By Wesley Muhammad, PhD "The ignorant belief of the Orthodox Muslims that Allah (God is some formless something

and yet !e has an "nterest in our affairs, #an be #ondemned in no limit of time$ " %ould not gi&e t%o #ents for that 'ind of God in %hi#h they belie&e$" (God is a man and %e )ust #annot ma'e !im other than a man, lest %e ma'e !im an inferior one$* The !on$ +li)ah Muhammad Those Muslims %ho ta'e issue %ith the !onorable +li)ah Muhammad on this ,oint usually #ite the first &erse of -urat al./isa0 123 %hi#h reads4 (O Peo,le (5 ayyuha al-ns)! Reverence your Lord Who created you from a single Person/Soul (nafs) and created, of li e nature, his mate and from these t!o scattered many men (ri"lan) and !omen#$ %t is a&&arently assumed that this verse is a '&roof$ that (llah is not a man )ecause here it is affirmed that (llah created ri"lan (men) and ns (&eo&le)# *his is a very shallo! engagement of the +ur,an that ta es no account of its &hilological conte-t# *hese .uslim nay-sayers of the /on# 0li"ah .uhammad are a&&arently una!are of the distinct connotations of the different !ords in (ra)ic for 1man,# *o illustrate the relevance of this &hilological fact to our su)"ect, allo! me to cite the 2i)lical /e)re! e-am&le# /e)re! has five !ords (&lus their derivatives) for man3 16sh, geber, 0dhm, ,en78 and mt$ The last t%o terms (0en78 and mt #onnote human frailty and %ea'ness and as su#h are ne&er a,,lied to God$ "t is a different story, ho%e&er, %ith 96sh and geber$ These t%o terms #onnote strength, 'ingshi,, and s,irituality and the !ebre% Bible de#lares that God is this sort of man4 5ah%eh is an 96sh and geber or rather gibb7r, mighty man$ The Boo' of +xodus states em,hati#ally 5!W! 96sh milh mh, '4ah!eh is a man (16sh of %ar (:;4< $ We find the same linguisti# #ir#umstan#e %ith Arabi#$ There are se&eral terms for (man* or (human,* ea#h %ith distin#t #onnotations$ The general term for (man'ind* or (human being* is bashar$ This term deri&es from the &erb bashara %hi#h means (to ,eal, s#ra,, sha&e off= to grate, shred$* "t also means (,eal the hide or s'in off*$ The noun bashara means external s'in #losest to the flesh (e,idermis $ "t is thus a #ognate of the !ebre% %ord bsr 'flesh$# *he (ra)ic term )ashar thus indicates that human )eings are 1fleshy, and it associates them !ith 'scra&es$# %t also hints at humans as se-ual )eings3 5orm %%% of the ver) means 'to touch6 to have se- !ith$# We can understand !hy this term is never associated !ith 7od# %n the /e)re!, 7od is a ingly, s&iritual man (1 6sh> gibb7r but !e is em,hati#ally disasso#iated from bsr 'flesh#$ 5or related reasons the common term for man, ra"ul, !ould )e disassociated from (llah, the .ost /igh as !ell# *he le-icons tell us that a ra"ul is s&ecifically an adult male from among )ashar or human )eings (See Lane s#v#)# *he 'lo!ness$ of this designation is inherent, as it is related to 'feet$# *he ver) ra"ala means 'to go on foot$ and ri"l is foot or (lo!er) leg# *hose familiar !ith (ra)ic culture and the ta)oo associated !ith feet therein understand immediately !hy this term !ould )e ina&&ro&riate as a designation for 7od# *he term ns may )e derived from nsa, yan8su, 'to hang do!n6 to )e in a state of commotion#$ Li e ra"ul, the term ns is a&&lied to )oth humans and "inn, !hich alone ma es them ina&&lica)le to (llah# *hat ns im&lies creaturely !ea ness is indicated )y its derivative, insn, 'human, man, &erson$# %n the same Surat al-9isa, :;<3 => it is !ritten3 '(llah !ishes to lighten your (difficulties), for /e created man (al-insn) !ea (da,if)#$ So these .uslims are right on this &oint3 %t is ina&&ro&riate to call (llah a ra"ul or insn3 /e is not that ty&e of man# What ty&e of man is /e then? *he +ur,an does not e-&licitly affirm or deny that (llah is man# Such clarification !as left to (llah,s Pro&het, .uhammad i)n ()d (llah, !ho did "ust that# (ccording to hadith al-sh)) !hich !as authenticated )y %mam (hmad and many others (see my )oo , '*a e (nother Loo $), (llah a&&eared to .uhammad as a sh)), !hich is a young man )et!een the ages

of si-teen and thirty-t!o# 2ut the term has more connotations# *he ver) sha))a means 'he !as raised or elevated$, thus connoting height and elevation# Sha))a means also 'to indle a )urning fire$ and 'to a&&ear )right and )eautiful$# (ll of these are a&&ro&riate for 7od and consistent !ith !hat !e other!ise no! of (llah# (l-2u hari and .uslim re&ort a hadith from the Pro&het on the authority of the @om&anion (l-.ughira )# Shu,)a3 '9o sha h is more "ealous (aghyar) than (llah6 no sha h is more &leased to grant &ardon than /e6 no sha h loves &raise!orthy conduct more than /e#$:A<

