2. My father that `Ali ibn Ibrahim, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al`Abbas ibn `Amr, on the authority of Hisham ibn al-Hakam that An atheist asked Abu `Abd Allah al-Sadiq “What is He?” He replied:

He is a Thing unlike other things. If you consider the meaning of the word “thing.” He is indeed a Thing by definition [al-shay’iyyah], with the exception that He has neither substance nor shape”