Allah Revealed!
Bismillah al-Rahman al-Rahim
Assalamu’ Aleikum!
Dear reader, we have often dwelt upon the Divine greatness of Allah. It is only true and proper to speak of His unlimited creative power, His universal strength, His presence everywhere simultaneously, His awareness of all things at all times, His sustaining the universe. But could it be there is a dimension of Allah we may have overlooked?
In other words, does Allah have human characteristics? Could there be human features to His Divine aspect? According to the Honored Qur’an and the Holy Books (Bible Scriptures), this appears to be true. But does this detract from Him being Divine? May Allah bless you as you seek Him in reverent prayer (du’a) for guidance, direction, and wisdom.
Consider the following ayat: “…Whoever rejects evil and believes in Allah hath grasped the most trustworthy hand-hold, that never breaks. And Allah heareth and knoweth all things.” Sura 2.256 Al-Baqara. Allah has hands, it says. How else could we take hold of the most trustworthy hand-hold?
Also notice the words in the Taurat from one of the wisest men of ancient times, a prophet of the East. Job (Ayub) 12:9-10 says, “Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the LORD [Allah] hath wrought this? In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind.” Thus according to both the Honored Qur’an and the Holy Books, Allah has hands! Isn’t that amazing? We can trust our lives safely into His Hands.
Allah also has ears! “Allah heareth....” Sura 2.256 Al-Baqara. How else could He hear?
This same fact is brought out in the Holy Books, in the Zabur given by Allah to Daud. Psalms 18:6: “In my distress I called upon the LORD [Allah], and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears.”
Allah, the most compassionate and merciful, has ears that are open unto your cry! Are these not portraying a “human side” of Allah? It gives us confidence to come to Him as we would approach a close friend of ours.
Allah has eyes, also, for He told Noah to “construct an ark under our eyes.” Sura 11.37. The Zabur in the Holy Books agree, this time from Psalms 34:15: “The eyes of the LORD [Allah] are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry.”
Solomon, the wisest of men who ever lived, wrote in Proverbs 15:3: “The eyes of the LORD [Allah] are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.”
In continuing our study about Allah’s features, we learn from the sacred record that Allah has a nose.
“…I [Allah] despise your feast days, and I [Allah] will not smell in your solemn assemblies….” Amos 5:21-22. Amos, one of the ancient prophets, recorded those words of Allah. In Amos’ time, God’s people had departed from Him. Although they still attended the feast days and came together to worship God, their day-to-day lives told a different story— one of forgetting God and His holy Law. Therefore, God (Allah) would not accept their worship or feast days.
Not only does God smell, but He also laughs—particularly at the foolishness of the wicked, whose plans He will ultimately defeat. Zabur Psalms 2:2-4 says, “The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed…. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.”
Allah’s Human Form?
Has anyone from among the human family seen a human form of Allah? Yes! Exodus 24:9-11 states, “Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel: And they saw the God of Israel: and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone.… They saw God….” They saw Him in His human form, for they saw that He had feet.
Then there is Jacob’s experience of seeing God. Genesis 32:30 tells us, “And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.” Jacob saw the face of Allah!
Did Allah come down to someone else, too --close enough to be seen in His human form? Yes. The first recorded person to see Allah was Hagar, the mother of the Children of the East, the Arab people. She had fled in distress from the camp of Ibrahim into the desert. She was feeling unloved and forsaken, until Someone cared enough to come near to her. Listen to her testimony from Taurat Genesis 16:13 TNIV: “She gave this name to the LORD who spoke to her: ‘You are the God who sees me,’ for she said, ‘I have now seen the One who sees me.’”
Moses also saw Allah. Exodus 3:6 records their meeting: “Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God.”
Do these words from both the Honored Qur’an and the Holy Books (Bible) firmly establish that God at times has revealed Himself to humans in human form? Dear reader, there are so many verses from the Holy Books that we cannot be mistaken.
As we continue, we read that Allah also has arms. Again the prophet Job (Ayub) speaks to us. Taurat Job 40:9 says, “Hast thou an arm like God? or canst thou thunder with a voice like him?”
Thus God has a mouth and from it, His voice is heard. “God's voice is glorious in the thunder. We can't even imagine the greatness of His power.” Job 37:5 NLT. "We have heard the voice of the living God. We've heard him speaking out of the fire. Has any other human being ever heard him speak like that and stayed alive?” Taurat Deuteronomy 5:26.
