and became settled through Allah’s power, then this is not the meaning of the verse, but an explicit distortion whose proponent deserves severe punishment. Such words should not be attributed to a religious exemplar, nor even to ordinary people.

He said: “Jaʿfar ibn Nasīr was asked about the Most High’s saying, ‘The Most Merciful rose over the Throne.’ He replied: ‘His knowledge extends equally to all things, so nothing is nearer to Him than anything else.’”

This is of the same kind as the preceding statement, but worse. It is more absurd than the interpretations of the esoteric Qarmatians, for the wording contains nothing whatsoever to indicate such a meaning. Jaʿfar ibn Nasīr is too eminent to utter such a distortion, the like of which would come only from some of the extremists among the Rāfidīs, Qarmatians, and heretics who impugn the Quran.

He said: “Jaʿfar al-Sādiq said: ‘Whoever claims that Allah is in something, from something, or upon something has associated partners with Him. For if He were upon something, He would be supported; if He were in something, He would be confined; and if He were from something, He would have been brought into existence.’”