• In Islam, knowledge of God is not an area of conjecture or personal opinion. The only way to the knowledge of God is through the guidance of revelation.

• Only God can disclose information about Himself; who He is and what He is like. Humans could never discover this knowledge on their own. In the Qur'an, God describes Himself as follows: “Vision comprehends Him not, but He comprehends all vision” (Qur’an 6:103).

• God’s Essence, as stated in the Qur’an, is beyond the scope of human perception and comprehension. The human imagination cannot possibly conjure up what God is like. Imagination consists of fragments of reality already perceived; the human mind cannot imagine beyond what it sees and experiences in the physical world. The picture-making power of the mind is based on observation; God resembles or compares to nothing in this world.

• It is obvious, then, that the human mind can never know One Who is Unique, Incomparable, and dissimilar to anything in creation. Therefore, Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) cautioned mankind in this regard, saying, “Ponder about the creatures of God and do not ponder about God Himself (His Essence) lest you be ruined.” The human brain has cognitive, temporal, and spatial limits which it cannot possibly transcend. A sound human intellect can know God’s existence, but it cannot know God’s Essence. God is too Exalted to be encompassed by the created finite human mind.

• Such absolute knowledge of God is impossible, and there only remains for the human being the option of relative knowledge. Humans can never know God’s Essence, but they can know Him through His attributes with which He described Himself in the Qur’an and through His works in the universe.