Greetings friends
Please forgive yet another question from me. I am home alone for a few days and using the opportunity to do some reading and the questions keep coming. They are all heading in the same direction, so I promise I will eventually stop asking, but in the meantime, here is another one for you
In Christianity we talk about the Transcendence and the Immanence of God. Bascially the immanence of God speaks of His presence and involvement in the world, and His Transendence speaks of His being absent and uninvolved. Christians hold these two attributes of God in balance, giving neither of them more importance.
In His holiness we see His transendence. We see the vision of Isaiah 6:3 where the heavently hosts say "holy holy holy is the Lord of hosts" and then we hear God Himself declare He is the mark of holiness.. for He says "You shall be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy" (Leviticus 19:2)
the Other concept that is dominent in an understanding of God's transendence is His Oneness. Muslims, Christians and all Jews all declare with no hesitation the words echoed by the Shema of Jews and the Muslim creed which states 'there is no God but allah" and the Christian who agrees with Jesus when he reminds his followers of the Shema.
Muslims would agree therefore say that God is on a transcendal pedestal of being above, and beyond the reach of feeble faculties. The Qur'an describes Him with such descriptions as the one who "knows all things", Is the Source of Peace and Perfection, the Supreme, High is he, avove the partners, The evolver, the bestower of forms and colours .. etc.
Now, with so many of the 99 beautiful names declaring Allah's transcendence, it would be easy to think that in Islamic thinking, Allah doesn't get involved in His creation at all. That He is totally independent and uninvolved in His creation, and all that can be known of him is found in the revelation given by the angel Gabriel to the Prophet. But at this quote from Islamic philosopher al-Kindi suggests something different.
al-Kindi calls Allah the "Divine providence. he describes him like this
.. the Compassionate, the Generous, and the Providential. To al-Kindi, Allah is the compassionately solicious. His essential attributes are in no way in conflict with his His perfection or transcendence. They blend together harmoniously, in a unity that is different, unknowable and essentially simple. Providence seems to permeate the universe and to uphold it just as the the soul upholds the body, embracing everything with the ever-open arms of a loving Father, although we can not aspire to know His essence. Atiyeh, George N. Al_Kindi: The Philosopher of the Arabs. Islamic Research Institure Press
In this work, al-Kindi is declaring that God is the sustainer of the universe and immanently or personally involved in it. Now, Sufi Islam is perhaps one branch of Islam that most readily sees this idea of God with it's stress on experiential relationship in faith.
I know Shi'ia Islam has a mystical/experiential element in it as well.. and with just cause for the the Qur'an says
"for we are nearer to Him, than His Jugular vein. Surah 6:52.
So, my question to you all is.. Is there is a place for an imminent God in Islam to you personally and to your understanding of Islam generally? I am not speaking of the blasphemous doctrine that comes from pantheism that God is in everything .. but of the idea that it is very possible that this Allah, who you think of as transcendent and unknowable is not the Allah portrayed by your hadiths and other teachings.