247. 1. Imam Jafar as-Sadiq (p) was asked regarding the divine words: All things will perish except His countenance. (Q, 55:27)
The Imam (p): What do the people say?
He was told: People say that it means that each and everything will perish except God’s face.
The Imam Jafar as-Sadiq (p): Glory be to God. What they say is a serious blunder. God’s countenance means the way which leads towards the recognition of God.

248. 2. Imam Jafar as-Sadiq (p), commenting on the divine words: All things will perish save the Countenance of God (Q, 28:88), said:
Whosoever comes towards God with what he has been ordained (by Him) to obey Prophet Muhammad (p) such is the countenance of God which never perishes. This is what God said: Whosoever obeys the Prophet, thereby obeys God (Q, 4:80).

249. 5. Imam Jafar as-Sadiq (p): Verily when God created us (Prophet Muhammad (p) and the Divine Imams (p)), He created us well, and when He shaped us He shaped us well. So He made His eye among mankind, His eloquent tongue, His extended hands of mercy and compassion over His creatures. We are the godly face which attracts people towards God. We are the gateway which leads to Him and the custodians of His treasures in the heavens and on the earth. Because of us the trees bear fruits and the fruits ripen, the rivers flow, the rain falls, and the earth produces greenery. It is because of our worship that God has been worshipped by His creatures. Had it not been for us, God would not have been worshipped.

250. 6. Commenting on verse: So when they (Pharaoh of Egypt and his people) had angered Us (God) We took vengeance on them (Q, 43:55), Imam Jafar as-Sadiq (p) said:
Verily, the Almighty, the Great, does not get angry as we do. He has created some confidants for Himself who express wrath and pleasure (for the sake of God). They are His creatures nourished by Him. God has made their pleasure His Own pleasure and their anger His own anger. This is because God has appointed them to call and guide people towards Him. For this reason they have attained this exalted status (that God has made their pleasure His own pleasure and their anger His own anger). The verse does not mean that God is subject to conditions which govern His creatures but it means what has just been stated (the anger of His confidants is the anger of God). God Himself has said (in Divine Tradition), “Whosoever humiliates Me by humiliating my friends challenges Me to a fight and draws Me into a combat with him.” Also, God has said: Whosoever obeys the Prophet, thereby obeys God (Q, 4:80). God has also said: Verily those who swear fealty to you (Prophet Muhammad (p)), swear fealty to God, the Hand of God is over their hands (Q, 48:10). All this and similar expressions are to be interpreted the way I have explained to you, like the pleasure and the wrath of God and all other similar expressions. If grief and distress were to take hold of Him though it is He Who has created these conditions, one could justifiably say, “A day may come when God will be reduced to nothingness.” For if God were subject to anger and disgust, it would mean that He is subject to change, and if He were subject to change He could not be regarded as immune from annihilation. And then there would have been no distinction between the Originator and the originated, the Controller and the controlled, the Creator and the created. God is far above all such statements, the Elevated, the Great. He Himself is the Creator of all things without being in need of them. So when He is not in need of anything, to attribute any limitations or conditions to Him is an utter impossibility. Bear this in mind, if God so wills.

251. 7. Imam Muhammad al-Baqir (p): We (the Imams (p)) are the proofs (of the existence) of God, we are the gateway to God, we are (like) the tongue of God, we are (like) the countenance of God, we are (like) God’s eyes among His creatures and we are the custodians of the affairs of God among them.

252. 8. Imam Ali (p): I am the hand of God. I am very close to God and I am the gateway to God.

253. 9. A believer requested Imam Musa al-Kazim (p) to comment on the divine words of God: Lest a soul should say, 'Oh! Alas, woe unto me that I neglected my duty in respect of Janbullah (nearness to God) (Q, 39:56).
Imam Musa al-Kazim (p): Janbullah (nearness or proximity) signifies Imam Ali (p) and likewise the rest of his successors (in Imamate) who occupy exalted stations in nearness to God (up to Imam al-Mahdi (p)).

254. 10. Imam Muhammad al-Baqir (p): It is through us (the Prophet Muhammad (p) and the Divinely Guided and Infallible Imams (p)) that God has been worshipped. It is through us that God has been known. It is through us that God, the Almighty, the Exalted, has been recognized as One, Unique, and Prophet Muhammad (p) is the veil of God (intermediary) between God and His creatures.