God's essence is one that can never be perceived, whether in this world or the next. We cannot speak of Him in terms of any point of reference, including spatio-temporal. However, nothing is more evident than His attributes, as already stated, manifesting themselves like the smoke of the fire. He, through His attributes, is everywhere in the heavens and earth
57:4,58:7,12:105,31:20,2:115"so whichever way you turn, there is the Face of Allah".
These attributes manifest in every aspect of creation, down to our
45:3-4,51:21"own souls (too); will you not then see?".
It is a continuously unfolding phenomenon as denoted with the present progressive tense in 41:53. As also denoted with "musiun" 51:47 which carries the meaning of expanding, the universe is not a finished work, but in continuous expansion, with new manifestations of God's creation
87:2"Who creates, then makes complete".
The Quran guides and imparts knowledge regarding the unseen realm, which is beyond our reach. But the material world is available for anyone to explore. That is why the Quran doesnt impart new knowledge in relation to our world but rather seeks to purge the observer's intention and attitude when exploring it
3:190-1"Most surely in the creation of the heavens and the earth and the alternation of the night and the day there are signs for men who understand. Those who remember Allah standing and sitting and lying on their sides and reflect on the creation of the heavens and the earth".
Observation of the surrounding world must always be coupled with God-consciousness.
These passages lay the ground for the proper understanding of many verses that mention God's attributes. For instance, looking towards Allah in the Hereafter 75:23 is the same as seeing His face in this world 2:115 except that the perception and experience will be far more intense. This is because the believers will literally be
and are repeatedly described as meeting Him 76:11. This meeting, translates into experiences of bliss and relief
"and (Allah) has met them with freshness and joy".
Looking towards Allah 75:23 is the most suited expression to convey the idea of the very strong perception of God's manifestation through His attributes. The Quran averts any possible misuse of such verses through its explicit statements
6:103"Visions comprehends Him not, and He comprehends (all) vision".
To leave no room for ambiguity, the verse actually says alabsar/visions in the plural. This covers any type of physical vision, even including the impossibility to imagine God. Allah's mathal or example, is therefore unimaginable, incomparable
30:27"and His is the most exalted essence/mathal in the heavens and the earth, and He is the Mighty, the Wise".
The statement that He "comprehends all visions" is quite powerful as it entails God not only seeing but encompassing the entity He sees. Creatures with vision are limited to the physical sight of things, without always seeing its inner reality. That is how precise and complete the Quran is in its monotheistic approach to the divine essence. He does not need to be detached from the creation to remain beyond all perception. He is fully present and aware of the reality of all things.
Similarly to seeing their Lord, the believers meeting Him in the Hereafter is equal to an intense perception of the way in which He manifests His attributes 2:46. In fact it clearly says, that in the Hereafter, the successful will meet God's good promise 28:61. Another aspect through which the Quran places the divine reality beyond human perception is the statement
112:4,42:11"there is nothing like a likeness of Him"
This is the Quran axiom as regards the manner by which God manifests in this world, He does so through His attributes, but never through His imperceptible essence. 42:11 literally says "like a likeness of Him" meaning His reality is not only above all material limitations, but even above the limitation of metaphor. This also carries the meaning that even the "how" of His being is beyond the category of human thought. There is no reason to assume that this reality will cease in the hereafter, with Allah's essence being brought to the realm of physical perception.
Among the scholars and commentators of the past, a terminology was coined whenever they had to interpret such verses "bi-la kayfa"/without how. The scholars of Islam are therefore not arbitrarily delimitating human understanding in light of statements about God. The notorious "divine mystery" cop out term of Trinitarian scholars on the other hand is arbitrary and not based on anything other than 2000 years of fruitless efforts in trying to make sense of irrational doctrines.
The prophet said
“Allah laughs for the despair of His servant, as He will soon relieve him.” I said, “O Messenger of Allah, does the Lord laugh?” The Prophet said, “Yes.” I said, “We will never be deprived of goodness by a Lord who laughs!”
