Doubts & Their Replies: Part 1

By: Shaikh Muhammad Nâsir ad-Dîn al-Albânî

The linking of all who affirm transcendence[1] for Allah, exalted is He, to being an anthropomorphist or an embodier, or to the attribution of area[2] and place[3] to Allah, has certainly become widespread among the later generations.[4] Thus, it is necessary to remove the doubt concerning these three matters.

The First Doubt: Anthropomorphism

It is possible to take the answer to this doubt from what has preceded of the [statements] conveyed from the imams, and from what we will see in the following texts of the book;[5] I will mention some of them now.

1. Nu’aim bin Hammâd al-Hâfidh said, “Whoever likens Allah to His creation, then he has disbelieved. And [likewise,] whoever rejects what He described Himself with, then he has disbelieved. What He described Himself with is not anthropomorphism, nor [is what] His messenger [described Him with].”

2. Is·hâq bin Râhawaih said, “Certainly anthropomorphism would be if [one] said ‘hand like my hand,’ or ‘hearing like my hearing’; then this is anthropomorphism. As for if [one] said just as Allah said: ‘hand, and hearing, and sight,’ then he did not say ‘how’ or ‘the likes of …’, then this is not anthropomorphism. Allah, exalted is He, said, «Nothing is like His likes and He is the Hearing, the Seeing» (42:11).”