IJMESNewSingle412464.. - Dr. Wesley Muhammad

Int. J. Middle East Stud. 34 (2002).441-463. Printed in the United States ofAmerica
DOl: 1O.1017.S0020743802003021
Wesley Williams
ASPECTS OF THE CREED OF IMAM AHMAD IBN
HANBAL: A STUDY OF ANTHROPOMORPHISM
IN EARLY ISLAMIC DISCOURSE
Today, the religion of Islam is most distinctly characterized by the emphasis it places
on the transcendence of God. 1 God's otherness (mukhalafa), it is said, is presupposed
in Islamic thinking from the Qur'an. A review of the history of dogmatic development
in Islam reveals, however, that during the formative period-that is, the period to
about 950 3 -divine transcendence was only one alternative among several models
attempting to explain God's unity. Indeed, it coexisted alongside its antithesis, "assimilation"
(tashbrh), or as we term it, anthropomorphism. 4 Muslim and Western scholars
agree that, although the anthropomorphist model certainly existed-the various heresiographies
attest to it-it existed only on the margins of Islam, in the extravagant
fancies of a few deviant doctors. 5 Thus, anthropomorphist ideas were relevant only
marginally, if at all, to Islam's attempt at theological self-definition. Such, at least, is
the current scholarly consensus. But how accurate is this reading of Islam's theological
history?
Anthropomorphic conceptions of God, particularly as they appear in scripture, have
perplexed and perturbed religious thinkers of all eras. 6 Although anthropomorphism
became self-evident in the Christian doctrine of incarnation, the histories of Judaism
and Islam are alike in that both present such conceptions as the source of great theological
controversy and strife. 7 Contemplative Jews, in many cases influenced by Hellenistic
ideas, thought it appropriate to find figurative meanings to the biblical passages
implying divine corporeality, meanings that were more palatable to their
understanding of God's holiness. R This trend was particularly strong in Egypt where
the Greek translation of the Bible (Septuagint) was reportedly produced in the 3rd
century B.c.E. 9 Other scholars, in no way embarrassed by images of an embodied
deity, increased and concretized these images. to In the end, normative Jewish belief
would settle on an incorporeal deity, thanks in no small measure to the great philosopher
Maimonides. 11 Judaism would eventually become so characterized by an "invisible,
non-theophanous" deity that one can easily forget how recently such notions
established themselves as central postulates of the faith. 12
Islam experienced similar developments, but contrary to the large body of academic
literature examining Judaic anthropomorphist trends, relatively few scholars have
Wesley Williams is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Near Eastern Studies, University of Michigan,
Ann Arbor. Mich. 48105, USA; e-mail: wwwillia@umich.edu.
© 2002 Cambridge University Press 0020·7438102 $9.50

Anthropomorphism in Early Islam: A Reappraisal 449
God is on the Throne and the Kursi is the place of His feet. ... God is on the Throne, and the
Throne has bearers carrying it. ... He is in movement, He speaks, He looks, He laughs, He
rejoices, He loves and He detests, He displays ill-will and kindness; He becomes angry and He
forgives.... Every night He descends, in the manner He wishes, to the nearest heaven ... the
hearts of humankind are between two fingers of the Merciful; He turns them over as He desires
and engraves on them whatever He wants. He created Adam with His hands and in His image.
On the Day of Resurrection, the heavens and the earth will be in His palm.... The People of
Paradise will look at His Face and see it. God will honor them. He will appear to them and
dispense His grants to them. The servants will appear before Him [onJ the Day of Judgment.
It is He, Himself, who will ask them for their accounts. Other than He will not administer
that. 94
The conspicuous absence of balkafa is observed also in 'Aqrdas III and V, where the
imam refers to the hadith of the young man, a most suitable report with which to
invoke the formula. 95
Ibn Hanbal, then, was an anthropomorphisL He affirmed for the divine a human
form, including a face, eyes, curly hair, mouth,% voice,97 breath,98 chest and two elbows,99
back,ulO arms,IOI hands with a palm,,02 five fingers lO3 and fingertips,l04 legs,
shin, feet, SOUI,105 physical beauty, a limit, and even, shockingly, 10ins. 106 He affirmed
the external meaning of these attributes and refused to qualify them with balkafa.
WAS IBN HANBAL A FIDEIST?
A close reading of Ibn Hanbal's works reveals that, although he argued for the acceptance
of the literal meaning of the Qur'anic and prophetic statements about God, he
was no fideisL I07 The imam was quite willing to engage in hermeneutical exercise, as
observed earlier in regard to the /:tadrth al-manam. His treatment of sura 6: 104, "Vision
comprehends Him not and He comprehends all vision," is also instructive:
As for His statement, "Faces will be bright, looking to their Lord" (75:23) and He said in
another verse, "Vision comprehends Him not and He comprehends all vison," they [the hereticsJ
said: How is this?! It is reported that they [the people of Paradise] will look toward their Lord
and he said in another verse "Vision comprehends Him not and He comprehends all vision."