Here the prophet demonstrates that principle of interpretation; maintaining a balance between Allah’s absolute transcendence and the affirmation of His attributes. Despite the person's desire for more details, the prophet doesnt describe the "how" and "why" of Allah laughing but only confirms it as fact. This means the similitude of Allah's laugh with that of creation stops at the level of the effect which is entailed by such an attribute. How it manifests in God is unknown.
The same principle, as taught by the prophet and the Quran, is adopted whenever one comes across other references to God's attributes including mercy, love, wrath, dislike, mockery, pleasure etc. Mercy for example, is caused by an emotion of compassion, leading to favourable actions. It is from our own experience that we associate a merciful action with compassionate feelings, but such experience doesnt apply to God as we do not know how any attribute manifests within His infinite essence. The "How" of things is always excluded for Allah. The Quran in countless instances explains, explicitly and implicitly, that Allah is self-sufficient, beyond the need of anything outside of Himself. Emotions therefore, which are contingent on need, cannot be what drives Allah's category of attributes which we perceive as emotional.
The prophet once recounted an intense revelational dream in which he experienced something of the realm of the unseen. At no point does he speak of seeing Allah. He says he was in Allah's presence
God's presence manifests through His attributes as is amply demonstrated in the Quran. In that dream the prophet knew He was in Allah's presence when he perceived something that represented Allah. In the abstract, metaphysical realm, as in a dream, things are experienced differently than with the physical senses. All aspects of Allah which he saw and interacted with were visions of the spirit, of the heart
"I saw Him place His Palm between my shoulders, and I sensed the coolness of His Fingertips between my breast. Then everything was disclosed for me, and I became aware".
Even in this world, references in the Quran and ahadith to attributes of Allah such as His Hands, manifest in a non-material, metaphysical sense
48:10"Surely those who swear allegiance to you do but swear allegiance to Allah; the hand of Allah is above their hands".
Just like Allah's face is everywhere one looks 2:115 His presence with each and everyone at all moments 57:4,58:7 closer than the jugular vein 50:16 anytime we read of other attributes of Allah, including His eyes, fingers, foot, shin etc, we understand them in light of the supreme and firm Quranic axioms of divine transcendance spoken of earlier. This is further borne out by the repeated notion of there being spiritual senses by which the God-conscious experiences the unseen, whether in this world or in the hereafter. Allah, the necessary being, has the attribute of mercy or wrath, just as He has the attribute of foot, shin, eyes or hands. None of those attributes are fathomable per the clear axioms of the Quran and sunna. We know those attributes not by the description of their reality, or their essence, but by the way they interact with creation. God in His revelation told us how in some cases His mercy, wrath or His hand or foot affect us and this is the extent to which we understand His attributes.
An important thing worth noting is that, Allah having attributes like the aforementioned ones, does not negate that certain literary contexts in which they appear may entail a metaphor. There are many examples of these expressions, well known in Arabic usage, both in the Quran and ahadith. For instance the statement
51:47"And the heaven We constructed with strength/biaydin, and indeed, We are [its] expander".
The use of "hands" denotes power, while the plain reading of constructing the universe with hands has no benefit nor bearing on the context of the verse. Elsewhere the Quran literally speaks of the hands of God's mercy 25:48. The idea of an attribute of Allah having hands is obviously misplaced; the meaning conveys a sense of care and sustenance
25:48"And He is the One who sent the winds as glad tidings between the hands of His mercy. And We sent down from the sky water which is pure".
Similarly, the statement that both of Allah's hands are right hands conveys a sense of honour. The prophet, speaking of the first moments following Adam's completion said:
"..Then Allah said to him – while His Two Hands were closed – ‘Choose which of them you wish.’ He said: ‘I chose the right My Lord and both of the Hands of my Lord are right, blessed..."
