3. We were told by Abu Muhammed, Ja’far bin Ali bin Ahmad, the jurist, al-Qommi and thereupon al-Eelaqi, may Allah be pleased with him, that he said: We were told by Abu Sa’eed, Abdan bin Fadl, that he said: I was told by Abu’l-Hasan, Muhammed bin Ya’qub bin Muhammed bin Yusuf bin Ja’far bin Ibrahim bin Muhammed bin Ali bin Abdullah bin Ja’far bin Abi Talib – in the city of Khujand – that he said: I was told by Abu Bakr, Muhammed bin Ahmad bin Shuja’ al-Farghani, that he said: I was told by Abu Muhammed, Hasan bin Hammad al-Anbari – in Egypt – that he said: I was told by Isma’il bin Abdul-Jalil al-Barqi, from Abu’l-Bukhturi, Wahab bin Wahab al-Qurashi, from Abu Abdillah al-Sadiq, Ja’far bin Muhammed, peace be upon him, that he said: Al-Baqir said: I was told by my father, Zain-ul-Abideen, from his father, Hussain bin Ali, peace be upon him, that he said
Al-Samad is He who has no interior, and al-Samad is He at whom sovereignty ends, and al-Samad is He who does not eat nor drink, and al-Samad is He who does not sleep, and al-Samad is He who has not perished and does not perish. Al-Baqir, peace be upon him, said: Muhammed bin Hanafiya – may Allah sanctify his soul – used to say: Al-Samad is He who is Upright by Himself, the Self-Sufficient from any other.» Another have said: Al-Samad is the Elevated above creation and termination, and al-Samad is He who is not characterized by change. Al-Baqir, peace be upon him, said: Al-Samad is the obeyed Master above whom there is no commander nor prohibitor. He said: Also, Ali bin Hussain, Zain-ul-Abideen, peace be upon him, was asked about al-Samad, so he said: Al-Samad is He who has no associate, nor is tired by preserving anything, nor is anything absent from Him. Wahab bin Wahab al-Qurashi said: Zaid bin Ali, peace be upon him, said: Al-Samad is He who if He wants something, He says to it: «Be», and it is, and al-Samad is who innovated things and created them in opposites, shapes and couples, and who unequaled Himself in Oneness with no opposite, nor shape, nor equal, nor rival. Also, Wahab bin Wahab al-Qurashi said: I heard al-Sadiq, peace be upon him, say: A delegation from Palestine came to al-Baqir, peace be upon him, and they asked him about matters, to which he answered, and then they asked him about al-Samad, so he said: Its interpretation: Al-Samad is of five letters. As for the Alif [1], it is a denotation that His Essential Existence, and that is His saying, Exalted and Glorious is He: «Allah witnessed that there is no god but Him» (3:18). In that is a reminder and indication to that which is absent from being perceivable by the senses. The Laam is a denotation that His Godness, that he is the God. Furthermore, the Alif and the Laam are diphthonged, and they do not appear (separately) on the tongue, and they are not heard (separately), and they appear in writing. They are two denotations that His Godness is, with His unmerited favor, hidden and not perceived by the senses, and that it does not come on the tongue of any describer, nor the ear of any hearer, because the interpretation of the God is He who protected the creation from comprehending His Essence and Nature by sense or by imagination. No, but rather, He is the Innovator of imaginations and Creator of senses. This only appears in writing as a denotation that Allah, Glorious is He, made apparent His Lordship by innovating the creation and forming their gentle souls into their solid bodies; so, if a servant looks at himself, he will not see his own soul, in similarity to how the Laam of al-Samad does not appear nor enter any sense of his five senses. However, when he looks at the writing, it appears to him what has been hidden and softened; so, whenever a servant ponders upon the Essence and Nature of the Maker, he will be exposed (to loss) and confused in it, and his imagination will not encompass anything that is imaginable of Him, because He, Exalted and Glorious is He, is the Creator of images. So, when he looks at His creation, it is affirmed to him that He, Exalted and Glorious is He, is their Creator and Former of their souls into their bodies. As for the Ssaad, it is a denotation that He, Exalted and Glorious is He, is Truthful, and that His saying is truth, and that His words are truth, and that He called His servants to follow the truth with the truth, and He promised with the truth, the World of Truth. As for the Miim, it is a denotation of His Kingdom, and that He, Exalted and Glorious is He, is the True King, that He did not perish nor does perish, nor does His Kingdom perish. As for the Daal, it is a denotation of the continuity of His Kingdom, and that He, Exalted and Glorious is He, is Everlasting, Exalted is He above creation and termination. Rather, He, Exalted and Glorious is He, is the Creator of the creations, by whose creation, every creature exists.»