And they doubt the Qur'an and claim that it is contradictory. [But] as for His statement, "Faces
will be bright," it means the Beauty and the Whiteness. "Looking toward their Lord" means to
see their Lord with the eyes (ta'ayana) in Paradise. As for His statement "Vision comprehends
Him not," it means in this world, not the Hereafter.... And this exegesis (falsfr) is what the
heretics doubt. ,o8
Ibn Hanbal here presents himself as a willing mufassir (exegete). In harmonizing two
contradictory verses-one seemingly anthropomorphist and the other anti-anthropomorphist-the
imam interprets them both. He makes the anti-anthropomorphist verse
"Vision comprehends Him not" conform to the dictates of the anthropomorphist verse
"Faces shinning, looking toward their Lord," then interprets the latter in a way that
enhances its anthropomorphist tone: "looking toward their Lord" becomes "seeing
their Lord with the eyes."
Ibn Hanbal likewise employed the methods of ta'wrl. In his 'Aqfda I, the imam
wants to argue God's actual establishment on the throne above the seventh heaven.
To do so, however, he must first overcome objections raised by certain Qur'anic verses
that appear to oppose such an interpretation:

454 Wesley Williams
those who denied the report innovators. l60 Consequently the IJadfth al-shabb had a
significant impact on traditionalist ideas of God at the time. AI-Qasim noted in Kitab
al-Mustarshid:
The Muslims [lit., those who pray] have agreed with us that the glances will not perceive God,
except for a group of the Rawafid, and the Hashwiyya which agree with them. They said the
Prophet had seen his Lord white-skinned and dark-haired. They related in another way that He
had been seen in the form of an adolescent whose hair was cut off. Some of them claimed that
this seeing was with the heart, and some others claimed that it was with the eyes. IOI
The 1}adfth al-shabb continued to shape traditionalist ideas of God well into the
10th century. AI-Ash'ari (d. 935) insisted on a vision of God by Muhammad and
invoked the reports of Ibn 'Abbas and Umm al-Tufayl as proof. lo2 A rescript of Caliph
al-Radi issued in 935 against the Baghdadi Hanbalis under the command of al-Barbarhari
(d. 940), clearly the leader of the traditionalist block at the time, denounced them
for anthropomorphist ideas based on the hadith quoted earlier:
You claim that your ugly and disgusting faces are in the image of the Lord of the worlds and
that your vile appearance is in His image; you talk of His feet and fingers and legs and gilded
shoes and curly hair, and going up to heaven and coming down to the world-may God be
raised above what wrongdoers and unbelievers say about Him. '6J
The God of 9th-10th-century Sunnism was theophanous and corporeal. It was widely
believed that an encounter with the divine inaugurated Muhammad's prophetic career.
l64 Such a God would eventually be replaced by an invisible, non-theophanous
deity, as it was in Judaism, but not before making a significant contribution to the
development of Islamic orthodoxy, which has shown itself to be remarkably fluid
over the years.
CONCLUSION
Ninth-century traditionalism laid the base for early Sunnism. Nascent Sunni doctrine,
apparently due to Ibn Hanbal's influence, included elements that would be considered
anathema by current standards of Islamic orthodoxy. With the patronage of the imam,
anthropomorphism enjoyed a golden age of sorts. But early Islamic anthropomorphism-at
least, as represented by Ibn Hanbal-was not the result of a minimalist
fideism, as is popularly assumed. "Literalism" no doubt played a part, but there was
a great deal more "rationalism" and interpretation involved than has heretofore been
acknowledged. In this sense, the anthropomorphism of Ibn Hanbal was not too different
from that of the famous 8th-century mujassir Muqatil ibn Sulayman (d. 767),
whose notions of God embarrassed later generations. In spite of Muqatil's "extreme"
corporealism. he employed ta'wfl in his Tajsfr even on verses on the attributes. loS Ibn
Hanbal appreciated Muqatil's knowledge of the Qur'an but refused to transmit on his
authority because of Muqatil's use of books. 166 In any case, though the imam probably
never attributed to God "flesh and blood," as did Muqatil,167 their views on God were
similar. Both were greatly informed by IJadfth al-shabb. What this demonstrates is
that, in the early stages of Islamic theological development. when corporealist impulses
were strongest, these trends were characterized less by blind adherence to the
letter of scripture than by a significant degree of intellectuality.

