Tajalli Wa-Ru'ya: A Study of Anthropomorphic Theophany and Visio Dei in the Hebrew Bible, the Qur'an and Early Sunni Islam

Islam is often viewed as the religion par excellence of divine transcendence. God is khilaf al-`alam , "the absolute divergence from the world" and this characteristically Islamic doctrine of mukhalafa "(divine) otherness" precludes divine corporeality. In as much as this latter is conditio sine qua non of visibility, it is axiomatic that the God of Islam in invisible and therefore non-theophanous. This tradition of divine invisibility and incorporeal transcendence is in radical discontinuity with the Biblical/Semitic and ancient Near Eastern tradition of transcendent anthropomorphism and perilous visio Dei, according to which God/the gods has/have bodies human of shape but transcendent in substance, manner of being, and effect. Seeing this transcendently anthropomorphic deity is possible but dangerous for mortal onlookers. The profound disparity between Islamic and Biblical/ancient Near Eastern articulations of divine transcendence raises questions regarding Islam's place among the Semitic religions.