The Greeks would elevate their own heroes to the level of godhood through a process termed apotheosis. Heracles was one such man who they honoured as a god beneath Allāh!
وَلا تُشْبـِهُهُ الأَنامُ
He does not resemble mankind.
Allāh does not resemble any of His creation; not in His Lordship, His Deification, nor in His Attributes.
Allāh, the Most High, said: ‘There is nothing like unto Him’, making it clear to His creation that He is not from them nor like them, nor are they like Him.
The author is negating both the notion of anthropomorphism, which is the attribution of humancharacteristics or behaviour to Allāh, and also deification, which is to make a creature God-like.
To deify someone is to attribute to him something which is exclusively meant to be attributed to Allāh. The Greeks would elevate their own heroes to the level of godhood through a process termed apotheosis. Heracles was one such man who they honoured as a god beneath Allāh!
To anthropomorphise is to conceive of the Creator in a fashion analogous to the created. Allāh has Himself said: ‘There is nothing like unto Him; and He is All-Hearing and All-Seeing.’ There is no anthropomorphism (tamthīl) in the attributes which Allāh has affirmed for Himself or which His Messenger has affirmed of Him. This is because His attributes are different from their attributes. He knows but not as we know; He acts but not as we act; and He sees but not as we see. One cannot strike an analogy between the creation and the Creator, as in reality there is no likeness between the two entities.
What is the Defining Criteria by Which We Understand Anthropomorphism?
This has been discussed in detail in point number two: ‘There is nothing like Him’.
A SUMMARY
1) We only know about Allāh through revelation
2) Before the advent of the Prophet SAW it was impossible for someone to claim they knew all of Allāh’s Names and Attributes
3) With Revelation we came to know His Names and Attributes
4) We learnt the actual words used that He used to Name Himself and the Attributes He gave himself. These words have abstract meaning which was understood by those that came to know of them. However, has anyone seen Allāh in order to say that Allāh has the Attribute of a hand which looks like such and such? This is a level of knowledge unknown to all and cannot even be explored or conceived by the human mind.
Notes: Sheikh Haitham al-Haddad’s explanation of al-Aqeedah al-Tahawiyyah will soon be published as a hardback book. Islam21c have exclusive rights to share extracts from the book for its readers, and will be posting certain sections of the book on a weekly basis. The book: al-Aqeedah al-Tahawiyyah, is a short text outlining the aqeedah of Ahl al-Sunnah in short statements. Each extract posted is a complete explanation of any one of those statements. Edited by Asim Khan
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