THE BASIS OF QADI ABD AL-JABBAR ON THE REJECTION OF VISIBILITY OF ALLAH

Abstract

Qadi Abd al-Jabbar has rejected visibility of Allah because of ontological and epistemological reasons. According to him the acclaim of visibility requires the existence of Allah in particular environment and direction. This means that transcendental presence is similar to finite and limited cases. As to Mu'tazila tawhid principle it is impossible for Allah to resemble a creature. So that the rejection of visibility of Allah is inevitable in order to protect Him from embodying and similitude. In accordance with those thoughts Abd al-Jabbar has interpreted verses on visibility of Allah on the basis of reason, so that he has built a doctrine on foresight of mind instead of the arguments of the verses. This can be inferred from his declaration which indicates that the verses on tawhid and justice should be understood by principles of mind. As conclusion he built his arguments on the basis of tawhid principle and declared negative view of Mu'tazila on visibility of Allah. Moreover according to him the narrated evidences asserted for visibility of Allah do not bear epistemological merit in terms of certainty and indication. This study aims to reveal the conclusion of reading written sources of Islam by the principles of mind. The selection of its interpretation instead of the actual thing will lead conclusions that cannot be accepted, or at least cannot be proved. Therefore it is the right decision to speak via verses instead of reason on issues of transmission such as life of the Hereafter.