Allaah Cannot Be ImaginedDo Not Attempt to Do So

All praise and thanks are due to Allaah Ta^ala and may He Raise the rank of His best creationProphet MuHammad, sallallaahu ^alayhi wa sallam and protect his nation from that which he feared for it. Thereafter, Man can imagine only that with which he is familiar and that which is a created thing. The two great contemporary scholars, Imam Dhunun Al-Misriyy and Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal said:

''Whatever you imagine in your mind, Allaah is different from it.''

Whatever one pictures or imagines in the mind is a creation of Allaah and Allaah does not resemble any of His creations. Because in your mind, in your imagination, you imagine something with volume, with shape, with dimensions--something that you are familiar with. And we are familiar with what? With the creations. We are familiar with bodies that have sizes, dimensions, volumes and shapes. We are familiar with the characteristics of the creation and Allaah ^azza Wa Jall is not like that. Allaah doesnt resemble any of His creation. So whatever we imagine in our mind, the maximum that we can reach by thinkingis a figure, a shape with volume and dimensions and Allaah ^azza Wa Jall is not like that. For this reason, Imam Ash-Shafi^iyy RaDiyy Allaahu ^anhu, said a very nice statement in this regard, he said what means:

''The one who intended to know about His Creator and started thinking, and he reached an imagination in his mind, and believed that this imagination is Allaah---then he is considered a Mushabbih''.
A Mushabbih is the one who likens Allaah to His creation. So hes not MuwaHid; hes not Muslim, he doesnt have the proper belief, and if by thinking he reached a result where he denied the Existence of Allaah ^azza Wa Jall, then he is an Atheist the one who denies the Existence of Allaah. But if he reached a state where he believes in Allaah SubHaanahu Wa Ta^ala and he admits that he is unable to imagine Him in his mindthen he is MuwaHid, because he has the proper belief. That means that we can not reach a state where we can imagine Allaah in our minds because Allaah is not something you can imagine in your mind or draw on a paper. Allaah is not a creation and all that we are familiar with----are creations. All the objects and bodies. Tangible objectlike a chair, you can grasp it by hand and the

intangible objects that you can not grasp with your hand---like air, light or the soul for instance. Everything that we are familiar with fall under these two categories of objects; tangible & intangible. Both these two types of objects are created by Allaah SubHaanahu Wa Ta^ala. So whoever believes that Allaah, The Exalted, is an object whether tangible or intangible, he commits blasphemy and he is not a true MuwaHid In Surat Ar-Ra^d aayah 8, Allaah said which means:

''Allaah Created everything with a specific size''

All bodies are created by Allaah. Allaah is the One Who specified the creations with a shape, length and volume. Allaah is not a body because He, SubHaanahu, is not like His creations. Abul Qasim Al-Ansariyy and Imam As-Suyutiyy in his book, Dur Al Manthur related that the prophet sallallaahu ^alayhi wa sallam said:

''Do not attempt to imagine the Self of Allaah.''

Imam Al-Bayhaqiyy in Al Asmaa' Was-Sifaat narrated with a strong chain with ^Abdullaah Ibn ^Abass, the Prophets cousin, who said:

''Ponder about the creations of Allaah but do not attempt to imagine the self of Allaah.''