Theistic Personalism of Islam

 

سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ عَدَدَ خَلْقِهِ

سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ رِضَا نَفْسِهِ

سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ زِنَةَ عَرْشِهِ

سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ مِدَادَ كَلِمَاتِهِ

The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said:

وَلاَ شَخْصَ أَغْيَرُ مِنَ اللَّهِ وَلاَ شَخْصَ أَحَبُّ إِلَيْهِ الْعُذْرُ مِنَ اللَّهِ مِنْ أَجْلِ ذَلِكَ بَعَثَ اللَّهُ الْمُرْسَلِينَ مُبَشِّرِينَ وَمُنْذِرِينَ وَلاَ شَخْصَ أَحَبُّ إِلَيْهِ الْمِدْحَةُ مِنَ اللَّهِ مِنْ أَجْلِ ذَلِكَ وَعَدَ اللَّهُ الْجَنَّةَ

“No person is more jealous of his honor than Allah, and no person is more fond of accepting an excuse than Allah, on account of which He has sent Messengers, announcers of glad tidings and warners; and no person is more fond of praise than Allah on account of which Allah has promised Paradise” (Sahih Muslim)

In this blessed Hadith, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم affirmed the shakhsiyyah or personhood of Allah three times.

The belief in God’s personhood and that He is a personal God is perhaps the most fundamental concept taught by Islam. We conceive of God as a person who expresses characteristics like mercy, love, generosity, happiness, will, vengeance, jealousy, patience and so forth. Such qualities in God lead to only one conclusion – He is a real person.

That God is referred to in the Quran in the first and second persons “I” and “You” plenty of times is more evidence that He is necessarily a person.

Some theologies and metaphysical doctrines deny the personhood of God, such as pantheism and pandeism.

There are some streams or theological tendencies coming forth out of religious traditions which overall believe God is a person that have obscured the belief in God’s personhood. Thomas Aquinas and the Thomists are an example of this phenomenon in the Catholic tradition. Muslims influenced by Thomism likewise tend toward a theology which negates the personhood of God. Needless to say, it is a very serious and dangerous heresy that undermines the most fundamental and central tenet of Islam – Allah is a person and is a personal God.