Peak of Eloquence Nahjul Balagha By Imam Ali ibn Abu Talib - English Translation - Sermon 151

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About the greatness and the attributes of Allah

Praise be to Allah Who is proof of His existence through His creation, of His being external through the newness of His creation and through their mutual similarities of the fact that nothing is similar to Him. Senses cannot touch Him and curtains cannot veil Him because of the difference between the maker and the made, the Limiter and the limited and the Sustainer and the sustained.

He is One but not by the first in counting, is Creator but not through activity or labor, is Hearer but not by means of any physical organ, is Looker but not by a stretching of eyelids, is Witness but not by nearness, is Distinct but not by measurement of distances, is Manifest but not by seeing and is Hidden but not by subtlety (of body). He is Distinct from things because He overpowers them and exercises might over them, while things are distinct from Him because of their subjugation to Him and their turning towards Him.

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He who describes Him limits Him. He who limits Him numbers Him. He who numbers Him rejects His eternity. He who asks “How?” seeks a description for Him. He who asks “Where?” limits Him. He is the One Who knows everything. He is the Sustainer even though there be nothing to be sustained. He is the Powerful One even though there is nothing to be overpowered.

Part of the same sermon about the Divine leaders (Imams)

The riser has risen, the sparkler has sparkled, the what appears has appeared and the curved has been straightened. Allah has replaced one people with another and one day with another. We awaited these changes as the famine-stricken await the rain. Certainly the Imams are the vicegerents of Allah over His creatures and they make the creatures know Allah. No one will enter Paradise except he who knows them and knows Him and no one will enter Hell except he who denies them and denies Him.

Allah, the most Glorified One, has distinguished you with Islam and has chosen you for it. This is so because it is the name of safety and the collection of honor. Allah, the most Glorified One, chose its way and disclosed its pleas through open knowledge and secret maxims. Its (Holy Quran) wonders are not exhausted and its delicacies do not end. It contains blossoming bounties and lamps of darkness. (The doors of) virtues cannot be opened save with its keys, nor can gloom be dispelled save with its lamps. Allah has protected its inaccessible points (from enemies) and allowed grazing (to its followers) in its pastures. It contains cover (from the ailment of misguidance) for the seeker of cure and full support for the seeker of support