Abstract
Tajalli wa-Ru'ya: A Study of Anthropomorphic Theophany and Visio Dei in the Hebrew
Bible, the Qur'an and Early Sunni Islam
by
W. Wesley Williams
Chair: Sherman A. Jackson
Islam is often viewed as the religion par excellence of divine transcendence, God is
Miilaf al“Glam, “the absolute divergence from the worid” and this characteristically Islamic
doctrine of mukhdlafa “(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
teanscendence is in radical discontinuity with the Biblical/Semitic and ancient Near
Eastern tradition of transcendent anthropomorphism and perilous tisio 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.
‘This dissertation argues that as a member of the Semitic religions Islam too
possessed! tradition of transcendent anthropomorphism, theophany and visio Dei, which
«radition fikely originated with the Prophet Muhammad. When read in the context of
possible Biblical and ancient Near Eastern narrative/mythological subtexts, rather than
affirming divine invisibility the relevant Que'Bnic passages seem to qualify divine visibility
and theophany. It is argued here that despite the Aristotelian-Neoplatonic critique of
anthropomorphism by rationalist groups such as the Mu'tazila a defining aspect of the
traditionalist Sunni ‘agida or creed for the first four centuries (9"-12" CE) was theaffirmation of Muhammad's visual encounter with God. As in post-Maimonidean
Judaism, however, the Aristotelian-Neoplatonic revision of the Sunni creed will
eventually be so successful that it has resulted ia the near-total forgetting of this earlier
Islamic tradition of anthropomorphic theophany and Visio Ds,Tajallt wa-Ru'ya: A Study of Anthropomorphic Theophany and Visio Dei in the Hebrew
Bible, the Qur'an and Early Sunni Islam
by
W. Wesley Williams
A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
(Near Eastern Studies)
in The University of Michigan
2008
Doctoral Committee:
Professor Sherman A. Jackson, Chair
Professor Juan R. Cole
Professor Alexander D. Knysh
Associate Professor Brian B. Schmidt