Islam's Allah- Present/ Absent/ Relevant/ Has a Body?

Headings

Introduction- the significance

The debate over Allah’s body/body parts raged in early Islam and still remains unresolved, largely due to a number of scriptural passages and texts seeming affirm this. One of the main conerns was that this would seem to contradict the Qur’anic teaching related to God’s transcendence that “nothing is comparable to/ there is nothing like God”. The opposite of transcendance is called “immanence”, which merely means the literal presence of God within creation. Muslims typically worry that immanence and transcendence might not mix, that they might be mutually exclusive states.

These questions are significant in polemics, where Muslims might want to use the argument against immanence to disprove the Incarnation. However there are several Qur’anic verses and traditions to the contrary, as we shall see. Nor does the Qur’an have any clear statement against immanence, nor also against one other property- omnipotence. Just as with immancence, omnipresence also increases the prior probability of an Incarnation- if God is already everywhere, he could also be somewhere, and this too is typically denied by Muslims polemicists.

Another reason for the Muslim concerns might be a certain degree of embarrasment: were God truly able to “come a-knocking”, it is hard to see why he does not do so for Muhammed, only the Biblical prophets and Jesus, as we shall also see.

However there is a deeper significance to Allah’s literal absence from the physical realm, one that is related to the very relevance of Islam’s Allah, and both in Heaven and on Earth. Islam does not require the real presence of the deity within the physical realm because the only interaction that is believed with dogmatic necessity is that with the book. There is no dogma of grace as with Christianity where there is a direct interaction of the deity with the human soul leading to its transformation, and nor is there a doctrine of theosis and so on. The Incarnation of Christ is just one more level of interaction of the deity with the fleshly realm, for a deity who already has an intimate interaction with the people in the Old Testament “dwelling with his people” and the Holy Spirit who already indwells the prophets. In Islam the onus is upon the believers themselves once again, to believe or not to believe, to repent or not to repent and so on.

Does Allah have a literal Body/ Body Parts?

In this article we look at the problematic implications of the famous “Shin-Allah” verse of the Qur’an 68:42 as well as related verse and traditions, identify potential problematic implications and provide a simple Christian interpretation of these themes. The question of whether or not Allah has literal body parts has been a major issue of debate with Islam from the earliest times, while in Christianity this is hardly a problem, because the real Humanity of Christ defines it anyway. That is to say, if Jesus is a real Man, he has a literal Body.

Allah to bare his Shin and Shape on the Day

The Shin of Allah

Verse 68:42 of the Qur’an seemingly indicates that Judgement Day will be ushered in by the event of Allah baring his shin to everyone. Although it does not say “my shin”, it is hard to see who else’s shin it could possibly be referring to as the “curtain-raiser” as it were, inducing prostation from his loyal followers:

“(Remember) the Day when the Shin shall be laid bare (i.e. the Day of Resurrection) and they shall be called to prostrate (to Allah), but they (hypocrites) shall not be able to do so” (Q 68:42)

In any case, the related hadith is quite specific that it is indeed Allah’s own shin in view here:

“We said, “O Allah’s Messenger! Shall we see our Lord on the Day of Resurrection?” He said, “Do you have any difficulty in seeing the sun and the moon when the sky is clear?” We said, “No.” He said, “So you will have no difficulty in seeing your Lord on that Day as you have no difficulty in seeing the sun and the moon (in a clear sky)…

…Then the Almighty will come to them in a shape other than the one which they saw the first time, and He will say, ‘I am your Lord,’ and they will say, ‘You are not our Lord.’ And none will speak: to Him then but the Prophets, and then it will be said to them, ‘Do you know any sign by which you can recognize Him?’ They will say. ‘The Shin,’ and so Allah will then uncover His Shin whereupon every believer will prostrate before Him…” (excerpt, Bukhari 7439)

As we can see in the above and following, the concern revolves around correctly identifying God. Apparently on Judgement Day when all of Mankind is gathered before God, Islam is still concerned about who is convening the gathering.

Issues with the translation

There should be no confusion about the fact that the literal meaning is shin. That means, as with everything else, that whether it is a metaphor or not depends upon the context. This is the lexical entry for it: http://lexicon.quranic-research.net/data/12_s/253_swq.html.

The Lane lexicon mentions ” كَشَفَ عَنْ سَاقِهِ [lit. He uncovered his shank; meaning † he prepared himself for difficulty] (…) Thus, the saying يَوْمَ يُكْشَفُ عَنْ سَاقٍ, (Ṣ, Ḳ, TA,) in the Ḳur [lxviii. 42], (Ṣ, TA,) [lit. On a day when a shank shall be uncovered,] means † on a day when difficulty, or calamity, shall be disclosed. (I’Ab, Mujáhid, Ṣ, Ḳ, TA.)”

We can see that the lexicon is employing the Qur’anic usage here, which means that it is probably incorporating the views of commentators like Ibn Kathir. Thus the lexicon is probably limited to Islamic sources in this case and would the case in many cases, since pre-Islamic Arabic literature of even grammar is quite sparse. This is the limitation of the lexicon in such cases of difficult translations, it is going to use Muslims scholars. The commentators go with the metaphoric translation for the baring of the shin beign linked to calamities in general. The problem with this is that it doesn’t take into account that the verse is linked to the “authentic” hadithic narrations where the shin is linked to the very identity of Allah. Ibn Kathir himself narrates a hadith which itself does not sound metaphoric at all. Here is the section from his commentary on the verse:

“The Day when the Shin shall be laid bare and they shall be called to prostrate themselves, but they shall not be able to do so.) meaning, the Day of Judgement and the horrors, earthquakes, trials, tests and great matters that will occur during it. Al-Bukhari recorded that Abu Sa`id Al-Khudri said that he heard the Prophet saying, “Our Lord will reveal His Shin, and every believing male and female will prostrate to Him. The only people who will remain standing are those who prostrated in the worldly life only to be seen and heard (showing off). This type of person will try to prostrate at that time, but his back will made to be one stiff plate (the bone will not bend or flex).” This Hadith was recorded in the Two Sahihs and other books from different routes of transmission with various wordings. It is a long Hadith that is very popular.”