Anthropomorphism in Early Islam: A Reappraisal 455
A larger study is required to ascertain the sources of Islamic notions of a corporeal
godhead. Similarities with Jewish concepts are suggestive but ultimately inconclusive.
Certain pre-Islamic ideas of God survived Muslim iconoclasm, though the extent to
which they did so is unclear based on the available material. The most that can be
said with any degree of certainty is that normative Islam was a lot less hostile to such
notions during its developmental stages than it is today. Historians of Islam must
abandon the generally held assumption that, behind the divergent views that constituted
the "general religious movement" of the formative period, there exists an indigenous
and truly Islamic concept of God as "utterly other," and that when Muslim
divines did agree, they agreed on this concept of deity. Islam, apparently from its
outset, played host to varying concepts of the divine, either of which-or, possibly,
none of which-could claim true indigenousness. From a historical perspective, transcendentalism
and anthropomorphism were two alternatives available to Muslim divines
attempting to interpret the most important pillar of their faith, "There is no god
but Allah," and there were times that anthropomorphism was the model preferred by
Sunni Islam.
NOTES
'See Muhammad Ibrahim H. I. Suny, "The Conception of God in Muslim Tradition," lslamic Quarterly
37 (1993): 127 ff; Fazlur Rahman, "The Qur'anic Conception of God, the Universe and Man," lslamic
Studies 6 (1967): 2.
'See The Encyclopaedia oflslam, 2nd ed. (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1960-) (hereafter, El), S.v. '''Aklda'' (W.
Montgomery Watt), 1:333.
'See W. Montgomery Watt, The Formative Period of lslamic Thought (1972; repr., Oxford: Oneworld
Publications, 1998).
'Anthropomorphism, from the Greek amhropos (man) and morphe (form), means the ascription of
human attributes-for example, forms, feelings, or actions-to the divine: see The Encyclopedia of Religion,
ed. M. Eliade (New York: Macmillan, 1987) (hereafter, ER), s. v. "Anthropomorphism" (R. J. Z.
Werblowsky). 1:316 f.
'Even the Ahmadi apologist M. Muhammad Ali, for example, argued in his The Religion of lslam
(Lahore: Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha'at Islam, 1950), 154, "The anthropomorphic view which likens God to
man has never found favor among the Muslims. A very insignificant sect .. held the view ... but this has
always been rejected by the learned among the Muslims." See also Binyamin Abrahamov, "The Bi-la kayfa
Doctrine and Its Foundations in Islamic Theology," Arabica 42 (1995): 369.
·See Stuart Guthrie, Faces in the Clouds (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), esp. chap. 7. For
a general look at anthropomorphism in religious discourse, see also MaIjo C. A. Korpel, A Rift in the
Clouds (MUnster: UGARIT-Verlag, 1990); Edward L. Schoen, "Anthropomorphic Concepts of God," Religious
Studies 26 (1990): 123-39; Edwin M. Yamauchi, "Anthropomorphism in Ancient Religions," Biblio·
theca Sacra 125 (1968): 29-44; Frederick Ferre, "In Praise of Anthropomorphism," lnternational Journal
for Philosophy of Religion 16 (1984): 203-12.
'This is not to suggest that such discussions were completely absent from early Christian discourse.
Questions about the nature of God (the Father) occupied the thoughts and writing of the church fathers as
well as the laity, the latter apparently preferring anthropomorphism in some quarters: see Georges F1orovsky,
Aspects of Church History (Belmont, Mass.: Norland Publishing, 1975), 89 ff; Gedaliahu Stroumsa,
"The Incorporeality of God," Religion 13 (1983): 345-58; Roland J. Teske. "The Aim of Augustine'S Proof
that God Truly Is," lnternational Philosophical Quarterly 28 (1986): 253-68; David L. Paulsen, "Early
Christian Belief in a Corporeal Deity," Harvard Theological Review (hereafter, HTR) 83 (1990): 105-16;
idem, "Reply to Kim Paffenroth's Comment," HTR 86 (1993): 235-39; Elizabeth A. Clark, The Origenist
Controversy (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1992); idem, "New Perspectives on the Origenist
Controversy: Human Embodiment and Ascetic Strategies," Church History (1990): 145-62.
r

456 Wesley Williams
'The Jewish Encyclopedia (New York: Funk and Wagnalls, 1925), s. v. "Anthropomorphism," 1:622 ff;
Arthur Marmorstein, The Old Rabbinic Doctrine of God, vol. 2: Essays in Anthropomorphism (London:
Oxford, 1937); Encyclopedia Judaica (Jerusalem: Keter Publishing House, 1971), s.v. "Anthropomorphism,"
1:52 ff.
