Allah is a Man (It is what it is)March 2, 2012 at 2:20pmBy Wesley Muhammad, PhD"The ignorant belief of the Orthodox Muslims that Allah (God) is some formless something and yet He has an Interest in our affairs, can be condemned in no limit of time. I would not give two cents for that kind of God in which they believe." God is a man and we justcannotmake Himother than a man, lest wemake Himan inferior one. The Hon. Elijah MuhammadThose Muslims who take issue with the Honorable Elijah Muhammad on this point usually cite the first verse of Surat al-Nisa' [4] which reads:O People (Y ayyuha al-ns)! Reverence your Lord Who created you from a single Person/Soul (nafs) and created, of like nature, his mate and from these two scattered many men (rijlan) and women.It is apparently assumed that this verse is a proof that Allah is not a man because here it is affirmed that Allah created rijlan (men) and ns (people). This is a very shallow engagement of the Qur'an that takes no account of its philological context.These Muslim nay-sayers of the Hon. Elijah Muhammad are apparently unaware of the distinct connotations of the different words in Arabic for `man'. To illustrate the relevance of this philological fact to our subject, allow me to cite the Biblical Hebrew example. Hebrew has five words (plus their derivatives) for man: `sh, geber, 'dhm, 'en and mt. The last two terms ('en and mt) connote human frailty and weakne as such are never applied to God. It is a different story, however, with `sh and geber. These two terms connote strength, kingship, and spirituality and the Hebrew Bible declares that God is this sort of man: Yahweh is an `sh and geber or rather gibbr, mighty man. The Book of Exodus states emphatically YHWH `sh milhmh, Yahweh is a man (`sh) of war (15:3).We find the same linguistic circumstance with Arabic. There are several terms for man or human, each with distinct connotations. The general term for mankind or human being is bashar. This term derives from the verb bashara which means to peal, scrap, shave off; to grate, shred. It also means peal the hide or skin off. The noun bashara means external skin closest to the flesh (epidermis). It is thus a cognate of the Hebrew word bsr flesh. The Arabic term bashar thus indicates that human beings are `fleshy' and it associates them with scrapes. It also hints at humans as sexual beings: Form III of the verb means to touch; to have sex with. We can understand why this term is never associated with God. In the Hebrew, God is a kingly, spiritual man (`sh/ gibbr) but He is emphatically disassociated from bsr flesh.For related reasons the common term for man, rajul, would be disassociated from Allah, the Most High as well. The lexicons tell us that a rajul is specifically an adult male from among bashar or human beings (See Lane s.v.). The lowness of this designation is inherent, as it is related to feet. The verb rajala means to go on foot and rijl is foot or (lower) leg. Those familiar with Arabic culture and the taboo associated with feet therein understand immediately why this term would be inappropriate as a designation for God. The term ns may be derived from nsa, yansu, to hang down; to be in a state of commotion. Like rajul, the term ns is applied to both humans and jinn, which alone makes them inapplicable to Allah. That ns implies creaturely weakness is indicated by its derivative, insn, human, man, person. In the same Surat al-Nisa' [4]: 28 it is written: Allah wishes to lighten your (difficulties), for He created man (al-insn) weak (da'if).So these Muslims are right on this point: It is inappropriate to call Allah a rajul or insn: He is not that type of man. What type of man is He then?The Qur'an does not explicitly affirm or deny that Allah is man. Such clarification was left to Allah's Prophet, Muhammad ibn Abd Allah, who did just that.According to hadith al-shbb which was authenticated by Imam Ahmad and many others (see my book, Take Another Look), Allah appeared to Muhammad as a shbb, which is a young man between the ages of sixteen and thirty-two. But the term has more connotations. The verb shabba means he was raised or elevated, thus connoting height and elevation. Shabba means also to kindle a burning fire and to appear bright and beautiful. All of these are appropriate for God and consistent with what we otherwise know of Allah.Al-Bukhari and Muslim report a hadith from the Prophet on the authority of the Companion Al-Mughira b. Shu'ba:No shakh is more jealous (aghyar) than Allah; no shakh is more pleased to grant pardon than He; no shakh loves praiseworthy conduct more than He.[1]