The rest of Allah’s Shape

Here not only the shin, but the whole shape is used for identification:

“Narrated Abu Huraira (…) he who used to worship the sun, will follow it, and he who used to worship the moon will follow it, and he who used to worship false deities will follow them; and then only this nation (i.e., Muslims) will remain, including their hypocrites. Allah will come to them in a shape other than they know and will say, ‘I am your Lord.’ They will say, ‘We seek refuge with Allah from you. This is our place; (we will not follow you) till our Lord comes to us, and when our Lord comes to us, we will recognize Him. Then Allah will come to then in a shape they know and will say, “I am your Lord.’ They will say, ‘(No doubt) You are our Lord,’ and they will follow Him…” (Bukhari 6573)

Here, we are given identifiers over and above what we have in the Qur’an, where we only find the shin. Apparently here Muslims will identify Allah because he is a two/more-eyed man. They will apparently have difficulty differentiating him from a miserable-sounding hen-toed, woolly-haired, one-eye-blind monstrosity:

“Narrated Ubadah ibn as-Samit: The Prophet said: I have told you so much about the Dajjal (Antichrist) that I am afraid you may not understand. The Antichrist is short, hen-toed, woolly-haired, one-eyed, an eye-sightless, and neither protruding nor deep-seated. If you are confused about him, know that your Lord is not one-eyed.” (Grade Sahih, Sunan abi Dawud 4320)

Man- made in the Image of God

A single Qur’anic verse of somewhat obscure meaning seems to imply man is created in the image of God. Others have famously used this to signify what is called the “fitrah”. The Arabic reads “fitrata l-lahi allati fatara l-nasa”- which would seem to literally translate “the nature (?) of God in which he has created man”. The actual meaning of fitrah in the verse is difficult to ascertain, because every one of the times that the f-t-r root appears in the Qur’an, it is related to the act of creating, the noun form fitrata appearing only once in the entire book. As it is, the syntax of the verse would necessitate that there is something pertaining to God upon which hsi creation of man is based.

The commentators have to do a bit more work to extract the current Muslim understanding of “fitrah” from this verse, a concept that was elucidated by a much later commentator, none other than ibn Taymiyya himself, something that does note emerge from a surface reading of the text:

“So set thy purpose (O Muhammad) for religion as a man by nature upright – the nature (framed) of Allah, in which He hath created man. There is no altering (the laws of) Allah’s creation. That is the right religion, but most men know not -” (Q 30:30, Pickthall)

We even have hadith saying that men were created in the image of God anyway, which lends support to the claim of Allah having these human body parts. This is still a remarkable hadith, given that we are told repeatedly in the Qur’an that nothing is comparable to Allah:

“Narrated Abu Huraira: The Prophet said, “Allah created Adam in His picture, sixty cubits (about 30 meters) in height. When He created him, He said (to him), “Go and greet that group of angels sitting there, and listen what they will say in reply to you, for that will be your greeting and the greeting of your offspring.” Adam (went and) said, ‘As-Salamu alaikum (Peace be upon you).’ They replied, ‘AsSalamu-‘Alaika wa Rahmatullah (Peace and Allah’s Mercy be on you) So they increased ‘Wa Rahmatullah’ The Prophet added ‘So whoever will enter Paradise, will be of the shape and picture of Adam Since then the creation of Adam’s (offspring) (i.e. stature of human beings is being diminished continuously) to the present time.” (Bukhari 6227, repeated in Muslim 2841)

There extremely strong attestation of the literal meaning of this in other hadith such as:

“When any one of you fights with his brother, he should avoid his face for Allah created Adam in His own image” (Muslim 2612e)

“Suwaid b. Muqarrin reported that he had a slave-girl and a person (one of the members of the family) slapped her, whereupon Suwaid said to him: Don’t you know that it is forbidden (to strike the) face. He said: You see I was the seventh one amongst my brothers during the lifetime of Allah’s Messenger, and we had but only one servant. One of us got enraged and slapped him. Thereupon Allah’s Messenger commanded us to set him free.” (Muslim 1658d)

and there are still others:

“Ibn Abi ‘Aasim narrated in al-Sunnah (517) that Ibn ‘Umar said: The Messenger of Allaah said: “Do not say ‘May Allaah deform your face’ [a form of cursing in Arabic], for the son of Adam was created in the image of the Most Merciful.” Shaykh ‘Abd-Allaah ibn al-Ghunaymaan said: “This hadeeth is saheeh and was classed as such by the imams and by Imam Ahmad and Ishaaq ibn Raahawayh. Those who classed it as da’eef have no evidence, except for the view of Ibn Khuzaymah, but those who classed it as saheeh are more knowledgeable than him.

Ibn Abi ‘Aasim also narrated (516) that Abu Hurayrah said: The Messenger of Allaah said: “When any one of you fights let him avoid the face, for Allaah created Adam in the image of His Face.” Shaykh al-Albaani said: its isnaad is saheeh.”

Al-Tirmidhi (3234) narrated from Ibn ‘Abbaas that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “My Lord came to me in the most beautiful image and said, ‘O Muhammad.’ I said, ‘Here I am at Your service, my Lord.’ He said, ‘What are the chiefs (angels) on high disputing about…’” Classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Tirmidhi.