·Charles T. Fritsch, The Anti-anthropomorphism of the Greek Pentateuch (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton
University Press, 1943). See also Michael L. Klein, "The Translation of Anthropomorphisms and Anthropopathisms
in the Targumim," Vetus Testamentum, Congress Volume 32 (1980), 162-77.
IOMarmorstein, The Old Rabbinic Doctrine; Gedaliahu Stroumsa, "Form(s) of God: Some Notes on
Me\a\ron," HTR 76 (1983): 269-88; Gershom Scholem, On the Mystical Shape of the Godhead (New
York: Schocken Books, 1991); Jacob Neusner, The Incarnation of God: The Character of Divinity in Formative
Judaism (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, (988); Alon Goshen Gottstein, "The Body as Image of God
in Rabbinic Literature," HTR 87 (1994): 171-95; Stephen D. Moore, "Gigantic God: Yahweh's Body,"
Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 70 (1996): 87-115; Elliot R. Wolfson, "Images of God's Feet:
Some Observations on the Divine Body in Judaism," in People of the Body: Jews and Judaism from an
Embodied Perspective, ed. Howard Eilberg-Schwartz (New York: State University of New York Press,
1992), 143-81; Naomi Janowitz, "God's Body: Theological and Ritual Roles of Shi'ur Komah," in People
of the Body, 183-201.
"Jewish Encyclopedia, s. v. "anthropomorphism," I:624; David S. Shapiro, "Possible Deus Homo?" Judaism
(summer 1983): 361.
"Daniel Boyarin, "The Eye in the Torah: Ocular Desire in Midrashic Hermeneutic," Critical Inquiry 16
(1990): 532-50.
"Josef van Ess, Theologie und Gesellschaft im 2. und 3. Jahrhundert Hidschra (hereafter, TG), 6 vols.
(Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1992), esp. vol. 4. See also idem, "The Youthful God: Anthropomorphism in
Early Islam," University Lecture in Religion at Arizona State University, 3 March 1988 (Tempe: Arizona
State University, 1988); idem, '''Abd ai-Malik and the Dome of the Rock: An Analysis of Some Texts," in
Bayt al-Maqdis, 'Abd ai-Malik's Jerusalem. ed. Julian Raby and Jeremy Johns (Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 1992), 89-103: Daniel Gimaret, Dieu a l'image de l'homme: les anthropomorphismes de la sunna
et leur interpretation par les theologiens (Paris: Patrimoines. 1997).
"Other works on anthropomorphism in Islam are EI, s. v. "Tashbih" (R. Strothmann), 4:685 f; Helmut
Ritter, Das Meer der Seele (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1955),445 ff: Kees Wagtendonk, "Images in Islam: Discussion
of a Paradox," in Effigies Dei, ed. Dirk van Der Plas (Leiden: E. J. Brill. 1987). 112-29; J. M. S.
Baljon, "Qur'anic Anthropomorphisms," Islamic Studies 27 (1988): 119-27; W. Montgomery Watt, "Some
Muslim Discussions of Anthropomorphism," in idem, Early Islam (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
1990). 86-93; and Binyamin Abrahamov, Anthropomorphism and Interpretation ofthe Qur'an in the Theology
ofAl-Qasim Ibn Ibrahim (Leiden: E. 1. Brill, 1996).
"EI. s. v. "TashbIh," 4:583.
16EI, s. v. '''AkIda,'' 1:333.
17According to Watt, the "positive achievement of the Traditionists of the ninth century ... was no less
than the consolidation of Sunnism": W. Montgomery Watt, Islamic Philosophy and Theology (Edinburgh:
Edinburgh University Press, 1962),74. The undisputed leader of the 9th-century traditionists/traditionalists
was Ahmad ibn Hanbal.
"I use the term "orthodox" hesitantly, recognizing the difficulty with which it is employed in an Islamic
context. Islam has no machinery comparable to the ecumenical councils of Christendom whereby a doctrinal
tenet can be authoritatively declared orthodox or heretical. However. by a process of ijmii', or consensus,
a wide area of agreement can be reached, giving a doctrine or set of doctrines or practices an air of
legitimacy: see Watt, Formative Period, 5 f. See also Alexander Knysh, "'Orthodoxy' and 'Heresy' in
Medieval Islam: An Essay in Reassessment," Muslim World 83 (1993): 48-67.
I·Nimrod Hurvitz. "Ahmad ibn Hanbal and the Formation of Islamic Orthodoxy" (PhD. diss.• Princeton
University. Princeton. N.J., 1994),282. AI-Khatib aI-Baghdadi introduced Ibn Hanbal as "the champion of
the Sunna, the senior figure of his community, and the exemplar of his class (ttl'ifa)": AI-Khatib ai-Baghdadi.
