Imaginations Can't Attain Him

Lā tablughuhu al-awhām, wa lā tudrikuhu al-afhām. Imaginations can't attain Him; comprehensions can't perceive Him.

Now that Allah (swt) has been discussed at this level, is He somebody who can be understood and encompassed? The author says: lā tablughuhu al-awhām, wa lā tudrikuhu al-afhām. Imaginations can't attain Him; comprehensions can't perceive Him. Imagine as much as you want; try to comprehend as much as possible: He cannot be comprehended. It is like trying to get a calculator to comprehend a human being. It is not programmed for that. A master computer can be made, programmed to understand a human being to a certain level; but that is its jurisdiction. Even then they go wrong, as all these movies that they brag about show.

The Prophet (peace be upon him) described Paradise, saying that it is something which no eye has ever seen the likes of, no ear has heard the description of, and something that has never even occurred to the heart of anyone. This basically means that we see beautiful imagery of something, a landscape or a scenery, and we hear descriptions; Paradise is supposed to be beyond that. And the Creator of that is even beyond that, in terms of comprehension. So we are thankful to Allah (swt) that in the Qur'an He reveals something about Himself; and by what He has created around us, He has shown us His greatness, and His vastness, and His beauty, and His majesty, and His greatness.

Wa lā yushbihuhu al-anām. Creatures don't bear any similarity to Him.

Wa lā yushbihuhu al-anām: creatures don't bear any similarity to Him. There is no similarity in any way, shape or form to Allah (swt). So one cannot take any creature and infer something from it about Allah (swt), except to say that He is the Creator, and He is the Master, and He is the Possessor of everything.

The question that then arises is this. It has been agreed that He does not perish; there was no beginning for Him; there is no end for Him. But during this life of His, is He like the human being, who needs sleep? Aristotle said that you don't need sleep^*; but any sane person would surely say that you do need some sleep, because that is the nourishment of the heart, to refresh oneself.