Whence this Memory?- “Prequel Life”

In the hadith above we (Bukhari 7439) we saw: “Then the Almighty will come to them in a shape other than the one which they saw the first time…‘Do you know any sign by which you can recognize Him?’ They will say. ‘The Shin,’. Once again we see “shape other than they know… shape they know” in Bukhari 6573.

This indicates there was a previous encounter, prior to the final one on Judgement Day. Muslims believe this is a memory from a “prequel” to this life (as seen in DIsney movies Soul and Boss Baby), a state even prior to conception in the mother’s womb (this should make all abortion illegal in Islam, although this is not universally taught). According to this interpretation, Allah extracts souls from the loins of Adam, and makes this covenant with them.

“Prequel-Life” is not the surface interpretation of the text

The two Qur’anic verses from which all this takes off neither mention nor necessitate any such “prequel” state. The first is the so called “Ayat al-Mithaq” or “verse of the covenant”, a word which does not actually occur verse itself. However in it the “descendants” are “taken” not only “from the loins” of Adam, but also of his descendants or “children”. This is just a description of normal human descent, where offspring comes from the parents. The supposed “covenant” could then have taken place at any time in history, for example in the manner that God spoke to the Israelites through Moses. As it stands, this conversation actually comes at the end of a long section that is about the “people of Moses” and Allah’s supposed dealings with them, and so could be seen as referring to an earlier time:

“And [mention] when your Lord took from the children of Adam – from their loins – their descendants and made them testify of themselves, [saying to them], “Am I not your Lord?” They said, “Yes, we have testified.” [This] – lest you should say on the day of Resurrection, “Indeed, we were of this unaware.” (Q 7:172, SI)

The second is the “fitrah” verse, Q 30:30 which we discuss later, but the surface translation of which would be “merely” that God created man in his own image, a well-known Biblical allusion.

Hadith/ Commentators favour “Prequel Life”

In fact, the “prequel-life” interpretation is universally attested to in the early reports. So even though to my knowledge none of these reports go back to Muhammed himself, literally all of the sahaba/ tabie’en (first and second generation followersof Muhammad), the early “Salaf” hold to this view. Al-Tabari, hailed by many as the greatest early commentator meticulously documents no less than 40 traditions related to the matter complete with their chains of transmission (isnads) and has no hesitation in considering this tradition mutawattur (universally attested and beyond question). This is an example of one such tradition as narrated by none other than Ubayy Ibn Ka’ab:

“God gathered all human beings, divided them into different groups, granted them human form and the faculty of speech, made them enter into a covenant, and then making them witnesses against themselves He asked them: ‘Am I not your Lord?’ They replied: ‘Assuredly you are Our Lord.’ Then God told them: ‘I call upon the sky and the earth and your own progenitor, Adam, to be witness against you lest you should say on the Day of Judgement that you were ignorant of this. Know well that no one other than Me deserves to he worshipped and no one other than Me is your Lord. So do not ascribe any partner to Me. I shall send to you My Messengers who will remind you of this covenant which you made with Me. I shall send down to you My Books.’ In reply all said: ‘We witness that You are Our Lord and our Deity. We have no lord or deity other than You.’ (Ahmad b. Hanbal, Musnad, vol. 5, p. 135 – Ed.)

On the other hand the Mu’tazali with their emphasis on reason, deny such a literalist view, as does Ar-Razi and Zamakshari. On the other hand, an important later commentator, Ibn Taymiyya, although he is usually aligned with the traditions, in this case goes agains them uncharacteristically and supports a metaphorical take on the issue.

Lastly, I was greatly helped in this issue by a video from the Exploring Qur’an and Bible channel, which I will link below.

“Prequel-Life/Memory” struggles to be coherent

If we reflect on all the cognitive ramifications of such a complex term as “testifying to God”, we can appreciate why it seems out of place at a time even before life has actually begun. Decisions like these require informed consent, which a person can only give at the age of accountability, something attained after a minimum period of life experience. In fact many will require their entire adult lives to come to a realization of the importance of spiritual matters. On the other hand here it is as though there were an age of accountability prior to the actual age of accountability. Again, the reason a “testimony” regarding religion might be required in the first place, would be some challenge or doubt with regards to the existence of God or his authority. But these are things that we encounter in our earthly life anyway, why go through it all a second time?

Thus it is hard to see how such an event, whereby we see God and then immediately forget that we did see him, could have any impact upon how we are judged. Is God really going to challenge atheists based on something that they were not supposed to remember anyway? What exactly does this add to a spiritual model in which we learn about God from scirptures, traditions, prophets and so on?

Christianity never felt the need for such a state, nor is there Biblical precedent for it. The reason we feel a yearning for God could be merely intellectual, because it stands to reason and thus appeals to our intellect, or spiritual, because the omnipresent God enkindles a yearning in our soul for our benefit, and in this very life (this is called “prevenient grace”, or that our souls naturally are drawn to the one that created them, because it is in their very nature, of which we know scan little, but that God permeates our very being, and we have no existence other than “in him”. Think of how an orphan child longs to find their biological parents because he feels organically connected to them, or the awarenes of having shared an intimate physical association with them in the earliest time of their life. Either way, “prequel life” would seem redundant and mythological.

Listen to King David describe this intimacy with God in our creation:

“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” (Ps.139:13-16)

Or with Jeremiah:

“before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations” (1:5)

Allah with a literal Body cannot be Transcendent

These verses and traditions also require that Allah have human-type body/ body parts. Clearly the hadith 7439 and speak of a “shape they knew from the first time they saw him”, plus man is made in his image, and then there is the hadith of the one-eyed man. The Athari school, possibly the oldest school of Islamic thought has no problem takingsuch a literalist view. A God who has a body has a shape, and is therefore limited to the space delineated by that shape.