Ta'rikh Baghdad, 14 vols. (Cairo: al-Maktaba al-'Arabiyya bi-Baghdad. 1931).3:336.
20George Makdisi. Ibn 'Aqil: Religion and Culture in Classical Islam (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University
Press, 1997), 63.
"Idem, "l;Ianbalite Islam." in Studies on Islam. ed. Merlin L. Swartz (New York: Oxford University
Press. 1981), 216 ff.

458 Wesley Williams
4'Ibn Hanbal, Kitab al-Sunna, 159.
"Nur ai-Din 'Ali ibn Abi Baler al-Haythami, Kitab Majma' al-bahraynft zawa'id al-mujamayn (Riyadh:
Maktabat al-Rushd. 1992), 368, no. 11741.
"'The problem with the isndd, according to its critics, is the presence of 'Abd ai-Rahman ibn al- 'A'ish.
AI-Tirmidhl claims that Ibn al-'A'ish "did not hear from the Prophet": see Shu'ayb al-Ama'ut's comments
in Ibn Hanbal, Masnacl, 27: 172 ff.
451bn Hanbal, Masnad, 1:368, 5:243, 5:378.
4ti'Abd Allah ibn 'Adi, AI-Kamil fi da'afa' al-rijal, 7 vols. (Beirut: Dar ai-Filer, 1984), 6:2344.
"Ibn al-Jawzi, Daf' shubah, 151.
"Abu Ya'la, Kitab al-ma'tamadfi usaf ai-din, ed. W. Z. Haddad (Beirut: Dar al-Mashraq, 1974),58.
See also ibid., 85.
"'Ibn Hanbal, Kitab al-Sunna, 159.
lO'Abd Allah, Kitab ai-Sanna, 2:490.
"On the hadith "God is beautiful," Daniel Gimaret notes, "the sense of the word jamrl is unequivocal:
it is about beauty, and of physical, material beauty": Gimaret, Diea a I'image, 260. See also Ibn Hanbal,
Masnad', 28:437 f, no. 17206.
"AI-SuYUli, al-w'ali' al-masnu'a fi al-ahadith al-mawda'a (Cairo: al-Maktaba al-Tijariyya al-Kubra,
196?), 28f; AI-Khatib ai-Baghdadi, Ta'rikh Baghdad, 13:311; 'Ala' aI-Din ai-Muttaqi ai-Hindi, Kanz al­
'ummalfi sunani al-aqwal wa-'I-af'al, 18 vols. (Haydar Abad al-Dakan: Dalrat al-Ma'arif a1-'Uthmaniyya,
1945), 1:58. See also Gimaret, Dieu a l'image, 154 f.
"AI-Muttaqi, Kanz, 1:58; AI-Tabarani, al-Mujam al-kabir, 25 vols. (Cairo: Maktabat Ibn Taymiyya,
n.d.), 25:143.
"Ibn Abi Ya'la, Tabaqat, 2:59.
l'Abu Ya'la, Kitab al-ma'tamad, 85.
l6AI-Dhahabi, Talkhis Kitab al-'llal, 24.
l7From the isnad: 'Abd Allah ibn Wahb from 'Amr ibn al-Harith from Sa'id ibn Abi Hilal from Marwan
ibn 'Uthman from 'Umra ibn 'Amir from Umm al-Tufayl, wife of Ubayy ibn Ka'b; Ibn al-Jawzi, Daf'
shubah, 152.
l'AI-Dhahabi, Tartib al-mawdu'a (Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al-'Ilmiyya, 1994),22.
,qAI-Bayhaqi, al-Asma' wa-'I-sifat, ed. 'Abd Allah ibn Muhammad al-Hashidi, 2 vols. (Riyadh: Maktabat
al-Sawadi, 1993), 2:363 f; Ibn 'Adi, al-Kamil, 2:677; ai-Khatib ai-Baghdadi, Ta'rikh Baghdad, II :214; AI­
Suyuti, al-w'ali'. 29 f; ai-Muttaqi, Kanz, I :58. See also Ritter, Das Meer, 445 ff, and idem, "Philologica
I!." Der Islam 17 (1928): 255 ff.
""Ibn Hanbal, 'Aqrda III, near Ibn Abi Ya'la, Tabaqat, I:246; Ibn al-Jawzi, Manaqib ai-Imam Ahmad.
172; al-Dhahabi, Tarjamat ai-Imam Ahmad (Cairo: Dar al-Ma'arif, 1946). 30 f.
"Ibn Hanbal. 'Aqrda V, near Ibn Abi Ya'la, Tabaqat, I:312. For an English translation, see Watt, Islamic
Creeds, 31.
