Encyclopedia of Islam

anthropomorphism

  

45  J

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by the Abbasid caliphs. The middle position in 

this debate was defined by al-Ashari (873–935) 

and his followers, who argued that the anthropo-

morphic descriptions of God based on the Quran 

and hadith must be accepted as real, but that 

God remains uniquely different from his creation 

“without [our] knowing how.” This is the doc-

trine that has prevailed in the Sunni community 

until the present day. Nevertheless, anthropomor-

phic understandings of God continue to surface 

in popular Muslim beliefs and certain strands of 

s

UFism

 and speculative thought.

See also  a

bbasid

  c

aliphate

;  a

llah

;  a

shari

s

chool

; 

ghulat

;  i

bn

  h

anbal

,  a

hmad

;  p

erFect

m

an

.