Even if it is held that God only presents the optical illusion of such a shape to us for our sake, but the question would still remain- the reason that Allah is using the metaphor of the shin must be to indicate that he has a shin, what could Allah be telling us by this? A body part cannot be a metaphor for the absence of body parts, there has to be a point to a metaphor, while in this case it is statedly linked ot identity and so it could not be a metaphor.

The Qur’an asserts that nothing is “comparable” to God, but clearly this “comparability” could not be related to a lack of body parts, rather that the body parts themselves possess some incomparable excellence. This goes in line with other verses where Allah seems to move through time and space, first building the earth, then turning toward the heavens in order to create them, then in further apparent sequential act, proceeding to establish himself over his Throne. There are huge discussions in the Islamic world about the whole “where is Allah” question which we will not go into, but which derive from these very descriptions.

Confusion about who’s in charge in the after-life?

It does not make sense that there will be confusion about who is in charge of things when we wake up from death, and it is hard to see how the one that is calling the shots could be anyone but God in the after-life. Muslim theology paints a picture of the lost souls standing at a street corner cold and still confused an bewildered in death even as they were in life, watching the shadows go by that are still vying for their attention. like the one-eye-blind, hen-toed man with woolly hair.

Summary: the Problem of Q 68:42, and a simple Christian Interpretation of the Theme

In Summary, we are led to believe that on the Day of Judgement, Muslims will be able to know exactly what’s going on and whom to bow down to because they will recognise God’s shape and shin. This is because they have seen them before in their “prequel life”. We can summarise the problems with such a belief:

This is the problem of Q 68:42: If Allah is providing body parts and shape as his positive identifiers, then they are his identity, not metaphors. Try using a metaphor on your drving lisence, for example. But a God who has a shape is delimited by that shape. Such a God can therefore not be transcendent. There are further correlates to this form since we are also told that man is made in God’s image, and body parts like the human face are directly linked to their likeness to God.
There cannot be any theological significance to the supposed “prequel- life”, is the mainstream Islamic interpretation of Q 7:172 and 30:30. Further, the verses themselves does no necessitate such an interpretation. Something has seemingly gone awry in the vaunted Islamic traditions, or someone has taken too many artistic liberties here.
Finally, a Christian interpretation of these themes seems a much easier fit: Chrsitians believe that they will see the form of the Man-God Jesus on Judement Day, and they have seen in before, in his earthly sojourn. Thus both the transcendence and physicality of God is married in Christianity, whereas in Islam they remain the subject of a perpetual and age-old debate. The most probable reason is that some of the themes are taken from pre-Islamic Christian and Jewish tradition anyway.

Does Allah enter into creation?

No he does not

Although the affirmation is rather weak, this is still an important contradiction because most modern Muslims hold almost dogmatically to the absenteeism of Allah in creation. Below is the only verse from which this might be derived. there are seemingly two obvious motivations for this position. The first being that the possibility of God being able to enter creation might be seen to be allowing too much for the possibility of the truth of the Incarnation. The second is that this offers some explanation for the Muslims as to why God never speaks directly to Muhammed.

Nothing in this verse is a positive assertion about God not being able to enter creation. It is about speaking to God. It clearly leaves open the possibility that God be in creation and wearing a veil in it:

“It belongs not to any mortal that God should speak to him, except by revelation, or from behind a veil, or that He should send a messenger and he reveal whatsoever He will, by His leave; surely He is All-high, All-wise.” (Q 42:51)

Yes he does

There are many places in the Quran and the Hadith which require God to be present in creation.

Firstly, the creation account implies that Allah needs to be in creation, since following creating he “ascends the Throne”. Clearly he had to start somewhere in order to ascend it. He asserts that he created Adam “with his own two hands”. Whatever “hands” is meant to represent, it is hard to see how it does not represent contact.

God is said to speak “directly” with Moses, which is a unique gift that he is given (we can even ignore the fact that this is an obvious reflection of God speaking “face-to-face” with Moses). This is also confirmed in a famous hadith about intercession on Judgement Day, to be unique to Musa:

“and Messengers We have already told thee of before, and Messengers We have not told thee of; and unto Moses God spoke directly” (Q 4:164)

In this surah, the very fact that Allah has destroyed the mountain is here implying that it is his presence which has brought about the effect of destruction. Allah is not saying that he cannot be here, only that he cannot be seen, which was Moses’ request:

“And when Moses came to Our appointed time and his Lord spoke with him, he said, ‘Oh my Lord, show me, that I may behold Thee!’ Said He, ‘Thou shalt not see Me; but behold the mountain — if it stays fast in its place, then thou shalt see Me.’ And when his Lord revealed Him to the mountain He made it crumble to dust; and Moses fell down swooning. So when he awoke, he said, ‘Glory be to Thee! I repent to Thee; I am the first of the believers.'” (Q 7:143)

Further, only two verses later as if to cement the point made above, we receive proof that Allah is not necessarily universally corrosive as he calmly writes on stone tablets:

“Said He, ‘Moses, I have chosen thee above all men for My Messages and My Utterance; take what I have given thee, and be of the thankful.’ And We wrote for him on the Tablets of everything an admonition, and a distinguishing of everything: ‘So take it forcefully, and command thy people to take the fairest of it. I shall show you the habitation of the ungodly.” (Q 7:144,145)

Then we have other places where Allah is clearly in creation like:

“When he came to it, a voice cried from the right of the watercourse, in the sacred hollow, coming from the tree: ‘Moses, I am God, the Lord of all Being.'”(Q 28:30)

And again from the fire:

So, when he came to it, he was called: ‘Blessed is he who is in the fire, and he who is about it. Glory be to God, the Lord of all Being! Moses, behold, it is I, God, the All-mighty, the All-wise.” (Q 27:8,9)

The hadith (ibn Kathir, Qurtubi) both acknowledge that Allah is in the fire and does enter into creation. Further there is the hadith that states that Allah “descends” into the lowest Heaven in the last third of the night.