Adam was given the choice between 2 hands, of which he chose the right one. His subsequent statement that both hands are right cannot be taken literally or else Adam could not have chosen THE right one when initially given the choice. The "right hand" in Arabic culture, and in most societies symbolizes honour, trust, authority, strength. Adam's statement was meant at glorifying Allah. In another report, mention is made of a "left hand". This part of the hadith however is a known anomaly/shaadh (al-Albani). As to what Adam saw and whether he saw a form, the whole incident could have occurred through inspiration, as the Quran clearly says whenever Allah communicates with someone. Another instance is the statement 28:88"Everything will be destroyed except His Face". The face, as is amply used in classical Arabic, with examples from both the Quran and ahadith entails the essence of an entity. With this linguistic reality in mind, and the verses stating that Allah is the ever-living, Who precedes and outlasts all things, one applies the meaning of "face" here to Allah's essence, His self. This doesnt negate the Face as an attribute of Allah 2:115.
Sometimes, nothing can be derived from a statement other than a metaphorical meaning, without any indication of the imagery applying to God in a literal sense
39:56"Lest a soul should say, "Oh [how great is] my regret over what I neglected the side/janb of Allah and that I was among the mockers".
Janb is used for the side of the abdomen where the ribs are. It is also an everyday expression that indicates the side in the sense of what it represents. The English equivalent would be "to take the side of X" or "to be on the side of X". Obviously here a plain, literal reading brings nothing to the verse and is irrelevant to the message. This verse is similar in meaning to statements that Allah literally is "with" the righteous 29:69.
The prophet said, from ibn Abbas
"The rahim (kinship ties, lit. "womb") is hanging on to the Hujzah of The Most Merciful; He maintains ties with whoever maintains it and severs ties with whoever severs it."
In another version through Abu Hurayra
“Allah created the creation, and when He had finished it, the rahim got up and caught hold of the Haqw of Allah, whereupon, Allah said, ‘What is the matter?’ It said, ‘I seek refuge with You from those who sever the ties of kinship.’ Allah Said, ‘Will you be satisfied if I bestow My favors upon those who maintain your ties and withhold My favors from those who sever your ties?’ It said, ‘Yes, O my Lord!’ Then Allah said, ‘That is for you”.
Both Hujzah and Haqw mean the waist. In Arabic "holding on to the hujzah of another" means seeking his help, without entailing physical contact. Following the guidelines of interpretation Allah Himself has laid down in the book as regards His attributes and descriptions, the waist of Allah, like any other attribute is beyond comprehension. Only He knows its reality and implications. Just as Allah being nearer to us than the vein of the neck does not entail physical contact, the prophet here is using an expression in relation to the waist of Allah, to convey a message as regards the ties of kinship. The womb holding unto Allah's waist is another way of saying that it called upon Him for help. When something is depicted as being in contact with Allah, it is not a created, tangible thing, rather a concept
"Glory is Allah’s izaar and pride is His cloak".
The izaar is a traditional cloth that is wrapped around the waistline and that goes down until the ankles.
Humans, like every creation, are a manifestation of God's attributes. They in turn are encouraged to try and emulate some of those attributes as best as possible, such as generosity, mercy and forgiveness. So they are in a sense in "God's image". Similarly, Man has the ability to create, like the Creator of all things does, but in reality he is only reshaping what God previously created. He can judge, be good, show mercy but not and never in an equal manner to God
2:115"so whichever way you turn, there is the Face of Allah".
So clearly one can see God's face in all of creation, because all things reflect His attributes to some degree. Humans, and more particularly their face, reflects God's image just as the rest of creation does
“Do not say ‘May Allaah deform your face’, for the son of Adam was created in the image of the Most Merciful".
The similitude does not pertain to physical resemblance but in the way the divine attributes manifests. The face contains the foremost elements that allow perception, reflexion and action. The Eyes for instance allow the brain to perceive and process the surrounding signs, shaping our thoughts that are then expressed with speech. Only God however is able to manifest these shared attributes, like the aforementioned sight and speech, to infinite perfection. The manner, the "how" in which this is done is unfathomable to our minds
42:11"nothing like a likeness of Him".
