Ali Al-Hadi - Theological Argumentations

Theological Argumentations

Imam al-Hadi lived during a time when people had grand misunderstandings about the theology surrounding Islam. As such, the Imam not only found it necessary to confute these misconceptions, but he contributed to the books of "argumentation" that were compiled by Shi'a scholars to further refute misguided beliefs about the religion.

One such issue the Imam dealt with was whether or not it was possible to see God. Imam al-Hadi said that it was impossible to see Him, because, "When the seer equals the seen thing in the cause of sight between them, sight takes place, but those who compare between the seer(man) and Allah they are mistaken because they have liken Allah to man..." Essentially, to say that you can see God is to say that you have the same qualities as God, which, in this case, is the ability to be seen. Another issue that the Imam dealt with was the believe that God has a body (embodiment of God). Imam al-Hadi chastised those who believed it and stated that, "He, who claims that Allah is a body, is not from us and we are free from him in this world and the afterworld...body(substance) is created and it is Allah Who has created and bodied it." To attribute Allah with embodiment is to characterize Him with need and to limit Him to a body. Essentially, it is wrong to equate God with created things due to His nature as our creator.

Imam al-Hadi also expressed strong feelings about the impossibility of describing God's Essence. The rationale behind his objection was that God is so Great that as humans, we are incapable of conceiving how truly amazing He is, and that the only one that can truly describe God is God Himself. He then uses this as a segue into the belief that true Muslims, the Prophet, and the infallible imams cannot be described either, because their obedience to God draws them closer to the Essence of God, and descriptions cannot wholly encompass their virtuous qualities that result from submitting to God.