Here Allah is “with them”:
““God has numbered it, and they have forgotten it. God is witness over everything. Hast thou not seen that God knows whatsoever is in the heavens, and whatsoever is in the earth? Three men conspire not secretly together, but He is the fourth of them, neither five men, but He is the sixth of them, neither fewer than that, neither more, but He is with them, wherever they may be; then He shall tell them what they have done, on the Day of Resurrection. Surely God has knowledge of everything.” (Q 58:7)“

Allah does NOT encounter Mohammed nor any Muslim

In the Hebrew Bible, a prophet is a “navi” which we see used only a handful of times in the Qur’an as the Arabic “nabi”. Rather, the preominant term used in association with Mohammed in the Qur’an is rasool, which is essentially a messenger. Rasool is a generic term that can for example can also be used for the king’s messenger or emissary. Mark Drury charts out the essential difference for us:

“the separation between heaven earth… pervades the Qur’an’s descriptions of revelation, which is by a process of “sending down” (v. anzala, n. tanzil). In the Biblical understanding, the prophet enters the divine council, coming into the presence of YHWH, where a meeting of human and divine takes place, and then YHWH speaks through the mouth of the prophet, as mediated divine speech. However in the Qur’an a portion of pre-existing “scripture” (Q:32:2) is “sent down” to the messenger, after which it can be recited by him repeatedly. Allah does not speak it through the mouth of a human being in an act of prophecy. In the Qur’anic understanding there is an inviolable separation, to a physical mediation…” (Drury, Biblical Reflexes of th[e Qur’an)

This is also the reason in the Quran the only interaction that Mohammed has with anything remotely divine is his meeting with the alleged angel in the cave. This even though throughout the history of the Jews, God speaks directly to the prophets, and all this acknowledged in the Quran! It is only the new religion that has an absentee God who does not even speak to his favorite prophet, he “sends verses” down upon him through angels.

Proximity is metaphoricized to denote literal Abscence

Muslim will concede is that “Allah is present by his knowledge”, the meaning of which is given by “Allah knows everything that happens on the Earth”. This is of course, confirmation that Allah is not present on the Earth.

For example:

Q 50:16 says “we are closer to you than your jugular vein”

Allah is trying to tell people to be careful of what they think, because he will know. Muslims never treat this as meaning that Allah is literally inside a persons body or that he indwells a person. Translator Mohsin Khan actually even adds parenthetically “by his knowledge”:

“And the companions of the thicket and the people of Tubba’. All denied the messengers, so My threat was justly fulfilled. Did We fail in the first creation? But they are in confusion over a new creation. And We have already created man and know what his soul whispers to him, and We are closer to him than [his] jugular vein” (Q 50:14-16).

Or again here we see “he is with them”:

“God has numbered it, and they have forgotten it. God is witness over everything. Hast thou not seen that God knows whatsoever is in the heavens, and whatsoever is in the earth? Three men conspire not secretly together, but He is the fourth of them, neither five men, but He is the sixth of them, neither fewer than that, neither more, but He is with them, wherever they may be; then He shall tell them what they have done, on the Day of Resurrection. Surely God has knowledge of everything.” (Q 58:7)

Or famously here, Allah’s voice is in the bush:

Q: “Is God present on Earth?”

A: Always the same Muslim answer here: “by his knowledge” or sometimes “by his attributes, like seeing and hearing” (because Allah is said to be “all-seeing, all-hearing).

Q: (Second challenge): “does that mean that God is present?”

A: Repeated as above: “yes, by his knowledge and attributes”.

Q: “are God’s attributes Allah?”

A: “No”

Conclusion: ”If what is present is not Allah then Allah is not present”.

We can see that there is an obvious sharp shift in the manner of communication from Allah to Mohammed as compared to the Biblical prophets when even in the Quran the mode of Biblical communication is somewhat preserved in the case of Biblical:

“When he came to it, a voice cried from the right of the watercourse, in the sacred hollow, coming from the tree: ‘Moses, I am God, the Lord of all Being.'”(Q 28:30)

And again from the fire:

“So, when he came to it, he was called: ‘Blessed is he who is in the fire, and he who is about it. Glory be to God, the Lord of all Being! Moses, behold, it is I, God, the All-mighty, the All-wise.” (Q 27:8,9)

The account is retold, it is said that “when Moses came to it (the fire) a voice was heard” or even in some cases para-Christian retellings like the story of Alexander the Great (Dhu’l- Qurnain in the Qur’an), but never from the point of Mohammed’s own revelation (even here we see a possible exception (Q 60:3,4) although in rather suspicious circumstances when Mohammed is having a domestic issue with his wives and claims that Allah “informed him” of something that is said behind his back).

Compare this with the sustained proximity of God with his creature that is present throughout the Bible from the beginning of the Old Testament and we can see the obvious deficiency made manifest in Islam. In Islam Allah does not encounter nor speak to Muhammad nor any Muslims after him. He only speaks to Biblical figures that Islam claims to be Muslim.