The verses just quoted mention that, at times, Allah speaks to mankind in a voice. The Holy Qur’an tells us: “Allah speaketh the truth.” Sura 3.95 Aal-E-Imran. How could the truth be spoken and how could Allah’s voice be heard, if He did not have a mouth?
The Qur’an reveals that the ancient prophet Moses not only heard Allah’s voice, but he also saw a form.
“But when he came to the (Fire), a voice was heard from the right bank of the valley, from a tree in hallowed ground: ‘O Moses! Verily I am Allah, the Lord of the Worlds....’” Sura 28.30 Al-Oasas. What Moses saw as he listened was a burning tree that the fire did not consume, from which came Allah’s voice. To converse with Moses, Allah had taken on the form of a tree on fire. Imagine that! What an awesome privilege He gave to Moses. It is apparent that Allah has no limitations as we humans have.
Whom Did the Prophet Daniel See?
The Taurat tells us that the ancient prophet Daniel was taken off in vision. In that vision, Daniel saw an unusual person, whom he called a “man,” and whom he described: “Then I lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a certain man clothed in linen, whose loins [waist] were girded [wrapped] with fine gold of Uphaz: His body also was like the beryl, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet like in colour to polished brass, and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude.” Taurat Daniel 10:5-6.
Notice the distinct human characteristics of the One whom the prophet Daniel saw in vision:
In the Injeel, in Revelation Chapter 1, Yahya (John the Revelator) saw the same man. Yahya saw Him as the “Alpha and Omega.” This same being was “like unto the Son of man.” Here are John’s details:
1. A “man” in a garment and golden girdle.
2. “Head” and “hair” white, like wool or snow.
3. His “eyes” like a flame of fire.
4. His “feet” like fine brass.
5. His “voice” like the sound of many waters.
6. Out of His “mouth” went a sharp sword.
7. His “face” shone as the sun in its strength.
8. Yahya says in verse 18 that this man “liveth, was dead and now is alive forever more.”
Here in Revelation Chapter 1 (Injeel) the “man” seen by Yahya (John) is the same Person the prophet Daniel had seen. Allah reveals even more to us in Revelation 2:18. There we read, “These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass.” Yahya calls this important man seen in vision “the Son of Allah.” Yahya continues to unfold more clearly who this is. In Revelation 19:11-16 he describes the very same person, who is called “Faithful and True,” having “eyes as a flame of fire” and many crowns upon His head. He is clothed with a “vesture [garment] dipped in blood,” and his name is “The Word of God” (Kalimatu Allah)—the same as in Suras 3.39, 45 Aal-E-Imran. His name is “King of Kings, and Lord of Lords,” and again it is said that “out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword.” Thus once more we see:
1. Eyes like flames
2. Mouth with sword
3. Clothed in a garment of blood (crucifixion)
4. Called the Word of God (Allah)
5. His name: “King of Kings and Lord of Lords”
Isa al-Masih ibyn Maryam, the Word from Allah!
“Behold! the angels said: ‘O Mary! Allah giveth thee glad tidings of a Word from Him: his name will be Christ Jesus, the son of Mary, held in honour in this world and the hereafter and of (the company of) those nearest to Allah.’” Sura 3.45 Aal-E-Imran. He is the straight path (siratun mistaqueem). Sura 3.51 Aal-E-Imran and Sura 43.61 Az-Zukhruf.
Injeel John 1:14 bears record: “And the Word [Isa al-Masih] was made flesh [human] and dwelt among us.” Dear friend of Allah, here in the most concise language, Allah has revealed to us that there can be—indeed, there has been--an appearance of Allah as a human like us. His name is called “Isa al-Masih.”
The Holy Scriptures tell us that “no man hath seen God [the Father] at any time; [but] the only begotten Son [the Word], … he hath declared [revealed] him” by literally coming to dwell among us. Alhumdilliah!
What better way could Allah communicate with us, than for Him to come in human form, so that humanity could experience, understand, and tell others what Allah is really like. In the life of Isa al-Masih we see the character of Allah fully displayed. Isa came to pay the ransom (al-Fida) for the fallen sons of Adam. Sura 37.107 As-Saaffat. He came to purchase back, to redeem, men from Iblis’s (Satan’s) strong hold. Isa came to reveal both the Divine character of Allah and the human side of Allah!
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Allah Revealed!
He is “the most trustworthy hand-hold.”
Al-Baqara 256
Sura 2.256
R. M. Harnisch
Series no. 11