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Declaring God free of likeness in His attributes

تنزيه صفات الله

Sha'rawi holds that the attributes and acts God reports of Himself are taken as He states them, within the denial of any likeness. God's existence, knowledge and speech are not measured by those of creatures 1 2.

Depth

At a glance

Era
The Prophetic Era
Region
Global / Diaspora
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Worship and the pillars

Summary

Sha'rawi holds that the attributes God reports of Himself are taken as He states them, while denying any likeness 1.

Life and speech

He says God has life and we have life, but His is essential and ours is given, so ours is no measure for His. Likewise His speech is not like ours, and He can inform His messenger by any means 1 3.

Istiwa

He gives the image of a meal, whose quality varies with the host's rank. If descriptions differ among humans, God is more deserving of being declared free of likeness, so His istiwa is not like human sitting 1.

Time and place

He holds that "when" and "where" belong to events and do not apply to God, who is not an event 2.

Not yet checked

This is Sha'rawi's account of tanzih. The creedal texts, the academic view and any non-Sunni view have not been checked.

People and things also explored

The ruling on one who abandons prayer· Ada' (performance of an obligation within its time)· Adhan (the call to prayer: its ruling, wording, conditions, recommended features and the muezzin)· Bone (adhm): purity, use and retaliation· The adornment of desires and the goods of this world· The people of the bench (ahl al-suffa)· The earth made a place of prayer and purity· Spending in the way of God (infaq)

Sources

  1. Sha'rawi's Khawatir around the Holy Quran, volume one (scan copy) , p.1074
  2. Sha'rawi's Khawatir around the Holy Quran, volume one (scan copy) , p.1103
  3. Sha'rawi's Khawatir around the Holy Quran, volume one (scan copy) , p.1075
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Declaring God free of likeness in His attributes”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/concept/tanzih-of-divine-attributes/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-23.

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Beliefs, concepts, sciences and schools, explained in plain words. Related

The ruling on one who abandons prayer

Al-Sallabi quotes Ali: whoever does not pray is an unbeliever. He then reports from al-Nawawi the dispute over one who neglects prayer while believing it obligatory: the majority (Malik, al-Shafi'i) hold him a sinner to be asked to repent, others hold him an unbeliever, a view ascribed to Ali; Abu Hanifa and the Kufans hold him not an unbeliever but to be disciplined.