The effects of the disjunction of God from his attributes is seemingly given its extreme expression in the religion of Islam. The Qur’an consistently asserts that God is “all-seeing, all-hearing”, and there is also a sequence in which God’s “voice” is heard “from the bush” by Moses. It is clear that this “quality” or “attribute” of “hearing/ seeing/ speaking” itself is on the Earth. At the same time it is the mainstream Islamic contention that God does not himself walk the Earth, there is no “real Presence” of God here. This implies a disconnect between God and his attributes (of voice, seeing, hearing) i.e. that God is not joined to his own attributes, for if God were truly joined to these attributes described, then he would be on Earth too (think diagrammatically of a table sat upon the earth, with the legs as the attributes and the table-top as representing God himself who is not those attributes).

Allah is NOT in Janna anyway

“Above the throne”- means not on Earth/ Heaven

Christians take it for granted that Heaven is synonymous with the presence of God. The Islamic conception of Heaven is however closer to that of Jehovah’s Witnesses’ and Mormons’ concepts of a sensuous Heaven without God.

The only clue Muslims have as to the location of Allah is given in this verse which we have already seen:

“Lo! your Lord is Allah Who created the heavens and the earth in six Days, then mounted He the Throne” (Q7:34)

This means that when Muslims use “Most High” in relation to Allah they are not using this merely as a title of purity rather also locatively in that he is above every location, even the Heavens.

“Do you feel secure that He, Who is over the heaven, will not cause the earth to sink with you …?” [Q 67:16]

“Allah, it is He Who has created the heavens and the earth, and all that is between them in six days. Then He rose over (istawa) the Throne (in a manner that suits His Majesty).(Q 32:4 also 10:3)

“Islamqa.com” the official Salafist site states:

“The salaf (pious predecessors) agreed that Allah is above heaven, as is reported by scholars such as al-Dhahabi in his book Al-‘Aluw li’l-‘Aliy al-Ghaffar.” The theology that has been worked out seems to be based upon the notion that Allah cannot be confined into a physical space, and therefore also not in Muslim Janna which is a physical space full of sensual pleasures. They therefore “locate” Allah not “in” but rather “above the heavens”: as sort of “Out of sight is out of mind”, solution…

Will Muslims see Allah in Jannah?

Will Muslims see God in Heaven? There are various hadith that state that the believers will indeed be given to gaze upon their Lord in some manner in Janna, and the islamqa website here: https://islamqa.info/en/answers/14525/will-the-believers-see-their-lord-in-paradise lists these with the conclusion that all that is certain is that the believers will be able to see God at Friday prayers while as to whether this will be case at other times is not certain, but not ruled out either.

One verse confirms that no eyes can see him, but Muslims might want to interpret this as being the case only in earthly life:

“Vision perceives Him not, but He perceives [all] vision; and He is the Subtle, the Acquainted (Aware)” (Q 6:103)

This verse might be taken to mean that Muslims will have a view of God’s Face:

“do not drive away those who call upon the Lord morning and evening, seeking nothing but his Face (wajhahu- his face)” (Q 6:52a)

9:72 is never even translated as “the pleasure in the presence of God”, rather this is meant to convey the joy of having God’s approval…being in God’s good books, to be approved by God, in the manner of saying “they enjoyed the king’s good favour”. That is how this word “ridwana” is translated every single other occasion in the Qur’an even when it is used in the exact same context eg. in 9:21 of the same chapter. This “ridwana” of Allah can be contrasted with the “bliss” “naimun” (ن ع م n-a-m root) that is derived from the gardens. In 47:28 we see “That is because they followed what angered Allah and disliked [what earns] His pleasure, so He rendered worthless their deeds”, it is obvious that this is seeking the approval of Allah. This is how the word is translated each of its 13 occurences in the Qur’an.

“God has promised the believers, men and women, gardens underneath which rivers flow, forever therein to dwell, and goodly dwelling-places in the Gardens of Eden; and greater, God’s good pleasure (wa-ridwana); that is the mighty triumph.” (Q 9:72)

This probably comes closest:

“Indeed, the righteous will be among gardens and rivers, in a seat of honor near a mighty (muq’tadirin) king (malīkin)” (Q 54:54,55)

Allah is not mentioned, and there is no definite article, rather “a king”. Allah is called “sovereign” in other verses “el-malikin” with the definite article, and it is one of his 99 names. Ibn Kathir indicates it does refer to Allah:

“… Allah said, (in a seat of truth,) in the Dwelling of Allah’s honor, encompassed by His pleasure, favors, bounties, generosity and compassion, (near the Muqtadir King.) meaning with the Magnificent King Who created everything and measured its destiny; He is able to grant them whatever they wish and ask for. Imam Ahmad recorded that `Abdullah bin `Amr said that the Prophet said, (Verily, the just will be with Allah on podiums of light, to the right of Ar-Rahman, and both of His Hands are right. They are those who are just and fair in their judgement and with their families and those whom they are responsible for.) Muslim and An-Nasa’i also recorded this Hadith.“

Now this is Judgement Day, not Heaven, since it is referring to “the Day”, and besides it would be absurd for faces to he distorted in Heaven. But it’s a very important verse because it gets used in apologetics all over the place, by leaving out the last phrase (which is v.24). The following verse too:

“some faces on that Day shall be radiant (nadirah) looking (nazirtun) at their Lord and some will be distorted (basiratun)” (Q 75:22-24)

“No indeed; but upon that day they shall be veiled from their Lord” (Q 83:15)

Similarly, surahs 2:223, 9:77, 50:20-22 all speak of Muslims “meeting” Allah, seemingly mainly in the context of Judgement.

