Anthropomorphism and corporealism in Islam

This article is about Islamic theological concepts. For the attribution of human emotions, or the ascription of human feelings or passions to a deity, see anthropopathy.

Not to be confused with Tasbih.

In Islamic theology, anthropomorphism (tashbīh; Arabic: تشبيه) and corporealism (tajsīm) refer to beliefs in the human-like (anthropomorphic) and materially embedded (corporeal) form of God, an idea that has been classically described assimilating or comparing God to the creatures created by God. By contrast, believe in the transcendence of God is called tanzih. In a broader sense, tashbih refers not only to attributions of physical or behavioral human traits to God, but also to discussions about spatiality, directionality (including aboveness) and confinement in relation to God. An anthropormorphist is referred to as a mushabbih (pl. mushabbiha), and a corporealist is referred to as a mujassim (pl. mujassima). In premodern times, corporealist views were said to have been more socially prominent among the common people, with more abstract and transcendental views more common for the elite.

One of the most prominent advocates of the corporealist view was Ibn Taymiyya (d. 1328), whose Bayān talbīs al-ǧahmiyya ("Explication of the Deceit of the Jahmiyya") is the longest-known response to incorporealist views, as expressed in particular in the work of al-Razi.

History

The extensive debates and discussions on anthropomorphism, active from the second Islamic century, have often surrounded Quran verses and other traditions (especially the aḥādīth al-ṣifāt) that depict God and the attributes of God using anthropomorphic language. The early view among the "People of the Hadith" (aṣḥāb al-ḥadīth) was that God was a truly anthropomorphic being. One representative of this view was the 8th-century AD exegete Muqatil ibn Sulayman. In response, Mu'tazilites and the Jahmiyya emphasized God's divine simplicity (lacking any attributes) and his transcendence. For these characters, anthropomorphic traditions should be approached with an attitude that "passed on as they are without inquiry (imrāruhākamā jā’at bilā kayfa)", an idea that came to be representated by the Arabic phrase Bila Layf. While the meaning of the aḥādīth al-ṣifāt were often debated among traditionalist scholars, the Mu'tazilites entirely rejected the authenticity of any traditions that use anthropomorphic language to describe God. The height of the power of Mu'tazilite and Jahmite scholars came during the reign of Abbasid caliph Al-Ma'mun. Traditionalist scholars were persecuted and sometimes killed if they refused to acknowledge the doctrine of the Createdness of the Quran and, in some instances, anti-anthropomorphic views, in an event that is known as the Mihna. This campaign ultimately failed, however, and soon, the traditionalist camp, especially as represented by Ahmad ibn Hanbal's Hanbali school, was accepted by political authorities. The persecution during the Mihna bred the emergence of extremely anti-rationalist approaches, leading to anthropomorphism. In the tenth century, tensions grew with regards to the Hanbali interpretation of a ṣifāt concerning Quran 17:79: in the view of this tradition, the passage meant that Muhammad will be given a station, or a place to sit, alongside God on God's throne. Anyone who rejected this meaning, the Hanbalite's argued, was a heretic.

Since the 13th century AD, two acceptable Sunni approaches from the Ash'arite school of theology arose and have been broadly accepted with regards to avoiding the literal meaning of anthropomorphic traditions: to either relegate their ultimate meaning as something known only to God while holding firmly to the incorporeality of God (the tafwīḍ solution), or to offer a rationalistic interpretation of the passage (the ta’wīl solution). By contrast, the Salafist reaction has rejected this approach, claiming that the Salaf (the earliest Muslims and the Companions of Muhammad) unquestioningly affirmed God's anthropomorphism, and arguing sometimes that ta'wil is tantamount to the heresy of innovation (bid'ah). For Salafist writers, ta'wil, especially in the case of anthropormophism, is a product of the preference for reason over revelation, and the Ash'arites are historically responsible for the deviation of the views of the Salaf regarding anthropormophism.

Anthropomorphic traditions

One prominent anthropomorphic tradition concerned a set of hadith which stated that God would make Muhammad a place to be seated on his Throne alongside him. The authenticity of these traditions were most stridently supported by members of the Hanbali school and, by the 15th century, the authenticity of the tradition itself had become widely accepted. Another prominent arena for these debates were the hadīth al-nuzūl, which refers to traditions that mention God descending to the lowest heaven in each night. For those who rejected the anthropomorphic reading of this passage, it was understood to reflect God's love (and other traits) for those who believe in him, as well as his willingness to answer their prayers.

Shia Islam

Tashbih were apparent in Zaydi Shia teaching, particularly in the thought of Al-Qasim al-Rassi, Zaidiyyah Imam of 8 AD century.

See also

• Ta'wil
• Tafwid
• Bila Kayf

References

Sources

• Cook, Michael (2024). A History of the Muslim World. Princeton University Press.
• Holtzman, Livnat (2018). Anthropomorphism in Islam: The Challenge of Traditionalism (700–1350). Edinburgh University Press.
• Hoover, Jon (2022). "God Spatially Above and Spatially Extended: The Rationality of Ibn Taymiyya's Refutation of Faḫr al-Dīn al-Rāzī's Ašʿarī Incorporealism". Arabica. 69 (6): 626–674.
• Noor, Umar Muhammad; Hamdi, Usman Abur (2022). "Resisting Anthropomorphism: Evaluation of Abū Sulaymān Al-Khaṭṭābī's (D. 388/998) Approach to Ṣifāt Traditions". Journal of Religious & Theological Information. 21: 12–33.

Further reading

• Murata, Sachiko; William C. Chittick (2000). The Vision of Islam. I. B. Tauris. ISBN 1-86064-022-2.
• Williams, Wesley (2009). "A Body Unlike Bodies: Transcendent Anthropomorphism in Ancient Semitic Tradition and Early Islam". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 129 (1): 19–44.

External links

• Tashbīh | Encyclopaedia Britannica