·'Ibn Hanbal, Musnad', 4:351, no. 2580,4:386, no. 2634; see also idem, Kitab ai-Sanna, 67. 154, 165;
'Abd Allah, Kitab ai-Sanna, 1:292 f, no. 563; 2:484. no. 1116-17; 2:503, no. 1167.
"Gimaret, Diea al'image, 161.
"ibn Kathir, Tafsir al-Qur'an al-'azim, 8 vols. (Riyadh: al-Mamlaka al-'Arabiyya al-Sa'odiyya: Dar Tiba,
1997),7:450; Khaldun Ahdad, Znwa'id Ta'rikh Baghdad 'ala al-katab al-sitta, 10 vols. (Damascus: Dar al­
Qalam, 1996), 4:39 f.
MAI-Bayhaqi, AI-Asma' wa-'I-sifat, 2:364.
"AI-Tabarani, Kitab ai-Sunna, near al-Suyuti, AI-w'ali', 29 f.
"'£1, S.v. "AI-Marwazi," 627.
""In a slightly different version reported by Ibn Adi, instead of "they say (innaham yaqalana)" one finds
"you say (taqalana)": Ibn 'Adi, al-Kamil, 2:677.
"'Ibn 'Adi's version reads, 'They say Qatada did not hear from 'Ikrima": Ibn 'Adi, ai-Kamil, 2:677.
"'Ibn Abi Ya'la, Tabaqat, 2:45 f; Ibn 'Adi, ai-Kamil, 2:677.
"Ibn Abi Ya'la, Tabaqat, 1:2 I8.
72See Makdisi, Ibn 'Aqil, 130 ff.
"Ibid., 104.
"Ibn Hanbal, 'Aqrda III, near Ibn Abi Ya'la, Tabaqat, 1:246.
)lA. a1-Azmeh, "Orthodoxy and l:Ianbalite Fideism," Arabica 35 (1988): 264.

460 Wesley Williams
illustration of this mode of disputation and traditionalist sentiments toward it is found in the narrative of
Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn 'Abd Allah al-Shaybani concerning Harun aI-Rashid (d. 809), "Abu Mu'awiya
al-Darir was speaking to Harun aI-Rashid and he narrated to him the lJadrlh of Abu Hurayra, 'Adam and
Musa had a dispute ... ' So 'Ali ibn Ja'far said, 'How can this be when there exists the gap [of time]
between Adam and Musa that [which] there is?' He [the narrator] said, 'So Harun jumped up on account
of it and said, "He is narrating to you from the Messenger and you oppose him by saying 'How?'" and
he did not cease saying this until he calmed down and became silent." The imam's intent was to censure
the mulakallimun, not the mushabbiha: cf. Ibn Hanbal, Kilab al-Sunna, 55.
Although the balkafa formula is absent from all of Ibn Hanbal's extant works, the solitary witness to
his use of the mediating principle is his cousin Hanbal ibn Ishaq. According to Hanbal, when the imam
was asked abut the hadiths mentioning the descent (al·NuZill), the beatific vision, (al-Ru'ya), placing the
Foot on Hell, and the like, he replied, "We believe in them and consider them true without 'how' and
without meaning (Iii kayfa wa-lii ma'nii)": see Ibn laymiyya, Dar' la'arud, I:255. But this is certainly an
erroneous attribution. Hanbal ibn Ishaq has been cited for several such attributions by respected l;Ianballs:
see Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, Mukhlasar al-sawa'iq al-mursala 'ala al-Jahmiyya al-Mu'allila (Cairo: Malba'at
aI-Imam, 1960-61),406.
"He says in 'Aqrda I, "Allah spoke to Musa with His mouth": Ibn Abi Ya'la, Tabaqal, 1:29.
9]'Abd Allah said, "I asked my father about a people who say: 'When Allah spoke to Musa he didn't
speak with a voice.' And my father said: 'Rather, your Lord indeed spoke with a voice. These hadilhs we
report them as they came." Also, "My father said [from Ibn Mas'ud]: 'When Allah spoke a voice is heard
like the dragging of iron chains on stones.' My father said: 'This is the Jahmiyya deny''': 'Abd Allah,
Kitab al-Sunna, I:280, no. 533.
""From Qur'an 15:29; also, the hadith reported on the authority of Abu Hurayra, who alleges to have
heard the Prophet say, "Wind comes from God's breath": Ibn Hanbal. Musnad, 2:267.
"'Ibn Hanbal, Kilab al-Sunna, lSI; 'Abd Allah, Kilab al-Sunna, 2:510.
