Muslim
theologians believe that the first thing to learn is knowledge about
God. Al-Razi (d. 1209) says that the knowledge which is compulsory for
every Muslim is the knowledge of God. There have been many attempts to
elaborate on God’s essence. It is often assumed that the question of
God’s nature has occupied the minds of early Muslims, and as such the
Prophet forbade them from thinking about it. ‘Think about God’s bounties, but do not think about God’s essence (dhat). Otherwise, you will vanish.’
God’s essence (dhat) cannot be understood by the limited human
capacity. A famous statement with regard to the nature of God has
dominated Islamic theology for centuries: ‘Whatever comes to your mind
about His nature, God is different than that’. ‘He is unique, is unlike all creation, and nothing is like Him’
(see Surah Ash-Shurah, 42.11). He is immeasurably distinct from every
creature. According to the teachings of Islam, we, as human beings, are
distant from God while he is closer to us than our jugular vein. A
contemporary Islamic thinker, Bediuzzaman Said Nursi (d. 1960),
elaborates on this by employing the parable of the sun and its light. We
are distant from the sun, but it is close to us through its heat, light
and reflections, as the whole sun can be reflected in the eyes of an
individual. Consequently, human beings are unable to comprehend the
essence of God, but they are able to manifest his attributes and his
names, and to conceive these manifestations in themselves as well as in
other creatures. The concept of the creation of humans in God’s image
has no reference in the Qur’an; however, the hadith refers to the notion
of his image. The Prophet says, ‘God has created humans in the image of al-Rahman.’
According to some theologians, the Prophet indicates that a human being
constitutes the most reflective mirror of al-Rahman’s name, as far as
the manifestation of God’s names is concerned. Yet the subtle question
of the know ability of God remains. First of all, we cannot understand
God’s nature, but can comprehend and attain the knowledge of him
according to our level through reflection on God’s names. For instance,
one of God’s beautiful names is al-‘alim (‘the Most Knowledgeable’).
Intuitively, humans know that their knowledge is limited, but at the
same time they are fully aware of the concept of knowledge and the
meaning of being knowledgeable about certain objects. This limited
knowledge becomes a measure for human beings to imagine, although in a
limited way, the unlimited knowledge of God. His essence is beyond
knowledge, we know in a limited way, through his attributes. All his
attributes are absolute, because nothing can be compared to him. Even
the Prophet Muhammad, the most knowledgeable man about God in Islam, in
one of his invocations confesses his limitation: ‘Lord, we have not known you as you deserve.’
The only one who knows God’s essence is God himself. Accordingly,
prophets, saints and the righteous know God, yet they know him through
his attributes and names, not his essence. And even this knowledge is
not an easy task. Sufis, the mystics of Islam, believe that over seventy
veils remain as obstacles in the way of attaining knowledge of God. To
remove each veil requires an enormous amount of spiritual effort.
One might try to reach God through removing all these veils.
Paradoxically, the Prophet narrates a statement from God (hadith qudsi)
in which he says: ‘The heavens and the earth cannot encompass Me, but I dwell in the heart of My believers.’
Students of the mystical path in Islam have made attempts to experience
the knowledge of God. They developed a three-stage pattern: belief in
God (iman billah); knowledge of God (ma’rifatullah); and love of God
(muhabetullah). The highest of these stages seems to be love of God.
According to the Qur’an, God has revealed himself through his messengers
in general and through Muhammad, the seal of the prophets, in
particular. Muhammad received divine revelation from God over a period
of twenty-three years, and the total of this revelation constitutes the
Holy Book of Islam, the Qur’an. Muhammad’s first experience of the divine
presence and heavenly revelation represent a remarkable event in the
history of Islam. In this very first experience, the archangel Gabriel
(Jibril) becomes visible to Muhammad and reveals several short verses in
which God describes himself as the One who has created humans (khalaq
al-insan) and has taught them (‘allama) what they knew not. The active
particle of both verbs has been repeatedly stated in the Qur’an among
God’s most beautiful names. Therefore, two points can be derived from
these early verses. The first point is the concept of tawhid, the oneness
of God: ‘Your God is one God’ (Surah
Fussilat, 41:6). The opposite of tawhid is shirk, that is to claim a
partnership with God, or to worship someone along with God: ‘Worship God, and do not associate any others with Him’ (Surah An-Nisa’, 4:36).
Another verse says, ‘Do not associate others with God. To associate others is a mighty wrong’ (Surah Luqman, 31:13). The central message of the Qur’an is the avoidance of associating others with God: ‘God forgives not that any others should be associated with him, but less than that He forgives to whomsoever He will’ (Surah An-Nisa’ 4:48).
The
Qur’an, by emphasizing the concept of tawhid, ultimately challenges the
main religious traditions of the time, in particular the Meccan idol
worshippers who had been housing 360 idols in the Holy Shrine, the
Ka’ba, for centuries. The Qur’an also challenges the Christian Trinity
as well as the claim of attributing a son to God. ‘And
the Jews say: Ezra is the son of Allah and the Christians say: the
Messiah is the son of Allah. That is their saying with their mouths.
They imitate the saying of those who disbelieved of old’ (Surah At-Tawbah, 9:30).
One
of the short chapters of the Qur’an, which is considered one-third of
the Holy Book in value as far as recitation is concerned, puts this
challenge very eloquently: ‘He is God, One,
and God, the Everlasting Refuge, who has not begotten, and has not been
begotten, and equal to Him is not any one’ (Surah Al-Ikhlaas, 112:1–4). He is exalted from being physically involved in any act of creation. His command for creation is ‘Be! And it is’ (Surah Al-Baqarah, 2:117). Nothing can be seen as too hard to him; for him there is no difference between the creation of a fly
and an elephant. One of the most controversial issues in relation to
the divine nature is the question of God’s visibility (ru’yatullah). The
Qur’anic verse says: ‘The eyes cannot see him, but He can see eyes’ (Surah Al-An’am, 6:103).
The
majority of Muslim theologians accept that God can be seen, but not
through our naked eyes. When a Companion asks the Prophet ‘Have you seen
your Lord?’, the Prophet replies, ‘Yes, with my heart.’
Islamic scholars refer to the Qur’anic verses related to the story of
Moses when he asks God to show himself to him. If it was impossible, a
prominent messenger of God such as Moses would not ask such a question
as this would imply ignorance about his Lord. Consequently, according to
the Qur’an, God did not reject his request and asks him to look at the
mountain. One of the Qur’anic verses represents a significant reference
for the view of the majority, which suggests that on the Day of
Judgement some of us will look joyfully at our Lord (Surah Al-Qiyamah,
75:22–23). Indeed, in the body of hadith one can find references to
divine visibility in the afterlife when the Prophet says, ‘You will see your Lord on the Day of Judgement, as you see the moon.’
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