The Merciful Creator describes Himself in the Quran, and the Prophet has described His Lord in the Sunnah, because human intellect is limited and cannot fathom the limitless scope of the divine. Allah tells us what is necessary for us to know about Himself, helping to prevent confusion about His being, actions and location. After all, how can we love someone we do not know? Therefore, the Quran and Sunnah tell us everything we need to know in order to worship our Creator. The divine attribute of ‘Uluw, highness or transcendence, is the topic of this lesson.
Meaning and Significance
The divine attribute ‘Uluw means Allah is above His creation, and nothing is above Him. He is neither within His creation, nor part of His creation. Creation cannot encompass Him. The Creator is completely separate and distinct from His creation.
Before Islam, Hindus believed God resided in animals, human beings and countless idols. The Jewish scripture stated that God came to earth in the form of a man and wrestled with Prophet Jacob who defeated Him (Genesis 32:24-30). Christians have claimed that God became flesh and came down to earth in the form of a man to be crucified. Some heretics also brought such ideas into Islam. For example, Hallaj, a deranged mystic, openly claimed he and Allah were one. These deviant ideas have become so widespread that if someone were to ask many Muslims today, ‘Where is Allah?’ they will say that He is everywhere.
The main danger of this thought is that it opens the door to the worship of creation. If God is everywhere, it means He is in His creation. If that is true, then why not worship the creation itself? It becomes especially easy for people to start saying God is in their own souls and accept worship. Countless kings, ordinary individuals like the Pharaohs of Egypt and Jesus were so worshipped, though the latter did not accept being worshipped by his followers.
The Evidence
Allah is not everywhere. There are five main proofs for it:
(1) Islam states that every human being is born with certain tendencies that are not the result of his environment. Human beings are born with a natural realization of a Creator who is separate and above His creation. The mere thought of God being in places of filth, which would be a natural consequence of God being everywhere, is repulsive to human nature.
(2) The salah prayer must be offered in a place clear of pictures or statues. A Muslim is forbidden to bend or prostrate in worship to any creation. If Allah were everywhere and in everything, people could worship other people or themselves.
(3) Two years before the Prophet, may the mercy and blessings of Allah be upon him, migrated to Medina from Mecca, he was taken on a miraculous journey to Mecca to Jerusalem, and from Jerusalem up beyond the seven heavens to meet Allah. Allah spoke directly to Prophet Muhammad. There would have been no need for him to go up beyond the seven heavens to meet Allah if He were present everywhere.
(4) Many verses of the Quran tell us clearly that Allah is above His creation.
The Quran speaks of the angels rising up to Allah:
“They ascend up to Him in a day whose length is like a thousand years by your reckoning.” (Quran 32:5)
Prayers also rise up to Allah:
“Every good saying goes up to Him.” (Quran 35:10)
Allah describes Himself as above His servants:
“He is the Irresistible One above His creation.” (Quran 6:18, 61)
He describes His worshippers as:
“Those who fear their Lord who is above them.” (Quran 16:50)
One of Allah’s beautiful names is al-Aliy which means, ‘The Most High’; nothing is above Him.
(5) A companion of the Prophet, may the mercy and blessings of Allah be upon him, named Ibn al-Hakam had a slave who used to tend his sheep. One day, he came to see her and found out that a wolf had eaten one of the sheep from the flock she cared for. Learning this, he got angry and slapped her in the face, but later regretted doing so. So he came to Allah’s Messenger and told him the story, upon which the Messenger asked him to bring her.
When she came, the Prophet asked her, ‘Where is Allah?’ She answered, ‘Above the sky.’ The Prophet asked her, ‘Who am I?’ She said, ‘You are the Messenger of Allah.’ He said, ‘Free her, for she is a believer.’[1]
Here, the Prophet affirmed her statement that Allah was above the sky. Had Allah not been, the Prophet would have indeed reproached her as he reproached other false beliefs.
Is Allah Detached From His Creation?
Allah’s being above His creation does not mean He is isolated from His creation. He is aware of all that happens in the universe. Nothing escapes His vision, hearing, power, and ability. The following verses should be understood in this context:
“And We are closer to Him than his jugular vein.” (Quran 50:16)
“Be aware that Allah comes between a man and his heart.” (Quran 8:24)
These verses do not mean Allah is inside a man. They simply mean that nothing escapes Allah’s knowledge. He knows even the most innermost thoughts of man, as Allah says in another verse in the Quran:
“Do they not realize Allah knows what they hide and what they expose?” (Quran 2:77)
In summary, based on the Quran and Sunnah, Allah is above the universe in a manner befitting His greatness; the creation is not in Him, nor is He contained by His creation. However, He is all Aware and Able in His knowledge, power, and ability operate within every single particle of the universe.
