Divine Unity and Negation of any Partnership in Essence, Creation, Worship and Regulation of the Universe

2. [2/299] al-Tawhid and Ma’ani al-Akhbar: My father – Muhammad al-Attar – Ibn Isa – Abi Hashim al-Ja’fari who said: I asked Aba Ja’far the Second عليه السلام - what is the meaning of ‘the One’? He said: (One) whose Oneness is united upon in all tongues (languages).

I wrote to Abi Ja’far عليه السلام or I said to him: May Allah make me your ransom - Do we worship The Beneficent, The Merciful, The Unique, The One, The Eternal? He said: Whoever worships the name and not the one named has polythesized, disbelieved, denied and has not worshipped anything. Rather worship Allah the Unique, The One, The Eternal who is called by these names and not the names (themselves). The names are attributes which He has described Himself by.

Aba Abdillah عليه السلام about the Names of Allah and their derivation saying: What is Allah derived from? He (Hisham) said: so he (the Imam) said to me: O Hisham, ‘Allah’ is derived from ‘ilah’ and ‘al-ilah’ connotes the one who is worshipped. The name is other than the named. Whoever worships the name without the meaning then he has disbelieved and has not worshipped anything. Whoever worships the name and the meaning then he has disbelieved and worshipped two (distinct things). Whoever worships the meaning without the name then that is true monotheism. Have you understood O Hisham? He (Hisham) said: I said: increase for me. He said: Allah has ninety nine names, if the name was identical to what is named then every name among these (ninety-nine) would be a god, rather Allah is a meaning to which these names point to, and each one of them is other than him. O Hisham, ‘bread’ is a name for what is eaten, ‘water’ is a name for what is drunk, ‘clothes’ is a name for what is worn, ‘fire’ is a name for what burns, have you understood Hisham? an understanding through which you can repel and defeat our enemies and those who betake others apart from Allah Mighty and Majestic. I said: Yes. He said: May Allah benefit you by it and make you firm O Hisham. Hisham said: by Allah no one has defeated me on the subject of Tawhid to this day when I stand in the position I do.