Peut-on considérer Allah (Dieu) comme une chose ?

2. Muhammad ibn ‘Abdallah has narrated from Muhammad ibn Isma‘il from al-Husayn ibn al-Hassan from Bakr ibn Salih from al-Husayn ibn Sa‘id who said that I asked Imam abu Ja‘far, the second (a.s.) the following. “Is it permissible to say that Allah is a thing?” The Imam replied, “Yes, because it removes two kinds of limitations, the limitation of being forgotten altogether and that of considering Him like other things.”

Muhammad ibn Abi Abdullah a rapporté de Muhammad ibn Ismaïl, de Husayn ibn al-Hasan, de Bakr ibn Salih, de Husayn ibn Sa'id, que Abu Ja'far al-Thani (que la paix soit sur lui) a été interrogé s'il est permis de dire que Dieu est une chose. Il a répondu : "Oui, cela le libère des deux extrêmes : l'anthropomorphisme et la négation."

3. Ali ibn Ibrahim has narrated from Muhammad ibn ‘Isa from Yunus from abu al-Maghra in a marfu‘ manner from Imam abu Ja‘far (a.s.) who has said the following. “Allah is distinct from His creatures and His creatures are different from Him and whatever that is called a thing is a creature except Allah.”

3. Ali ibn Ibrahim a rapporté de Muhammad ibn Isa, de Yunus, de Abu al-Maghra, qui a rapporté de Abu Ja'far (que la paix soit sur lui) qui a dit : "Certes, Allah est exempt de Ses créatures et Ses créatures sont exemptes de Lui, et tout ce sur quoi est attribué le nom de chose est créé, sauf Allah."

4. It is narrated from Imam abu “Abdallah (a.s.) who said, “Allah is distinct from His creatures and the creatures are different from Him. Whatever could be called a thing is a creature except Allah Who is the Creator of all things. Holy is He for Whom there is no similarity and He is all-hearing and all-aware.”

Nombre de nos compagnons ont rapporté d'Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Khalid al-Barqi, de son père, de Nadhr ibn Suwayd, de Yahya al-Halabi, d'Ibn Muskan, de Zurara ibn A'yan, qui a dit : J'ai entendu Abu 'Abdullah (que la paix soit sur lui) dire : "Certes, Allah est exempt de Ses créatures et Ses créatures sont exemptes de Lui. Tout ce sur quoi tombe le nom d'une chose autre qu'Allah est créé, et Allah est le Créateur de toute chose. Béni soit Celui qui n'a rien de semblable à Lui et Il est Celui qui entend et qui voit."

5. It is narrated from Imam abu Ja‘far (a.s.) who said, “ Allah is distinct from His creatures and the creatures are different from Him and whatever could be called a thing is a creature except Allah Who is the Creator of all things.”

5. Ali ibn Ibrahim a rapporté de son père, de Ibn Abi Umeyr, de Ali ibn Atiya, de Khaythama, de Abi Ja'far (que la paix soit sur lui) a dit : "Certes, Allah est exempt de Ses créatures et Ses créatures sont exemptes de Lui. Tout ce sur quoi tombe le nom de quelque chose, excepté Allah le Très-Haut, est une création. Et Allah est le Créateur de toute chose."

6. It is narrated from Imam abu “Abdallah (a.s.), who said this to an atheist on being asked a question. “He (Allah) is a thing but different from all other things. I repeat my statement that speaks about Him as a thing. He is a thing in the sense of the reality of things except that He does not have a body and form. He does not have a feeling (like our sense of feeling) or touching and He does not comprehend with the five senses (as we do). Imaginations can not comprehend Him and the timeless (Dahr) times does not reduce Him and the times do not change Him.” The man asking questions then said, “Do you say that He hears and sees?” The Imam said, “He does hear and see: He hears without a hearing organ and sees without a means. He Himself hears and He Himself sees. My saying “He hears without a hearing organ and sees without a means. He Himself hears and He Himself sees” does not mean that He is a thing and His-self is another thing but that I only meant to express my self thereby as I was questioned and explained to you as you had asked a question. Thus, I can say that He hears with the whole of His-self but not in the sense that His whole self has parts but that I intended to explain it to you and to express my self. All I meant thereby is that He does hear, see and He is all-knowing and is the expert in knowing without any multiplicity in His-self or meaning. The man asking questions then said, “What then is He?” The Imam said, “He is the Lord. He is the One Who is worshipped and He is Allah. When I say Allah, it does not mean establishing the proof for these letters (of alphabet) like Alif, Lam, Ha’, al-Ra’ or al-Ba’ but I intend thereby the meaning of a thing and a thing that is the Creator of all things and the Designer of all things. These letters only refer to the meaning that is called Allah, al-Rahman (the Beneficent), al-Rahim (the Merciful), al-‘Aziz (the Majestic) etc., of the other such names and He is the One Who is worshipped, the Majestic, the Glorious One.” The man asking questions then said, “Given the above, whatever we can think of is but a creature.” The Imam then said, “Were it to the way you said we would not have had any responsibility to believe in the Oneness of the Creator because we will not have any responsibility towards something of whose existence we can not even think of. In fact we say that whatever is thought of in our senses is comprehended thereby by means of drawing limits around it and is analogized, thus, such a thing is a creature. (It then becomes necessary for us to find proof for the existence of the Creator of things.(We must find that is) clear of the two invalid and confusing aspects) if the meaning of negation would be nullification and nothingness or as is the case of the second aspect, the similarity and analogy which is of the attributes of the creatures that under go manifest composition and assemblage. It becomes necessary to prove the existence of the Creator. It is because of the existence of the creatures and their evident dependency on Him as His creatures and that their Creator is something other than them and that He is not similar to them because something similar to them would resemble them in manifest composition and assemblage. It would be as such also in the matters such as coming into existence from nothing and their changing from a smaller size to a full grown size, from blackness to whiteness from strength to weakness and other existing conditions that we do not need to explain their existence.” The man asking questions then said, “You have already defined and limited Him in your proving His existence.” The Imam (a.s.) then said, “I did not limit Him. I only proved His existence if (as you think) there is no difference between proving and disproving.” The man asking questions then said, “Can His existence be proved through a reasoning from the effect to the cause or the cause to the effect?” The Imam said, “Yes, there is nothing whose existence can be proved without adopting either of the two above process of reasoning.” The man then asked, “Does the question how apply to Him?” The Imam said, “No, this question does not apply to Him because it is the aspect of qualities and limitations. However, it is necessary to avoid abandoning and analogizing Him because negating Him is denying His existence and refusing to accept Him as the Lord and abandoning Him altogether. Whoever would analogize Him with other things from His creatures he has proved the qualities of the creature in Him, the creatures that do not deserve being called the Lord. It, however, is necessary to believe that the question how applies to Him only in a way that would not apply to things other than Him and things other than Him would not deserve and share Him in it. The how question can not apply to Him if it would limit Him or make Him the subject of knowing for others.” The man then asked, “Do things make Him tired?” The Imam then said, “He is far Exalted and above experiencing such conditions. Such conditions are due to coming into physical association or dealing with the creatures. They are of the qualities of the creatures who can only associate with others through physical contact but He is the Most High and His will and demand are effective and He does whatever He wants.”

