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Can We Use Human Language to Describe the Nature of Allah?

11 September, 2023
Q Muslims believe that Allah is the one true God. They also believe that all worship and praise is directed towards him. Can we use human language to describe the nature of Allah?

Answer

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. 

All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.


In this fatwa:

Allah or God is incomparable and beyond all limitations and imperfections. Therefore, we cannot use reason or human language to describe the nature of Allah.


In responding to your question, Sheikh Ahmad Kutty, a senior lecturer and an Islamic scholar at the Islamic Institute of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, states:

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Allah or God, we believe in, is incomparable and beyond all limitations and imperfections. We cannot use reason or human language to describe the nature of Allah.

The function of the human language is to describe that which we can subject to our senses. Since God is beyond space and time and His creation, we cannot take liberty in attributing to Allah attributes or descriptions that rightly belong to the creation and not to the Creator.

The kind of language you are using does not befit the incomparable nature of Allah.  In so far as human language can be used to describe the Divine nature, we must restrict ourselves to God’s self-revelation in the Quran. We read:

{Say: He is God. God the eternal. He begets not, nor was He begotten. No one is comparable to Him.} (Al-Ikhlas 112:1-4)

You can also refer to the following verses:

{Allah – there is no deity except Him, the Ever-Living, the Sustainer of [all] existence. Neither drowsiness overtakes Him nor sleep. To Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth. Who is it that can intercede with Him except by His permission? He knows what is [presently] before them and what will be after them, and they encompass not a thing of His knowledge except for what He wills. His Kursi extends over the heavens and the earth, and their preservation tires Him not. And He is the Most High, the Most Great.} (Al-Baqarah 2:255)

{He is Allah, other than whom there is no deity, Knower of the unseen and the witnessed. He is the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful.

He is Allah, other than whom there is no deity, the Sovereign, the Pure, the Perfection, the Bestower of Faith, the Overseer, the Exalted in Might, the Compeller, the Superior. Exalted is Allah above whatever they associate with Him.

He is Allah, the Creator, the Inventor, the Fashioner; to Him belong the best names. Whatever is in the heavens and earth is exalting Him. And He is the Exalted in Might, the Wise.} (Al-Hashr 59:22-24)

I pray to Allah to fill our hearts with a real sense of awe and reverence for Allah, the Glorious and Exalted, who is beyond all human descriptions.

Almighty Allah knows best.

Source: www.askthescholar.com