Can Allah have a Personal Form?

[Saalik]

And ath-Thahabee mentions from al-Muzanee that he said: "I knew that if anyone could rid me of a troubling concern about an issue of tawheed, it would be ash-Shaafi’ee. So I went to him while he was in a mosque in Egypt. When I kneeled in front of him, I said, ‘I am troubled about a certain issue of tawheed. I know that no one knows as much as you, so what do you say about this?’ "

He became angry and said, ‘Do you know where you are?’

I said, ‘Yes.’

He said, ‘This is the place where Allaah drowned Pharoah. Has it reached you that the Messenger of Allaah was ordered to ask about that?’

I said, ‘No.’

He said, ‘Have the Companions spoken about it?’

I said, ‘No.’

He said, ‘Do you know how many stars are in the sky?’

I said, ‘No.’

He said, ‘So you don't even know about one planet – its type or the time and place of its appearance and disappearance?'

I said, ‘No.’

He said, "So there is something from the creation that you see with your own eyes that you do not even know anything about, yet you speak about the Knowledge of the Creator?’ Then he asked me a question about ablution, and I erred in my response. So he explained it from four different angles (and asked me about them), and I was not correct in any of my responses. So he said, ‘So you leave alone the knowledge of something which you are in need of five times a day, and instead you burden yourself with the knowledge of the Creator? When this (kind of thing) comes to your mind, then remember the statement of Allaah the Exalted,

“And your God is One God; there is no true god besides Him. He is the Most Merciful, the Bestower of Mercy. Verily in the creation of the heavens and the earth...” [Surah Al-Baqarah 2:163-164]

So use the creation as a proof for (the Greatness of) the Creator, and do not burden yourself with what is beyond your understanding.” [Siyar A’laamin-Nubalaa‘ (10/31)]

[Islambyme]

Assalaamu alaikum,

The Creator cannot be of the same nature as the created, because if it does, it would mean He too would have a beginning in time and therefore need a maker. If He cant have a beginning then it means He is not temporal (not related to time). If He is not related to time, He must be eternal, which means He does not have a beginning or an end in time.

If the Creator is eternal, He cannot be caused and if nothing caused him to come to existence, nothing outside Him causes Him to to continue to exist, which means that he must be self-sufficient. Self-sufficient means that He does not depend on anyone or anything to exist.

And if he does not depend on anything to exist, then his existence can have no end, therefore He is eternal and everlasting.

If the Creator is eternal and everlasting, then all His qualities must be eternal and everlasting. This means, for example, that if He is powerful, He must always be powerful. He cannot cease to be powerful. If He is all-knowing, He must always be all-knowing.

The Creator then does not lose or get any new qualities. Qualities that do not change and that last forever are absoluthe ce qualities. Another name for qualities are attributes

The Creator is not like us, or bound by physical or any other limitations.

Originator of the heavens and the earth. When He decrees a matter, He only says to it, "Be," and it is. (2:117)

Regarding the famous question about the rock, I believe it is like this > When He decrees it, the rock which cannot be moved come to existence. When He decrees it, it gets moved. So, the only thing which decides whether it is immovable or movable is His decree. That's the true power of The Creator of the heavens and earth.

Regarding whether He can or He cannot take form, you must first tell me what the word 'form' is... He certainly exist, which is why inherently He has form. But the form of the created and the form of the Creator too greatly different things.

The real question is, can He become as form that is conceivable or comprehensible to us. Yes, He can, when He wills, He can, as you see from the hadith, that the revelation sometimes comes directly without Jibreel (AS), so you can conceive Allah through this revelation or in the form of the revelation.

The form which is conceivable to us cannot be something which is not fitting of Allah SWT attributes, because His attributes are absolute. His attributes do not change. It simply is not one of His characteristics or attribute to be weak like a human, therefore He simply would not be in a form which states He is weak and imperfect.

It is not [befitting] for Allah to take a son; exalted is He! When He decrees an affair, He only says to it, "Be," and it is. (19:35)

Allah SWT does not take form or do which is not befitting of His attributes or Himself, He is far more exalted than it.

And it is not for any human being that Allah should speak to him except by revelation or from behind a partition or that He sends a messenger to reveal, by His permission, what He wills. Indeed, He is Most High and Wise. (42:51)

Therefore, Allah SWT speaks or shows (make conceivable or comprehensible) His form in a befitting way to whom He wills.


May Allah SWT forgive me and my brothers. And Allah SWT knows best.