Dear respected Shaykh, assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. Can we say that Allah the Exalted can take any form that he wishes? This statement was uttered by an Imam who lectures in our country after he was asked about the hadith of the Prophet (peace be upon him) which states that he said, “During the night, my Lord, Blessed is He, and Most High, came to me in the best of appearances” [at-Tirmithi (3233)]. حديث ((أتاني ربي في أحسن صورة((

Praise be to Allah, and may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah, his family and his companions. Wa alaikum assalam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. As to what follows: In response to your question, we say:   This statement is a result of ignorance about Allah the Exalted, and his perfect qualities. Allah the Exalted said, “They have not appraised Allah with true appraisal. Indeed, Allah is Powerful and Exalted in Might” [al-Hajj 22: 74]. Thus Allah the Exalted is absolutely perfect in His names and qualities. “The most beautiful names belong to Allah” [al-A’raf 7: 180], and “ and for Allah is the highest attribute” [an- Nahl 16: 60], that is the highest description. It is compulsory to believe this, and to declare Allah to above that gives the false impression of deficiency in His attributes. “Exalted is He and high above what they describe” [al-An’am 6: 100]. What you asked about concerning whether Allah takes any form was not mentioned in any text. Therefore, it is not permissible to attribute it to Allah the Exalted. As for the hadith that you mentioned, it was transmitted by at-Tirmithi  (3233) from ibn ‘Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) and he said, “The Messenger of Allah (peace  be upon him) said, “During the night, my Lord, Blessed is He, and Most High, came to me in the best of appearances”. He (one of the narrators) said - I think he said it was during a dream. In this hadith, there is no proof of what was mentioned and claimed by this lecturer that Allah takes any form, because the hadith indicates that the Prophet (peace be upon him) saw his Lord in a dream in the highest attribute. It is known that the highest attribute is not only affected the viewed Being, because he may be of the highest level of beauty and magnificence, and  both these attributes will not be seen by the viewer either because of his weakness or the presence of something which impedes a clear view. Some commentators stated that the Prophet’s (peace  be upon him) statement in the hadeeth: “in the best of appearances”  is possibly a description of the Prophet (peace be upon him) and is not a description of Allah, the Exalted. Thus, this shows that what this lecturer mentioned is not correct. And Allah knows best. Dr. Khalid al-Mosleh   9/11/1428 H