2u hari ( sha h is a cor&oreal &erson, a man#:=< *he term connotes 'the )odily or cor&oreal form or figure or su)stance (su!d) of a man,$ or 'something &ossessing height (irtif,) and visi)ility (uh8r),$ %)n .anB8r informs us in his Lisn al- 1(ra) (C, ;D, ;-AA)##:E< %)n al-Fa!BG, in his Hit) ( h)r al-Sift DE-; ((r#), admits as !ell that 'the term sha h im&lies the e-istence of a )ody ("ism) com&osed of &arts, for one terms something a sha h )ecause it &ossesses cor&oreality (shu h8s) and height#$ ( sha hs is literally a man !ith a )ody and height# %t too im&lies elevation, !hich is fitting for the .ost /igh# *he ver) sha hasa means '/e rose or )ecame elevated#$ *he (ra)ic synta- of this hadith suggests that 7od is a man/&erson !ith a &hysical )ody, )ut an elevated man# *his is a sentence !ith a su&erlative (e#g# aghyar)# %n such a sentence, attention is dra!n to one from a !hole that is greatest at something that is characteristic of the !hole# *he noun descri)ed )y the su&erlative (i#e# (llah) is one, though a remar a)le one, of the !hole or genus (i#e# sha h)# *he sentence could thus )e re-!ritten3 '(llah is the most "ealous sha h#$ *his is )ecause the a&&arent meaning ( hir) of the te-t &resents us !ith an istithn al-muttail or '"oined e-ce&tion$, i#e# an e-ce&tion from among li es# *he e-ce&ted noun is "oined to or of the same ind as the genus from !hich it is e-ce&ted# I 7enus J sha'h ? +x#e,ted /oun @ Allah Allah is thus an ex#e,tional sha'h$ !o%e&er, those %ith an anti.anthro,omor,hist theology li'e "bn al.Aa%Bi #hose to read this as an exam,le of istithnC al.munDaiE or the (se&ered ex#e,tion,* in %hi#h the ex#e,ted noun (i$e$ Allah is se&ered from or of a %holly different 'ind than the genus$123 But "bn al.Aa%Bi #onfirms that the Traditionalist -unni (!anbalF s#holars against %hom he %as %riting G that is to say the orthodox !anbalFs . read the hadith a##ording to its a,,arent meaning %ith an istithnC al.muttail, thus a#'no%ledging Allah as a man$1;3 !e says of them4 (These anthro,omor,hists are ,ersons %ho des#ribe the Di&ine Attributes in terms reDuired by sense ex,erien#eHand they re,resent !im as a ,hysi#al man (sha'h %hose beauty ex#eeds all beautyH*1I3 /o less of an authority than the leading orthodox !anbalF, al.Jadi Abu 5a0la0, affirms this in his Kitab al.Mu0tamad fi Lsul al.Din$ ("f it is said, (!e is a ,erson (sha'h or form (Mra ,* it (should be said4 The re,ort from different

routes on the night of the mi0ra) mentioned, (" sa% my Nord in the most beautiful form*HAnd the a,,li#ation of that is not to be refused$ Aust as (soul* (nafs not li'e souls and essen#e (dhCt not li'e essen#es %eren0t denied !im$ Ni'e%ise form unli'e forms, for the shari0a (uses it in this manner $*1O3 "t %as thus %ell %ithin -unni orthodoxy as re,resented and #ham,ioned by the !anbalFs, the s#hool of the ,aradigmati# bla#' shee, himself "mam Ahmad, to refer to Allah as a man (sha'h be#ause a##ording to the a,,arent meaning of a ,ro,heti# hadith the Pro,het himself referred to Allah as man$ Thus, #ontra %hat many Muslims #laim, -urat al./isa0 1234: in no %ay (,ro&es* that Allah is not a man4 it only suggests that !e is not a ra)ul or insane$ A##ording to the Pro,het, Allah is a sha'h and shCbb$ +ndnotes 1:3 Bu'hari, -ahih, ta%hid, PQ4;:P= Muslim, -ahih, li0an, :O= "bn !anbal, Musnad "R4P2S= /isa0i, al. -unan, ni'ah, <O, <$ 1P3 Al.Ma%rid, II2 1<3 -ee also Nane, Arabi# Nexi#on, P4:;:O$ 123 "bn al.Aa%BF, KitCb A'hbCr al.-ifCt, :TQ.:T: (+ng$ $ On istithnC al.muttasil and istithnC al. munDaUiE see W$ Wright, A Grammar of the Arabi# Nanguage P&ols$ (<rd edition= Beirut4 Nibrairie du Niban, :TTI 1:TO23 "", <<;D.<<IA$ 1;3 "bn al.Aa%BG, Hit) ( h)r al-Sift, A>K-AKA (0ng#) :L< *al)is %)lis, >C# :C< al-+adi ()u 4a,la, HitM) al-.,Ntammad fi usul al-din# D># @f# >D# Li e