The word · Belief
التَّشْبِيه
Tashbih
Likening Allah to His creation, which the Qur'an rules out with the words: there is nothing like Him.
Also written · Tashbeeh · Tajsim · Tamthil · Anthropomorphism · Likening God to creation · Tashbih wa Tajsim · Tajseem
The meaning
What Tashbih means in Islam
Tashbih is imagining Allah as a bigger, stronger version of something you have already seen. Its mirror error is ta'til, emptying His names and attributes of any real meaning. Sunni creed walks between the two: He is real, He is described, and He is not comparable (Qur'an 42:11).
Evidence · Editorial · Our own summary, drawn from the sources named
Read beside it
Words that sit beside it
- Asma wa SifatAllah's names and attributes, affirmed as He described them, without denial and without resemblance to creation.الأَسْمَاءُ وَالصِّفَات
- IstiwaThe Qur'anic statement that Allah rose over the Throne, and the classic test case for reading divine attributes.الاِسْتِوَاء
- TafwidLeaving the meaning of a difficult divine attribute to Allah, as opposed to interpreting it figuratively.التَّفْوِيض
More from Belief
- Adhab al-QabrThe punishment or ease a person meets in the grave, before the Day of Judgement arrives.عَذَابُ القَبْر
- Ba'thThe resurrection: bodies raised and souls returned, so that everyone stands for judgement.البَعْث
- IslamSubmission to Allah: outwardly the five pillars, inwardly the handing over of the whole self.الإِسْلَام
- Lawh MahfuzThe Preserved Tablet, in which everything decreed was written down before it happened.اللَّوْحُ المَحْفُوظ
- QadaAllah's decree carried out: the partner word to qadr, though scholars differ over which term means which.القَضَاء
- Shirk AsgharMinor shirk: acts like showing off in worship, which damage sincerity without putting a person outside Islam.الشِّرْكُ الأَصْغَر