The human mind is a true marvel, but in certain areas it is limited. Allah is different from anything the human mind can think of or imagine. Therefore, if the mind tries to picture Allah, certain aspects will be ambiguous and open to indefinite interpretation. Nevertheless, it is possible to understand the attributes of Allah which do not require making any mental pictures. For example, one of Allah’s names is al-Ghaffar, which means ‘Oft-Forgiver’. Everyone can understand this easily because that is how the human mind can clearly think of Allah. Jewish and Christian teachings on God are confused partly because of their incorrect understanding of this issue. The Jewish Torah teaches God is like man:
“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…so God made man in His own image.’ (Genesis 1:26-27)
Moreover, certain Christians put statues or images of an old white bearded man depicting God in their churches. Some of these were produced by the likes of Michelangelo, who depicted the Face and Hand ‘of God’ – a tough looking old man - in paintings.
Rendering images of God in Islam is an impossibility, and amounts to disbelief, as Allah tells us in the Quran that nothing resembles Him:
“There is nothing like Him, but He is All-Hearing, All-Seeing.” (Quran 42:11)
“There is nothing comparable to Him.” (Quran 112:4)
The Request of Moses to See Allah
Eyes can not grasp Allah, He tells us in the Quran:
“Vision cannot grasp Him, but He his grasp is over all vision.” (Quran 6:103)
Moses, to whom God spoke and gave great miracles, was chosen by Allah to be His Prophet. It is said, that Moses thought that, since Allah used to speak to him, he might be able to actually see Allah if he asked. The story is in the Quran, where Allah tells us what happened:
“And when Moses arrived at Our appointed time and his Lord spoke to him, he said, ‘My Lord, show me (Yourself) that I may look at You.’ (Allah) said, ‘You will not see Me, but look at the mountain; if it should remain in place, then you will see Me.’ But when his Lord appeared to the mountain, He rendered it level, and Moses fell unconscious. And when he awoke, he said, ‘Exalted are You! I have repented to You, and I am the first of the believers.’” (Quran 7:143)
Allah made it clear that no one, including the great prophet Moses, can bear the sight of the divine, for Allah is too great to be grasped by human eyes in this life. According to the Quran, Moses realized his request was in error; therefore, he sought forgiveness from Allah for having even thought to ask.
The Prophet Muhammad Did Not See Allah in This Life
Prophet Muhammad, may the mercy and blessings of Allah be upon him, traveled in a miraculous journey through the heavens to meet Allah. People thought that since Prophet Muhammad spoke to Allah in that journey, he probably saw Allah too. One of the companions, Abu Dharr, asked him about it. The Prophet replied:
“There was only light, how could I see Him?’[1]
What was the light he saw? The Prophet explained:
“Surely, Allah does not sleep nor is it befitting for Him to sleep. He is the one who lowers the scales and raises them. The deeds of the night go up to Him before the deeds of the day and those of the day before those of the night, and His veil is the light.”[2]
Vision of God in Spiritual Experiences
Some people, including some who claim to be Muslims, report spiritual experiences where they have claimed to have seen God. Common reported experiences also include seeing lights, or a magnificent being seated on a throne. Such an experience is usually accompanied by dropping basic Islamic practices like salah and fasting, under the mistaken opinion that such practices are only for common people who had not had their type of experience.
One of the fundamental foundations of Islam is that the law revealed to Prophet Muhammad cannot be changed or canceled. God neither makes lawful for some what He has made unlawful for others, nor does He communicate His Law through such experiences to people. Rather, divine Law is revealed through the proper channel of revelation to the prophets, a channel that was closed after the advent of the Prophet Muhammad, the last of God’s prophets. It is Satan who pretends to be Allah to deceive ignorant people who believe in such experiences and go astray.
Seeing Allah in Afterlife
In this life Allah can not be seen, but the believers will see Allah in the next life, this is stated clearly in the Quran and the Sunnah. The Prophet said, “The Day of Resurrection is the first day any eye will look at Allah, the Mighty and Exalted.”[3] Describing the events of Resurrection Day, Allah states in the Quran:
“On that day some faces will be bright, looking at their Lord.” (Quran 75:22-23)
The Prophet was asked if we will see Allah on the Day of Resurrection. He replied, “Are you harmed by looking at the moon when it is full?”[4] ‘No,’ they replied. Then he said, “Surely, you will see Him likewise.” In another hadith the Prophet said, “Surely, each of you will see Allah on the day when you shall meet Him, and there will be no veil or translator between Him and you.”[5] Seeing Allah will be a favor that is additional to Paradise on the Muslims who will dwell therein. As a matter of fact, the joy of seeing Allah for a believer will be greater than the joys of Paradise combined together. The unbelievers, on the other hand, will be deprived of seeing Allah and this will be greater punishment for them than all the pain and suffering of Hell combined together.
