07/02/2025
God posses both transcendental (تنزيه) and immanent(تشبيه) qualities. These must be understood simultaneously without negating one or giving predominance to the other. The reconciliation of the two could be explicitly drawn from Qur'anic verses.
Thanzīh :
{ ليس كمثله شىء}
Thashbīh:
(فَأَيْنَمَا تُوَلُّوا فَثَمَّ وَجْهُ اللَّهِ ) , (وَنَحْنُ أَقْرَبُ إِلَيْهِ مِنْ حَبْلِ الْوَرِيدِ)
It is clear that the Thashbīh mentioned here does not attribute any anthropomorphic qualities to the Divine Reality.
This Omnipresent, Omniscient God made human His vicegerent on the earth. Man is bestowed with divine qualities, rendering him a theomorphic being ( ونفخ فيه من روحي). He partakes, of course in a contingent way, in all of the divine attributes. The God is Just, and so is man- though in a limited capacity. Imam Al-Ghazali believed the moral decisions should be explored through this divine element within the human being. Unlike theologians who sought them from the mind, the Proof of Islam ascribed their source to the Rūh. He often pushed formidable ideas- those indiscernible to the limits of human epistemology- into the realm of 'mysticism'. This inevitably has been the conclusion of major traditional Muslim scholarship.
This idea is evident in his words from the Ihyā:
"..ووراء هذا البحر سر القدر الذي تحير فيه الأكثرون ومنِع من إفشاء سره المكاشَفون."