6- Ali ibn Ibrahim, de son père, de Al-‘Abbas ibn ‘Amr al-Fuqaymi, de Hisham ibn al-Hakam, de Abu ‘Abdillah (sur lui la paix) a dit à l'athée quand il lui a demandé ce qu'est Dieu : "Il est quelque chose contraire aux choses. Reviens à ma parole pour établir un sens, qu'Il est quelque chose en réalité, différent des choses matérielles, sans corps, sans forme, non perceptible, non palpable, non appréhendé par les cinq sens, non appréhendé par les illusions, non diminué par le temps, non altéré par les époques." Le questionneur lui dit : "Tu dis qu'Il est Entendant, Voyant." Il répondit : "Il est Entendant, Voyant, Entendant sans oreille, Voyant sans instrument. Il entend de Lui-même et voit de Lui-même. Ce n'est pas que je dis qu'Il est Entendant qui entend de Lui-même et Voyant qui voit de Lui-même, qu'Il est quelque chose et l'âme est quelque chose d'autre. Mais j'ai voulu m'exprimer à propos de moi-même quand j'étais questionné et pour ta compréhension quand tu questionnais. Je dis qu'Il est Entendant de tout, non que tout de Lui, mais j'ai voulu te faire comprendre et m'exprimer à propos de moi-même, et ma référence en cela n'est autre que Lui, l'Entendant, le Voyant, l'Omniscient, l'Expert, sans différence d'essence, sans différence de sens." Le questionneur lui dit : "Alors, qui est-Il ?" Abu ‘Abdillah (sur lui la paix) dit : "Il est le Seigneur, Il est l'Adoré, Il est Dieu. Ce n'est pas que je dis Dieu pour établir ces lettres, Alif, Lam, Ha, Ra, Ba, mais reviens au sens et à la chose, le Créateur des choses, leur Concepteur, et l'attribution de ces lettres est le sens, appelé ainsi Dieu, le Tout-Miséricordieux, le Très-Miséricordieux, l'Omni-Puissant, et des noms similaires aux Siens. Il est l'Adoré, Glorieux et Majestueux." Le questionneur lui dit : "Nous n'avons trouvé aucun être loué sauf créé." Abu ‘Abdillah (sur lui la paix) dit : "Si cela était comme tu le dis, l'unicité serait élevée de nous, car nous ne sommes pas chargés d'autre que le créé. Mais nous disons que tout être loué, perceptible par les sens, est créé, car le déni est l'invalidation, le néant, et la deuxième direction est l'assimilation, car l'assimilation est une caractéristique des créatures apparentes, de la composition et de l'assemblage. Il était nécessaire d'établir le Créateur pour l'existence des créatures et la nécessité de Lui, qu'elles sont créées et que leur Créateur est autre qu'elles, et qu'Il n'est pas semblable à elles, car si leur semblable était semblable à eux dans l'assemblage apparent et l'assemblage, et dans ce qui leur arrive de leur naissance après qu'ils n'étaient pas, et de leur transition de la petitesse à la grandeur, de la noirceur à la blancheur, de la force à la faiblesse, et des états existants, il n'y aurait pas besoin de nous pour expliquer cela pour les clarifier et les rendre évidents." Le questionneur lui dit : "Tu l'as défini en établissant son existence." Abu ‘Abdillah (sur lui la paix) dit : "Je ne l'ai pas défini, mais je l'ai établi, car entre le déni et l'établissement, il n'y a pas de position." Le questionneur lui dit : "Il est éternel et immuable." Il répondit : "Oui, rien n'est établi que par l'éternité et l'immuabilité." Le questionneur lui dit : "Alors

7. It is narrated from Imam abu Ja‘far (a.s.) who said when he was asked, “Is it permissible to say Allah is a thing?” “Yes, it is permissible because it excludes Him from being ignored altogether and from being analogized or considered similar to the creatures.”

7- Un certain nombre de nos compagnons ont rapporté d'Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Khalid, de Muhammad ibn Isa, de celui qu'il a mentionné, qui a dit : Abu Ja'far (que la paix soit sur lui) a été interrogé s'il était permis de dire que Dieu est une chose. Il a répondu : Oui, Il transcende les limites de la négation et de l'assimilation.