Describing a human as 'godlike'

9-2-2014 | IslamWeb

Question:

A few weeks ago my friend told me about a teacher that she thought was handsome and clever. After meeting him I disagreed and said I thought he would be more godlike, as a description of character and appearance. Even after saying it I regretted it. I've read the text under "what is shirk" but I keep worrying that I have committed a major sin.

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Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His Slave and Messenger.

If what is meant by "godlike" is that the traits of the man resemble the traits of Allaah, the True God, then this is unacceptable. It is not permissible to resemble the attributes of a created being to the Attributes of the Creator; Allaah says (what means): {There is nothing like unto Him and He is the Hearing, the Seeing.} [Quran 42:11] Allaah also says (what means): {Lord of the heavens and the earth and whatever is between them — so worship Him and have patience for His worship. Do you know of any similarity to Him?’} [Quran 19:65]

For more benefit, please refer to Fataawa 27018 and 104808.

Therefore, using this word with this meaning is a great evil as we have mentioned.

However, we assume that you did not intend this, and we hope that you will bear no sin because of it.

If by that expression you meant something else, then please clarify it to us.

Allaah Knows best.