His Creation. I would surely appreciate it if you could explain that to me.” Therefore, he answered: O Fath! We had said: He is the Subtle due to the delicate nature of His Creation, and for His Knowledge of tiny things. Do you not see, may Allah help you and secure you, the effect of His Making in soft and hard plants? And do you not see in the delicate creation of tiny insects like the mosquito, the gnat, and that which is smaller than these two, and are almost not evident to the (naked) eyes? In fact, due to their small size, it is virtually impossible to differentiate between the male and the female, and between the young and the old. Thus, we come to know that the Creator is Subtle in His Creation when we see the smallness of creatures in their refinement, their guidance out of decay, and their fleeing from death. We come to know that the Creator is Subtle when we contemplate the creatures found teeming in the depths of the ocean, on the branches of trees, and in the deserts and barren lands. We come to know the Creator is Subtle when we contemplate how species communicate with one another using various forms of communication, permitting them to communicate with their offspring. We come to know that the Creator is Subtle when we contemplate how creatures provide food to their offspring, and how they are distinguished by colors, red with yellow, white with red, and with what we can barely see with our eyes due to its small size. We come to know that the Creator is Subtle when we contemplate the creatures that our eyes cannot see and our hands cannot touch. He created the world in subtlety without planning, without instruments, and without tools. Verily, the founder of anything founded it on the basis of another. However, Allah, the Creator, the Subtle, and the Sublime, created everything out of nothing.