IIxkAbd Allah narrates from Ibn Hanbal, "Allah wrote the Torah for Musa while supporting His back on
a rock, on Tablets of pearl, and the screech of the pen could be heard": Ibn Hanbal, Kiwb al-Sunna, 67:
'Abd Allah, Kiwb AI-Sunna, 1:294, no. 568.
JO'He reports in Musnad, 3:473, the narration of Malik ibn NadIa in which the Prophet declares, "The
Arm of God is stronger than your arm."
""Ibn Hanbal, Musnad, 2:538.
IOJlbn Hanbal narrated the hadith "God will [on the Day of Resurrection) hold the heavens on one finger
[lirst], the lands on one finger [second], the mountains on one finger [third], the humid land on one finger
[fourth], and all of the creatures on one linger [fifth]": ibid., 1:429; idem, Kiwb ai-Surma, 54.
''''Idem, Musnad, 5:243.
lU'Idem, 'Aqfda VIII, near Ibn Abi Ya'la, Tabaqal, 2:298.
IIl6From the tradition found in Ibn Hanbal, Musnad, 2:330, "After God completed creation, kinship rose
and seized God's loin (tzaqw)." Cf. Goldziher, Zahiris, 154 f; Gimaret Dieu a /'image, 229 ff.
100Ibn Hanbal, 'Aqrda Ill, near Ibn Abi Ya'la, Tabaqal, 1:246.
1000ldem, al-Radd, 13 f.
''''Idem, 'AqMa I, near Ibn Abi Ya'la, Tabaqal, 1:29.
""Ibn Hanbal, al-Radd, 40 f.
'''Laoust is thus incorrect in claiming that Ibn Hanbal treats the verses about the attributes as mUlashiibi·
hal: Laoust, "Ahmad b. Hanbal," 275; idem., Ibn Batla, 22. For Ibn Hanbat sura 42:11, "There is none
like Him," is one of the mulashiibihiil, or ambiguous verses, that must noT be read according to its letter.
See Ibn Hanbal, AI-Radd, 20. For an English translation, see Morris Seal, Muslim Theology (London: Luzac
and Company, 1964), 96-125, esp. 98. See also Madelung, "The Controversy Concerning the Creation of
the Koran," 508n. 2.
'''See Marshall G, S. Hodgson, The Venture of Islam, 3 vols. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
1974), 1:392; Gimaret, Dieu ill'image, 13 ff.
llJOn the l;Iashwiyya, see A. S. Halkin, "The l;Iashwiyya," 1-28; EI, s. v. "l;Iashwiyya," 3:269; G. van
Vloten, "Les Hachwia et Nabita," Actes du Onzieme Congres International des Orientalisls, Paris, 1897
(paris, 1899),99-123; M. Th. Houtsma, "Die l;IashwIya," Zeilschrifl fur Assyriologie 26 (1912): 196-202;
Fritz Steppat, "From 'Ahd Arda.ffr to al-Ma'mon: A Persian Element in the Policy of the Mibna," in Sludia

Anthropomorphism in Early lslam: A Reappraisal 461
Arabica et Islamica: Festschrifrfor Ihsan 'Abbas, ed. Wadad aI-Qadi (Beirut: American University of Beirut,
1981),45111.
"'The theologian chiefly associated with the doctrine of al-Ma'mun was Bishr al·Marisi (d. 1i33-43), a
Hanifi jurisprudent often denounced as a Jahmf by traditionalists. Ibn Abi Duwad (d, 854), the chief qadi
responsible for the prosecution of the Mii}na, was a Hanifi and Mu'tazilite: see EI, s. v., "MiJ:1na" (Martin
Hinds), 7:2 ff, with references.
"'For the Mif}na and its possible inspirations, see ibid.; John Nawas, "A Reexamination of the Three
Current Explanations for AI-Ma'mon's Introduction of the MiJ:1na," International journal of Middle East
Studies 26 (1994): 615-29; idem, "The MiI:lOa of 218 AJI/833 AD. Revisited: An Empirical Study," journal
ofthe American Oriental Society 116 (1996); 698-708; Hurvitz, "Ahmad Ibn Hanbal," 198 ff; Muhammad
Qasim Zaman, Religioll alld Politics under the Early Abbasids (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1997), 106 ff.
""There is reason to believe, however, that the imam in fact capitulated: see Michael Cooperson, "The
Heirs of the Prophets in Classical Arabic Biography" (Ph,D, diss., Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.,
1994), 329 ff; Hinds, EI, s. v. "MiJ:1na" 7:3,
'''Robert M. Haddad, "Iconoclasts and the Mu'tazila: The Politics of Anthropomorphism," Greek Orthodox
Theological Revin,. 27 (1982): 289.
