8. Ja`far ibn Muhammad ibn Masrur said: Muhammad ibn Ja`far ibn Buttah said: some of our scholars, on the authority of Muhammad ibn `Isa ib `Ubayd related to me that Abu al-Hasan al-Rida said to me:

“What would you say if you were asked: `Tell us, is Allah, the Mighty and High, a Thing or is He not a thing?” He said: I said to him : Allah, the Mighty and High, has acknowledged that He is a Thing when he said: Say: What thing is the weightiest in testimony? Say: Allah is a witness between you and me.1 I would say: He is a Thing unlike other things, as negating that He is a Thing would negate Him and deny Him. He said to me: ”You are correct and you are right.” (`Ali) al-Rida then said to me: People have three beliefs regarding Divine Unity [al-Tawhid]: negation, anthropomorphism, and description without anthropomorphism. Negation, however, is not permissible nor is anthropomorphism, because nothing resembles Allah, Blessed and Exalted be He. The correct position is the third one, description without anthropomorphism.