Just as the human face reflects God's image, the prophet said
“The first group to enter Paradise will be in the image of the moon”.
The intent is obviously that they will manifest some of the moon's attributes like radiance and glorious appearance, as the Quran describes them beaming with light. They will however retain their specific human form, which is completely different than that of the moon. The prophet even described the righteous as being the embodiment of Allah
"Allah Almighty said: My servant continues to grow closer to me with extra good works until I love him. When I love him, I am his hearing with which he hears, his seeing with which he sees, his hand with which he strikes, and his foot with which he walks".
The senses and limbs remain that of a human being but due to his righteousness and the ensuing divine guidance, each perception, expression and action is done with a level of spiritual awareness so high that it reflects God's attributes and will.
Similar principles are stated in the Hebrew Bible by the prophets Jeremiah and Isaiah Jer10:6,Isa40:18. Being in God's image simply means in the HB to reflect God's attributes in some way. The HB states that when man
"became like one of us" he had gained knowledge of good and evil (after eating from the tree). This means that humans being "like God" or in His image is about knowledge, which the Quran explicitly states was mercifully ingrained in man from the beginning, not hidden from him in a forbidden tree. As the "serpent" says in Genesis
"For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil".
During his communion with his Creator, Moses who sought to comfort his faith, humbly asking his Sustainer to
7:143"make me see so I can look at You"
to which God answered
"you will never/LAN see Me..".
LAN is a forceful negation unrestricted by time. Moses knew that humans cannot see God, as is clear from the wording in his request. Moses asked God to make him able to see God fully manifested. He thought that God would accede to his supplication and remove that barrier momentarily. Moses' demand was not because of his lack of faith but out of curiosity as to God's appearance. God followed by demonstrating why this is an impossibility. The physical realm from which humans cannot be extracted from, in its entirety, cannot bear God's presence without a barrier. Interestingly, Jesus himself whom some have unfortunately idolized, reflected that reality when he stated that none has ever seen God Jn1:18,5:37. It is a well established Biblical belief that none can see God and live Gen32:30,Ex33:20.
The mountain, which is the most massive and stable entity found in nature was used to demonstrate the point to Moses
"but look at the mountain, if it should remain stable in its place, then you will see Me. And when his Lord revealed Himself to the mountain, He made it crumble and Musa fell down unconscious".
A similar incident re-occurred later in the times of the prophet Elijah, as reported in 1kings19:11. The Hebrew bible in Judges5:5 speaks of the mountains literally melting from God's presence and Isaiah states that should God manifest Himself
Isa63:19"mountains would have dripped from before You".
Moses could not see Allah but did see the mountain being destroyed. This caused him to faint, and as he woke back up he began glorifying God and stating his deep belief in Him.
Contrary to Moses' humble request, the Israelites' demand to see God stemmed out of disbelief. We are here speaking of the elders of the community who had accompanied Moses for his first meeting with God. They began taunting Musa that they will not believe in him unless they see God face to face. They made that demand after receiving many miraculous favors, including their liberation from bondage 2:55,7:155. But Allah, as He explained and demonstrated to Moses, does not speak directly to any mortal 42:51. He only addresses them from behind a veil meaning the only thing that would transpire to the receiver would be the essence of what Allah wishes to convey. That intent is transmitted through inspiration/wahy 42:1 or by sending an angelic messenger in a familiar shape 11:69,17:95,22:75 to convey to a nation or a particular person a certain message. Musa was spoken to from behind a barrier 4:164,7:143,19:50-53,20:9-48,27:7-12,28:29-35 and the Israelites at Mt Sinai too 2:63,7:171. God spoke directly to other people in that same veiled manner too 2:253-254.