'''Wilfred Madelung, "The Origins of the Controversy Concerning the Creation of the Koran," in idem,
Religious Schools and Sects ill Medieval Islam (London: Variorum Reprints, 1985),5:509 f. Cf. also Hinds,
EI, s. v. "Mil)na;' 7:5.
"'AI.Tabari, The History of al-Tabari, trans. C. E. Bosworth, 39 vols. (New York: State University of
New York Press, 1987), 33:200.
'2I'lbid. 33:214.
"'Madelung, "The Controversy," 5:517.
'''AI-Tabari, The History of al·Tabari, 33:212, 215.
"'Abu al-'Arab, Kitab al·Mihan, ed. Y. W. Juburi (Beirut: Dar al·Gharb aI-Islam, 1983),451.
'14pallon, Ahmed Ibn Hanbal and the Mihna, 117.
I15AI-Jahiz, Rasa'il al-JahiZ, ed. 'Abd aI-Salam Muhammad Harun, 4 vols, (Cario: Maktabat al-Khanji,
1964-79), 1:288,
'''Ibn 'Adi, al-Kamil. 2:278. On 'Mfan, see ai-Khatib ai-Baghdadi, Ta'rikh Baghdad, 12:269 ff.
!27See Georges Vajda, "Nu'aym b. Hammad et Nasr Allah Ibn Suqayr," Arabica 8 (1961): 99; EI, .1,1',
"Nu'aym b. Hammad" (Ch, Pellal), 87.
logAI-Suyuti, ai-LA/ali', 29.
: 29 0 n 'Ali ibn al-Madini, see al-Lalaka'i, Sharh usul, 2:510. On Yahya ibn Ma'in, see Muhammad ibn
'lmran al-Marzubani, Kirab nur al-qabas al·mukhtasar (Fisbadin: Dar al-Nashr Frantis Shitayinir, 1964-),
1:48.
!1('AI-Tabari. The Historv of al-Tabari, 33:212.
'''According to Abdoldjavad Falaturi. the verse "rejects all anthropomorphism": Abdoldjavad Falaturi,
"How Can a Muslim Experience God, Given Islam's Radical Monotheism?" in We Believe in One God:
The Experience ofGod in Christianity and Islam, cd, Annemarie Schimmel and Abdoldjavad Falaturi (New
York: Seabury Press, 1979), 78, On this verse and its late use by anti-anthropomorphist trends, see van
Ess, TG. 4:378; Claude Gilliot, "Muqatil, grand exegete. traditionniste ettheologien maudit," journal Asia·
tique 179 (1991): 57.
u'AI-Tabari, The History of al-Tabari, 33:212 f.
':'lbid" 33:213. After pressure from the governor to reveal his understanding of the meaning of this
description, the imam feigned ignorance. Hanbal ibn Ishaq, the imam's cousin, reports from Ibn Hanbal a
discussion between the laller and his interrogators. As proof of his claim that God sees, hears, and speaks
in the literal sense, Ibn Hanbal cited from Qur'an 19:42 Abraham's reproach of his father for idolatry, "Oh
sire, why do you worship that which hears not and sees not, nor can it avail thee aught?" Understanding
the anthropomorphist intension of this recitation, the imam's examiners cry, "He has made tashbrh, '0
Commander of the Faithful [al-Mu'tasim], he has made tashbrh'" On Ibn Hanbal's use of this verse, see
al-Khallal, al-'Aqida, 106 f.
1J4Abu Nu'aym al-Isfahani, Hilyat al-awliya', 10 vols. (Cairo: Maktabat al-Khanji, 1932-38), 9:204 f.
The two organs are probably the tongue and teeth. See Cooperson, "Heirs of the Prophets," 373.
IJ5Pallon claims that Ibn Hanbal was "established as the greatest traditionist of his time when al-Ma'mun
introduced the Mil)na": Pallon, Ahmed Ibn Hanbal and the Mihna, 19. This does not, however, scem to

Anthropomorphism in Early Islam: A Reappraisal 463
Study of Theophany and Visio Dei in Early Islam," paper presented at the 16th Annual Middle East History
and Theory Conference, University of Chicago, Chicago, 12 May 2ool.
'''See Gilliot, "Muqatil, grand exegete."
''''See Isaiah Goldfeld, "Muqatil Ibn Sulayman." in Arabic and Islamic Sllldies, ed. Jacob Mansour (Ramat-Gan:
Bar-Han University Press, 1978), 2: 17.
"'On Muqatil's doctrines, see al-Ash'ari, Maqalat al-Islamiyyin, ed. Helmut Ritter (Istanbul. 1929-33),
209 f; van Ess, TG, 2:529 f; Gilliot, "Muqatil, grand exegete."