“O Man! Thou art laboring unto thy Lord laboriously, and thou shalt encounter Him.” (Q 84:6)

There is a hadith which speaks of the delight of the vision of God, even though this sentiment is entirely missing in the Qur’an itself:

(Suhaib reported the Apostle saying: When those deserving of Paradise would enter Paradise, the Blessed and the Exalted would ask: Do you wish Me to give you anything more? They would say: Hast Thou not brightened our faces? Hast Thou not made us enter Paradise and saved us from Fire? He (the narrator) said: He (God) would lift the veil, and of things given to them nothing would he dearer to them than the sight of their Lord, the Mighty and the Glorious -Muslim 181a)

The hadith (Bukhari 7439 and 6573) assert that at least for the purposes of Resurrection Day, Muslims will be able to see Allah “as you see the Sun and the Moon in a clear sky” so that they can recognize his “Shin and shape”. The question then probably is one of whether this vision will be one of the pleasures of Jannah or not. The Qur’an, in sharp contrast to the Bible, is quite reserved about this and the concept is not really present, whereas a hadithic tradition does develop that takes more interest in it.

Worshipping Allah in Janna?

Further there is no particular verse which really describes the worship of God in Heaven as is described in the Christian texts like Revelations, or the great prophetic visions like that of Isaiah and Ezekiel, or in the Psalms.

Surah 10:10 states that the “call” of those entering Heaven will be “Exalted are You, O Allah ,” and that their “last call” (whatever that means) will be “Praise to Allah , Lord of the worlds!”

The angels do it, though, they never tire of worshipping Allah nor are they ever disobedient. Humans on the other hand look forward to several pleasures in addition to Allah. In modern language, the Janna experience would be advertised as “Allah+” as we see in the next section.

The first mention is:

“And when thy Lord said to the angels, ‘I am setting in the earth a viceroy (khalifatan).’ They said, ‘What, wilt Thou set therein one who will do corruption there, and shed blood, while We proclaim (nusabbihu) Thy praise (bihamdika) and call Thee Holy (nuqaddisu) ?’ He said, ‘Assuredly I know that you know not.'” (Q 2:30)

Allah CANNOT do Anything

The fact that the Allah as seen in Islam is conferred various limitations lends further credence to the theory of his irrelevance and likelihood of non-existence. The Allah of Islam is not the Judaic monotheistic deity which manifests with the “Shekinah” glory on Earth, nor the monotheistic Christian deity who is Incarnated in the Flesh. Both clearly interact with creation (there are numerous instances of this in the Old Testament, of course, the entire Torah is the story of this very interaction).

There is no action of Allah upon the Soul

Muslim believer “Repents” and God forgives. In Islam this is the end of the story, everything that needed to be accomplished has been accomplished at this point and therefore all the drastic action of God arriving on Earth, and dying for us in order to achieve a radical inner purity of the our souls, we could not possibly achieve of our own, is made redundant: “just repenting” has achieved all of that. The Incarnation and Death of Christ is seen in Christianity as that Grace through which we are able to stop sinning entirely, being “made new”, “in Christ”, however in Islam all of this is achieved through “just repenting”. Islamic apologists will argue that the same can be said of Jews, they did not require anyone to die for their sins either, which specific point is addressed in the article on Atonement ().

Once this is done, all that is left is for Mohammed to intercede (That Muhammad is the only intercessor for man is made abundantly clear passages like the lengthy hadith 7510 in Bukhari” and others, covered in the relevant article ().

There is no concept in Islam of God “regenerating” the soul of a person from within through a direct action in the soul. The closest that the Qur’an comes to the “new creation” concept of the Bible is 30:27 “And He is the One Who originates the creation then will resurrect it—which is even easier for Him.¹ To Him belong the finest attributes in the heavens and the earth. And He is the Almighty, All-Wise.”

Apart from being vaguely reminiscent of the Biblical verse, there is no real correlation of this verse to anything else that is happening in the rest of the Qur’an.

The whole concept of divine action in the life of the Human being is removed from Islam, with the denial of Christ. The full discussion of this is the article on the atoning Sacrifice of Jesus, to purify us of our sins.

But Allah also Does Enter Creation?

This is covered in the contradictions article. Let us examine this well-known hadith:

“Allah descends every night to the lowest heaven when one-third of the first part of the night is over and says: I am the Lord; I am the Lord: who is there to supplicate Me so that I answer him? Who is there to beg of Me so that I grant him? Who is there to beg forgiveness from Me so that I forgive him? He continues like this till the day breaks.” (Sahih Muslim 753b)

We know what the “lowest heaven” is, because it is the place that Allah adorns with the stars (Q 41:12). Thus it effectively, in modern cosmology, would represent the physical universe. To an ancient Arab, it would merely represent a dome above him, nearest to the earth that somehow held these “lamps”.

First, it does not seem likely the Qur’anic author is not aware that half the part of the earth that shroud in night is continually revolving 360⁰ around the Earth, like the visor on a bike helmet. That visor would then represent the shape of Allah himself. Thus given that it’s night somewhere on earth at every moment in time, Allah must be descended at every moment in time, he can never leave nor can he go out of orbit. In a flat-Earth perspective we do not have this problem because there is either night or day over the whole earth simultaneously.

Similarly, when Allah “turns and ascends over the throne” (Q 7:54, 13:2) at the end of creation. It seem as though Allah had descended for the purpose of creation, and therefore at the end of it requires to retrace his steps, much like what is occurring in the hadith.

Again we see in 89:22

IN CONCLUSION, for this hadith to work in a spherical earth scenario, “Allah” requires to himself be in fixed orbit around the globe. Not only does this imply a divine geocentricism “God orbiting the Earth”, it also means that God can never leave the Universe. The fact that he “descends” implies that he has abandoned the higher post, but he can never go back, because it is never not night somewhere on Earth.

Either God did not take the spherical Earth situation into consideration when descending, or more likely, as I would strongly contend, Muhammed had not considered the global day-night cycle when writing this verse.

This is not a problem in Christianity where the belief in divine omnipresence is non-controversial. As King David says in the Psalms:

Psalm 139:8 “If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.”