BukhariA shakh is a corporeal person, a man.[2] The term connotes the bodily or corporeal form or figure or substance (suwd) of a man, or something possessing height (irtif') and visibility (uhr), Ibn Manzr informs us in his Lisn al- `Arab (7, 45, 4-11)..[3] Ibn al-Jawz, in his Kitb Akhbr al-Sift 53-4 (Ar.), admits as well thatthe term shakh implies the existence of a body (jism) composed of parts, for one terms something a shakh because it possesses corporeality (shukhs) and height.A shakhs is literally a man with a body and height. It too implies elevation, which is fitting for the Most High. The verb shakhasa means He rose or became elevated. The Arabic syntax of this hadith suggests that God is a man/person with a physical body, but an elevated man.This is a sentence with a superlative (e.g. aghyar). In such a sentence, attention is drawn to one from a whole that is greatest at something that is characteristic of the whole. The noun described by the superlative (i.e. Allah) is one, though a remarkable one, of the whole or genus (i.e. shakh). The sentence could thus be re-written: Allah is the most jealous shakh. This is because the apparent meaning (hir) of the text presents us with an istithn al-muttail or joined exception, i.e. an exception from among likes. The excepted noun is joined to or of the same kind as the genus from which it is excepted. Genus = shakh Excepted Noun = AllahAllah is thus an exceptional shakh. However, those with an anti-anthropomorphist theology like Ibn al-Jawzi chose to read this as an example of istithn al-munqai# or the severed exception, in which the excepted noun (i.e. Allah) is severed from or of a wholly different kind than the genus.[4] But Ibn al-Jawzi confirms that the Traditionalist Sunni (Hanbal) scholars against whom he was writing that is to say the orthodox Hanbals - read the hadith according to its apparent meaning with an istithn al-muttail, thus acknowledging Allah as a man.[5] He says of them:These anthropomorphists are persons who describe the Divine Attributes in terms required by sense experienceand they represent Him as a physical man (shakh) whose beauty exceeds all beauty[6]No less of an authority than the leading orthodox Hanbal, al-Qadi Abu Ya'la', affirms this in his Kitab al-Mu'tamad fi Usul al-Din.If it is said, He is a person (shakh) or form (ra), it (should be) said: The report from different routes on the night of the mi'raj mentioned, I saw my Lord in the most beautiful formAnd the application of that is not to be refused. Just as soul (nafs) not like souls and essence (dht) not like essences weren't denied Him. Likewise form unlike forms, for the shari'a (uses it in this manner).[7] It was thus well within Sunni orthodoxy as represented and championed by the Hanbals, the school of the paradigmatic black sheep himself Imam Ahmad, to refer to Allah as a man (shakh) because according to the apparent meaning of a prophetic hadith the Prophet himself referred to Allah as man. Thus, contra what many Muslims claim, Surat al-Nisa' [4]:1 in no way proves that Allah is not a man: it only suggests that He is not a rajul or insane. According to the Prophet, Allah is a shakh and shbb.Endnotes[1] Bukhari, Sahih, tawhid, 20:512; Muslim, Sahih, li'an, 17; Ibn Hanbal, Musnad IV:248; Nisa'i, al-Sunan, nikah, 37, 3.[2] Al-Mawrid, 664[3] See also Lane, Arabic Lexicon, 2:1517.[4] Ibn al-Jawz, Kitb Akhbr al-Sift, 190-191 (Eng.). On istithn al-muttasil and istithn al-munqai# see W. Wright, A Grammar of the Arabic Language 2vols. (3rd edition; Beirut: Librairie du Liban, 1996 [1974]) II, 335D-336A. [5] Ibn al-Jawz, Kitb Akhbr al-Sift, 189-191 (Eng.)[6] Talbis Iblis, 87.[7] al-Qadi Abu Ya'la, Kitb al-M'#tammad fi usul al-din. 58. Cf. 85.