Transcendent Anthropomorphism - Dr. Wesley Muhammad

#AdÊ, 113 al-•abar§nÊ, 114 al-L§lik§"Ê, 115 and Abå Bakr al-"AjurÊ 116 reported it in full or
mukhtaßar (abridged). AÈmad MuÈammad Sh§kir (d. 1958), editor of Ibn \anbal’s Musnad
and clearly the “greatest traditionalist of his time,” 117 declared: “the ÈadÊth in its essence is ßaÈÊÈ.” 118 It
was primarily the heretical Mu’tazila, influenced as they were by Greek philosophic ideas, 119 who rejected
this report. Abå Bakr b. ‘adaqa reported hearing Abå Zur#a al-R§zÊ (d. 878) say: “The ÈadÊth of Qat§da
from #Ikrima from Ibn #Ab§ss in the Vision is sound (ßaÈÊÈ). Sh§dh§n and #Abd al-‘amad b. Kays§n
and Ibr§hÊm b. AbÊ Suwayd reported it and none denies it except the Mu#tazila.” 120 AÈmad b. \anbal,
around whom Sunni orthodoxy originally consolidated, 121 likewise argued in his #AqÊda III
that one of the fundamental principles of the Sunna (ußål al-sunna) is:
To have faith in the Beatific Vision on the Day of Judgment…and that the Prophet has seen his
Lord, since this has been transmitted from the Messenger of God and is correct and authentic. It
has been reported from Qat§da, from #Ikrima, from Ibn #Abb§s…And the ÈadÊth, in our
estimation, is to be taken upon its apparent meaning (#al§ í§hirihi), as it has come
from the Prophet. Indulging in Kal§m with respect to it is an innovation. But we
have faith in it as it came, upon its apparent meaning, and we do not dispute with
anyone regarding it.” 122
In his #AqÊda V, AÈmad argued that, “Belief in that (ÈadÊth al-sh§bb or the report of the Young
Man) and counting it true is obligatory” for Muslims. 123
4.2.1. The Orthodox Rejects #$"isha’s Rejection
While the Prophet’s vision of God is reported on the authority of a great multitude of Companions, the
solitary witness against it is #$"isha, the Prophet’s favorite wife. 124
(Masråq said): I was sitting back in #$"isha’s house when she said: ‘O Abå #$"isha, there are
three things, whoever says any of which, he is lying about All§h in the most hateful manner. I
asked: ‘Which things?’ She said: [First,] whoever tells you that Muhammad saw his Lord, he is
lying about All§h in the most hateful manner.’ I was sitting back, so I sat up and said: ‘O Mother
of the Faithful! Give me a moment and do not rush me. Did not All§h Almighty say “Surely he
beheld him on the clear horizon (53:7)?”’ She replied: ‘I was the first in the entire community to
have asked All§h’s Messenger about this, and he said: “It is but Gabriel, I did not see him in the
actual form in which he was created other than these two times. I saw him alighting from heaven,
covering it all. The magnitude of his frame spans what lies between the heaven and the earth.”’
Then she said: ‘Did you not hear All§h say: “Vision comprehends Him not, but He comprehends
all vision. He is the Subtle, the Aware (6:103)?” Did you not hear All§h say: “And it is not
(vouchsafed) to any mortal that All§h should speak to him except by revelation or from behind a
111 #Abd All§h, Kit§b al-Sunna, 2: 484, 503, #’s 1116, 1117, 1168.
112 Ibn AbÊ #$ßim, Al-Sunna, 1:307, #442.
113 Abd Allah b. #AdÊ, Al-K§mil, 2:677.
114 Al-•abar§nÊ, Kit§b al-sunna, apud al-MuttaqÊ, Kanz, I:58.
115 Al-L§lik§"Ê, SharÈ ußål 2: 512.
116 Abå Bakr al-"AjurÊ, al-SharÊ#a, ed. Muhamma H§mid al-FiqÊ (Cairo: 1950), 491f.
117 G.H. A. Juynboll, “AÈmad MuÈammad Sh§kir (1892-1958) and his edition of Ibn \anbal’s Musnad,” Studies on the
Origins and Uses of Islamic \adÊth (Brookfield, Vt.: Variorum, 1996), 222.
118 Ibn \anbal, Musnad3 , 4:201, #2580, 2634.
119
See below.
120 Al-SuyåtÊ, Al-La#§li#, 30.
121
See Williams, “Aspects of the Creed.”
122 Ibn \anbal, #AqÊda III, apud Ibn AbÊ Ya#l§, •abaq§t 1:246.
123 Ibn \anbal, #AqÊda V, apud Ibn AbÊ Ya#l§, •abaq§t 1:312.
124 It is sometimes stated that, along with the Mother of the Faithful, ru"yat All§h was likewise denied by Abå Hurayra and
#Abd All§h b. Mas#åd (V. for example Gibril Fouad Haddad’s, “The Vision of Allah in the World and the Hereafter,” in his
partial translation of al-BayhaqÊ, Al-Asma" wa al-‘if§t [Damascus: As-Sunna Foundation of America, 1998], 78). There is,
however, no evidence that either denied MuÈammad’s vision of God. This claim is probably based on the fact that both are
recorded as interpreting sårat al-Najm as visions of Gabriel. But this hardly precludes an affirmation of a vision, say, on another
occasion. Abå Hurayra in fact explicitly affirmed a Vision of God by the Prophet according to certain reports. See
al-L§lik§"Ê, SharÈ ußål, 2:520; al-SuyåtÊ, TafsÊr al-Durr al-manthår, 7:203.