Muslim Response:

The obvious Muslims response, would be that these are metaphorical, and it only means that Allah is more attentive to the prayers of those praying in the last third of the night, given the level of difficulty and devotion that this involves, this kind of prayer can be seen as meritorious. This metaphorical interpretation is not available to some major Islamic schools like the Atharis.

Further, my intention here is a critique of the authorship of the text. I do not get the sense either in the Qur’an nor in the hadith that anything related to Allah is intended as metaphor or non-literal. It is very obvious when Jesus is speaking in parables, however Muhammed seems to really mean it when he says things like the satans were “eavesdropping on the divine councils”, or that Allah “shot stars” at them or “ascended over the throne” following creation, phrases that are very familiar to Muslims.

Allah coming to the lowest heaven in the last third of the night”. If the helmet is the globe then the visor represents Allah in the lowest heaven rotating around the earth around its hinges at the very healthy rate of around the world every 24 hours. Obviously the speed diminishes as you go toward the poles at which positions the job is much less taxing- “it is easier for Allah” (Q 30:27). Of course it would have been easiest for Allah had the earth been flat and not rotating at all, as should be obvious.

This is the closest that Allah comes to alighting upon solid ground in the Qur’an. However the mountain crumbles when he touches it, this was an unsuccessful landing. Appatently Allah does not reveal himself to Moses, he “reveals himself to the mountain”. So the answer is still “no”, I’m saying:

“And when Moses came to Our appointed time and his Lord spoke with him, he said, ‘Oh my Lord, show me, that I may behold Thee!’ Said He, ‘Thou shalt not see Me; but behold the mountain — if it stays fast in its place, then thou shalt see Me.’ And when his Lord revealed Him to the mountain He made it crumble to dust; and Moses fell down swooning…'” (Q7:143)

There are some traditions in which Allah approaches the Earth yet never quite: “touches base”:

Contrasting with the Biblical Vision and Presence of God

This is in stark contrast to the transcendent God of the Bible where the anthropomorphisms are obvious, or manifestations for the benefit of man, while in truth it is maintained that “no man can see God and live” and as Moses tells the Israelites “you heard his Voice in the Fire but you did not see his Form” (Deut.14:12). Thus even when we are told that on the mountain when Moses, Aaron, Nathan, Abihu and the seventy elders “beheld God” (Ex 24:11), and that “Under his feet there was something like a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness.” (v.10), we can surmise that this is a vision given to them, rather than God’s true glory. The New Testament leaves us in no doubt regarding this where the transcendent God is described in words and verses that far exceed not only the Qur’an but anything that has every been written about God, whether in the words of Jesus “no one has seen God except the Son…” or in those of St. Paul “we shall see Him (God) as he is…”

Contrast with the Biblical verses that speak of being with God

The Bible, in sharp contrast is suffused with verses about the delight of being in the Presence of God which far outshine all other descriptions of the pleasures of Heaven which I quote some here. This is not even to mention the numerous Biblical verses equally beautiful that speak God dwelling with his people, about his love for his people, the glorious visions of God in his Temple…these are too many to mention here. It is staggering and hugely significant that Mohamed “corrects” these by omitting all trace of them. Again, in sharp contrast with the the Qur’an, verses about sensual enjoyments are quite hard to come by. If you want to read the verses promising sexual pleasures in the Qur’an alone, go to Is Islam Misogynistic?, and its a whole section on there.

1John 3:2 “Beloved, now are we the children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when he is revealed, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.”

Revelation 22:4 “They will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads.”

Revelation 1:7 “Behold he comes with clouds, and every eye shall see him.”

1Cor.13:12 “For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.”

Exodus 33:11, also Num.12:8 – Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend.

Psalm 4:6 “Many ask, “Who can show us the good?” Shine the light of Your face upon us, O LORD.”

Psalm 5:7 “But as for me, I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy: and in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple.

Psalm 11:7 “For the LORD is righteous; He loves justice. The upright will see His face.”

Psalm 16:11 “Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.”

“As for me, I will behold your face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with your likeness.” (Ps.17:5)

“One thing I have asked of the LORD; this is what I desire: to dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the LORD and seek Him in His temple” (Psalm 27:4)

Psalm 36:8,9 “They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures…”

Psalm 65:4 “Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple.”

Psalm 140:13 “Surely the righteous will praise Your name; the upright will dwell in Your presence.”

Job 19:26 “Even after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God.”

Conclusion

These issues are always complicated when it comes to Islam, because the hadith writers, one gets the strong feeling, and there are several examples of this, are copying Christian themes in order to strengthen their own theological positions, which would be easy since Christian ideas are quite widespread in the world at this point. If we focus on the Qur’anic text primarily and what it its primary thrust, we must conclude that Janna is primarily focused upon material pleasures like a millionaires’ playground, or like the cavorting that the pagan pantheons engage in in their version of bliss. We can state this much with confidence because we do not see the sentiment of desiring to gaze upon the Face of God expressed in the text at all, as something that in itself blissful and eternally so, nor do we see the sentiment of worshipping God and ministering to him expressed.

Whether this might be pleasurable or not is up for debate (outside Christianity), however what does not seem to require debate is that Janna is just not God-focussed in the Qur’an. Further there is a very strong orthodox view that God is not really present in Heaven at all, he is above it, and this too is taken from a Qur’anic premise. Thus if there is indeed to be any sighting of God, as believers are informed in lately arriving hadith, it could not be a “presence” rather only some form of image like pie in the sky. It is quite unsurprising that this is touted as being extremely pleasurable, however the situation remains that heaven is full of competing pleasures at this point and God one of them, who is not really present and likely only available for viewing intermittently.