The manner by which God makes the listener understand the intended message, without compromising His non corporeality is a process beyond our understanding 17:85. Just like a toddler does not understand how an individual speaking through a phone is separate from it. A believer accepts the limits of his perception of the unseen. After describing the most vivid manner in which divine communication occurred between Himself and Moses, God proceeds with a statement most often used throughout the Quran in order to elevate Himself above any imperfection, which includes material representation and limitations 27:7-9. It is particularly relevant in the context of God's communication with Moses at the burning bush, as there was a risk that the medium of revelation, the fire through which Allah spoke, could be taken as divine in essence. A fine point to note is the manner in which the Quran describes God's calling Moses 20:11"a voice called out to him". The passive form is used to keep ambiguous the manner, source, form of the address.
This demand of the Israelites to see God was not meant to obtain inner satisfaction, did not spring from a believing heart zealous to know the hidden realities, but came from a disbelieving heart and reflected their denial and scepticism. They werent content with having Moses being their intermediary with God, they needed special proof. Despite all they had seen and made to experience, they requested something that is not only an affront to God's glory, but also revealing of an ungrateful heart. Nothing was good enough to make them believe that the Almighty spoke and communicated to Moses.
The prophets of all ages were confronted to such demands of having direct communication with God and seeing Him, including the nation of the prophet Muhammad 2:118,25:21,74:52. The Quran relates how even prior to that incident, during their exodus and while Moses was still in their midst, they requested to have a god made for them just as the idol worshipping nations 7:138. Their primitive mindset and years of bondage under a polytheistic people had such a strong grip on them, despite their monotheistic legacy, that they were not spiritually satisfied by the worship of an all encompassing, intangible Being. They needed the realm of the unseen to be brought to the seen to have their hearts appeased
7:140"Shall I find you a god other than Allah, while He has graced you above the nations?"
Moses' subtle answer was that nothing he could fashion with his hands would be a representation of the true God. But they can still find their God and worship Him through His attributes which they saw manifest in the strongest of ways until now.
This eagerness, described in their own books, to literally see God reflects in the crude and primitive anthropomorphic expressions that abound in the Hebrew writings. At times it would ironically appear that what we have in front of us is man creating God in his own image, likeness and form rather than the other way around Gen1:26. God for example would speak face to face with Moses Ex33:11,Numbers12:6-8. But knowing the difficulty and incompatibility of promoting monotheism while at the same time having a God incarnate, Jewish scribes have injected the text with many explicit passages in light of which one can interpret the ambiguous ones so as to safeguard the notion of pure monotheism. So although Moses spoke to God face to face, in reality no one can see God's Face Ex33:20, not even Moses who had to be covered and stand away until God passed so he could have a glimpse of God's "back" Ex33:22-23. "panim el panim", which literally means 'face-to-face' becomes an idiom to convey the exclusive closeness and intimate relation Moses had with God with whom he communicated directly, not through dreams, visions or through an angel as He did with all other Israelite prophets.
With those explicit axioms in mind, one can begin understanding why God had to appear to the Israelites through a dark cloud Ex19:9. The purpose was to strengthen the Israelites' trust in Moses by overawing them with this experience
Ex20:20"in order that His awe shall be upon your faces, so that you shall not sin".
The Torah reports the traumatic experience
Ex19:16"thunder claps and lightning flashes, and a thick cloud was upon the mountain, and a very powerful blast of a shofar, and the entire nation that was in the camp shuddered".
The phenomenon of God manifesting Himself in this world clearly is in a non-incarnate sense, rather through actions and at most, dramatic occurrences. This dreadful "representation" of God began to instruct the terrified Israelites. But they could not bare seeing and hearing God. Had they be seeing a human incarnation of God, they wouldnt have had any problem. Instead they begged Moses to be their sole intermediary with God, fearing that if the manifestation continued, they would die Ex20:15-21,Deut4:12-13,5:1-5,23-27. The fear of death for seeing God was apparently deeply instilled into the hearts of the pious Israelities, who knew by experience what had befallen their forefathers who had even so much as asked for it. Gideon thought he would die simply for having seen an angelic messenger in human form Judges6:22-3. Same for Samson's father Judges13:21-22.
