Allah’s Incomparability and Questions about Qur’anic Illustrations

1. Nothing is like Allah

وَلَا شَيْءَ مِثْلُهُ.
Nothing is like Him.

Allah is without any likeness in His essence, and His attributes are not like those of created beings. No creature can be His equal or counterpart in essence or attributes.

Mithl means a likeness, equal, or counterpart. The statement denies any actual resemblance that would place creation on a level with its Creator.

2. Two questions about illustrations and incomparability

This creed gives rise to two questions.

First objection: The Qur'an prohibits setting forth comparisons for Allah, yet it also gives an illustration of His light. How can these statements be reconciled?

Second objection: Ahl al-Sunnah wa'l-Jamāʿah affirm that Allah has no likeness, yet an illustration of His light occurs in the Qur'an. Does this make something like Him?

The first question concerns the prohibition of comparisons; the second concerns actual resemblance.

3. First objection: prohibition of comparisons

فَلَا تَضْرِبُوا لِلَّهِ الْأَمْثَالَ. (al-Naḥl 16:74)
So do not set forth comparisons for Allah.

The instruction prohibits setting forth comparisons for Allah. At first sight, the prohibition could be read broadly, as though any example concerning Him were disallowed.

Yet the Qur'an itself contains an illustration supplied by Allah. This gives rise to the first objection.

4. The Qur’anic illustration of light

اللَّهُ نُورُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ مَثَلُ نُورِهِ كَمِشْكَاةٍ فِيهَا مِصْبَاحٌ. (al-Nūr 24:35)
Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The likeness of His light is as a niche containing a lamp.

Mishkāh means a niche and miṣbāḥ means a lamp. The expression mathalu nūrihi introduces an illustration of light.

The difficulty is that one verse forbids comparisons, while another provides an illustration from Allah Himself.

5. First answer: do not devise comparisons yourself

The command “do not set forth comparisons for Allah” forbids comparisons invented by people themselves.

A person must not devise a likeness for Allah by personal conjecture or analogy. When Allah Himself gives an illustration to explain a meaning, that illustration is of a different kind.

Thus, a humanly invented comparison is not the same as an illustration stated by Allah. The passage in Sūrat al-Nūr is understood as a divinely given illustration.

6. The idolaters’ self-devised intermediaries

The idolaters formed the idea that, just as one might need an intermediary to reach a great person, one would need intermediaries to approach Allah.

On that reasoning, they treated idols as a means of attaining nearness to Allah and began worshipping them.

This is an instance of inventing a comparison concerning Allah. A likeness devised by people does not have the same standing as an illustration given by Allah in revelation.

7. The Qur’anic statement of the idolaters

مَا نَعْبُدُهُمْ إِلَّا لِيُقَرِّبُونَا إِلَى اللَّهِ زُلْفَىٰ. (al-Zumar 39:3)
We worship them only so that they may bring us nearer to Allah.

The idolaters' words state their intended purpose: making idols intermediaries to obtain nearness to Allah.

Inventing such comparisons about Allah can lead to false belief and worship. This is why comparisons formed on one's own authority are prohibited.

8. Resolution of the first objection

Prohibited: Inventing comparisons about Allah and making beliefs depend upon them.
Qur'anic illustration: An example Allah Himself provides to clarify a reality.

Once these are distinguished, there is no conflict between “do not set forth comparisons for Allah” and “the likeness of His light”.

What people may not devise on their own may still be given by Allah Himself as an authoritative explanation.

9. Second objection: illustration and likeness

Ahl al-Sunnah wa'l-Jamāʿah affirm that nothing is like Allah in His essence or attributes.

Since Sūrat al-Nūr mentions a niche and lamp, a question arises: does the illustration make Allah's light like something created? If so, how could incomparability be maintained?

The difficulty comes from treating the use of an illustration as equivalent to establishing actual resemblance. These two matters are distinct.

10. Second answer: two different things

1. Another being actually having attributes like Allah's.
This would mean that a creature possesses attributes comparable to Allah's attributes. Such a claim is rejected: Allah's essence and attributes are free of actual resemblance.

2. Giving an illustration to make Allah's attributes understandable.
This is the use of an example to clarify a meaning. It does not follow that the object used in the example is like Allah.

The first claim is denied, while the second may occur as an explanatory illustration.

11. Allah’s essence and attributes are incomparable

وَلَا شَيْءَ مِثْلُهُ.
Nothing is like Him.

Allah is free from resemblance to creation. No created essence is like His essence, and no created attributes are like His attributes.

An illustration used to explain an attribute does not make the reality of that attribute identical to a created attribute. Explaining a meaning and being actually alike are different matters.

12. The illustration of light does not establish likeness

مَثَلُ نُورِهِ كَمِشْكَاةٍ فِيهَا مِصْبَاحٌ. (al-Nūr 24:35)
The example of His light is as a niche containing a lamp.

The image of a niche and lamp does not mean that Allah's light is literally a lamp in a niche. It does not ascribe the material form or mode of a created object to Allah.

It is an illustration to aid understanding. The attribute being explained belongs to Allah, whose attributes have no actual counterpart.

13. Clarifying through an analogy without establishing a likeness

Allah has no likeness, but an example may be used to make a matter understandable.

An example draws on something familiar to illuminate an aspect of the intended meaning. It does not make the two things identical in essence or attributes.

Mawlana Ashraf Ali Thanawi used an illustration of two sheets of paper and glue to explain nearness to Allah. Its purpose is to clarify nearness, not to establish an actual likeness to Allah.

14. Two sheets of paper and glue

If two sheets of paper are stuck together with glue, the sheets become close to one another. Yet the glue between them is closer to each sheet than the other sheet is.

The illustration clarifies a particular relation of nearness: two things may be close, while the intervening bond is closer to each than the sheets are to each other.

Glue, paper, and physical adhesion are not descriptions of Allah's essence or attributes. The comparison serves only to make a sense of nearness easier to grasp.

15. Nearness to Allah and the limit of the analogy

To explain this nearness, the illustration states that when Allah is between a person and that person's very existence, He is closer to that person than their own existence is.

The example involving glue is meant to clarify the meaning of nearness. It does not mean Allah is a material intermediary or resembles any part of the example.

An explanation of nearness is one matter, while Allah's incomparability remains certain. These two meanings must not be confused.

16. Incomparability and the purpose of Qur’anic illustration

Wa lā shay'a mithluhu — Nothing actually resembles Allah's essence or attributes.

Fa-lā taḍribū li-llāhi al-amthāl — One must not invent comparisons for Allah.

Mathalu nūrihi — Allah may provide an illustration to clarify a reality without implying actual resemblance.

Both objections are resolved by preserving the distinction: self-devised comparisons are prohibited, while an illustration that explains a meaning does not conflict with Allah's incomparability.