لطفا منتظر باشید ...
On the Knowledge of God
A
Bedouin approached Imam Ali (A.S.) in the Battle of Camel
and asked if he asserted that God was one. In answer, Imam
Ali (A.S.) said:
To
say that God is one has four meanings; Two of these
meanings are false and two correct. As for the two
incorrect meanings, one is that one should say 'God is
one' and be thinking of number and counting. This
meaning is false because that which has no second cannot
enter into the category of number. Do you not see that
those who said that God is the third of trinity [i.e,
the Christians] fell into infidelity? Another meaning is
to say that so and so is one of this people, namely as a
species of this genus or a member of this species. This
meaning is also not correct when applied to God, for it
implies likening something to God and God is above all
likeness.
As
for the two meanings that are correct when applied to
God, one is that it should be said that God is one in
the sense that there is no likeness unto Him among
things. God possesses such uniqueness. And one is to say
that God is one on the sense that there is no
multiplicity or division conceiveable in Him, neither
outwardly nor in the mind nor in the imagination. God
possesses such unity.
Also
Imam Ali (A.S.) said:
To
know God is to know His Oneness.
This
means that to prove that the Being of God is unlimited and
infinite suffices to prove His Oneness, for to conceive a
second for the Infinite is impossible.