Moses thus drew nearer to the dark smoke where he alone continued receiving revelation Ex20:21. For the first communion with God to receive the tablets, Moses
"Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel"
were summoned to worship God at a distance, with only Moses allowed to draw nearer to God's presence Ex24:1-2. Those that accompanied him however disobeyed and "saw God" who nevertheless
"did not raise his hand against these leaders of the Israelites".
This "seeing" of God is no different than the Israelites' seeing God earlier. They saw a type of manifestation that doesnt even hint to human incarnation, much less to Jesus, as some zealous trinitarians deceptively imply. So when Moses had a glimpse of God's back, the Hebrew word for "back" can also be rendered as "what comes after".
Ex16:6-7 has Moses and Aaron telling the children of Israel they will see God's glory. Yet we know that the Torah constantly tells us they did not see a form. Ex14:31 says the Israelites saw
"the great hand, which the Lord had used upon the Egyptians, and the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in Moses, His servant".
This again points to the metaphorical usage of these words when applied to God. Other Biblical anthropomorphisms are the references to YHWH's eyes, face, nose, mouth, lips, tongue, breath, loins, heart, etc Jer16:17,Ps18:8,Isa30:27-33,Ezek1:27,1Kings9:3,2Kings10. YHWH also regrets, grieves, forgets, is jealous, has knowledge and physical limitations and needs resting Jonah3:10,Gen2:2,6:6,35:10,46:2,Ex20:5,Hosea8:4,Judges1:19. Even the idea of a "loving" God is but an anthropomorphic depiction. Love is a human emotion, like hate or fear, denoting change and mutability.
Even the idea of a "loving" God is but an anthropomorphic depiction. Love is a human emotion, like hate or fear, denoting change and mutability. As can be seen, anthropomorphism is pervasive in the HB, side by side with transcendental monotheism but due to the lack of systematic elaboration and complete safeguard against possible misconceptions, one has to sift through many statements before deriving a concept of a transcendental God. These crude and naive descriptions of the attributes, qualities, emotions and portrayals of God, may confuse a reader approaching the text with a certain paradigm in mind, namely the Christian one. Hence leaving him with the superficial impression of the God of the Hebrew Bible as being like a human being but of a higher rank or gigantic proportions.
Christianity’s dogma of incarnation, a theology resulting from centuries of later reflections, is the climax of anthropomorphism. The NT is far removed from the Hebraic universe and closer to the Hellenestic world view. It isnt theocentric but christocentric.
Islam emphasizes God’s transcendence, protecting it from any shades of corporealism. Countless verses substantiate this principle, without resorting to textual contortions or external help to safeguard this paradigm. The Quran makes it clear, God is unknown in His essence, but is known through His signs, attributes, qualities and actions.
All religious scriptures, as is clear by now, have 2 kinds of verses; explicit and others open to interpretation. The second ones allow a range of understandings, obviously because they relate information about a realm of which we still have no experience. These ranges of meanings however may not contradict the explicit verses. These verses that are open to interpretation reveal what we should understand and set the limit of our knowledge. We are able to understand them to the extent we need to understand them, and this increases our faith but if we go beyond this and start to seek their full reality, then this will only lead us astray
2:1,9:124-125"And whenever a chapter is revealed, there are some of them who say: Which of you has it strengthened in faith? Then as for those who believe, it strengthens them in faith and they rejoice. And as for those in whose hearts is a disease, it adds uncleanness to their uncleanness and they die while they are unbelievers".
For these reasons, the Quran repeatedly says, one should not be hasty upon approaching it 75:16, should ponder and meditate on its verse before forming any adverse opinion against its ayat. This is what a religion based on solid explicit tenets is supposed to do, we do not seek ambiguous verses and try to derive isolated meanings upon which to build an entire belief system. Whenever confronted to those kind of verses, we consider the context, the words used and cross reference them with other similar verses. More importantly, whatever the conclusion we come up with, the interpretation may never contradict the explicit, firm, decisive verses.
