In many of his sayings Imam Hussain (s.a) has mentioned about monotheism of the godhead and described and explained this concept beautifully to answer the doubts raised by the apostates. Some of the sayings of His Eminence are quoted below:
His Eminence (s.a) has said: “O People! Fear these two extremes, those who compare Allah(God) with themselves and say like the unbelievers from the people of the Book while He is such a God that there is nothing like Him and He is the Hearing and Seeing, that eyes could not see Him and He sees all visions. And He is the Subtle and Omniscient, He has made Oneness and power special for Himself, intention, power and knowledge, which, He has used. There is no obstacle in His command and none could be equal to Him and no opponent could precede Him. And neither is there anything having a similar name which could be like Him and nor anyone like Him could precede Him. No actions surround Him and nor conditions are effective upon Him. Events do not happen to Him and words are not capable to describe the reality of His greatness. The magnitude of His powers could be accommodated in the hearts because there is nothing equal to Him. His knowledge cannot be perceived by intellects and neither by thinkers through their thoughts. But, certainly and by belief of the unseen He cannot be compared to anything in the universe. He is such a Oneness, that is needless. He is against all imaginations about Him. Whatever is in the imagination of man, God is other than it and whatever is imagined is not God. And whatever’And not a deity who is desirous and undesirous. He is present in the things not in existence that there should be an obstacle for Him. He is distant from the things but in such a way that He should be hidden from them. He is not such a powerful one that there could be someone in his opposition or equal to Him. His antiquity is not related to any time period and His presence is not related to a place (space). He is concealed from the intellects just as His concealment from the eyes and His concealment in the sky is same as that His concealment from the inhabitants of the earth. His proximity implies the bestowal of His favors and His remoteness indicates that He makes someone worthless and not in the sense that He is in some place or time. He changes non-existence into existence and makes the existing one non-existing. Except for Him, no one could have the two equalities at the same time. Faith in His existence is received through Him only and existence of faith is not existence based on description. All qualities are described through Him and not that He is described through qualities. And all the divine recognitions are recognized through Him and not that Allah is recognized through these divine sciences. And He is that Allah for Whom there is no one with same name. He is purified of everything and there is nothing like Him and He is the hearing, the seeing.”
The Imam (s.a) has warned against comparing Him to His creations who were nothing in the beginning.
No matter how powerful a man may become he will be limited in quantity and quality and it is impossible to reach to the reality of the Great Creator Who has created these souls and stars. Intellects are helpless to imagine Him. And that complex systems that are applied to him’.Man has not been able to understand his own mechanisms like the machinery of the sight hearing and feelings etc. then how could he understand His creator?!
Anyhow, this interesting discourse has explained many aspects of the concept of the monotheism of the godhead. It is one of the best explanations that have reached us from the Imams of Ahl al-Bayt (s.a).
Source :
Tohafful Uqool, Pg. 244
The Life of Imam Hussain (s.a) Research and Analysis ,Baqir Sharif al-Qurashi
Al-islam.org
