The human mind is a true marvel,
but in certain areas it is limited. God is different from anything the human
mind can think of or imagine, so the mind will become confused if it tries to
picture God. Nevertheless, it is possible to understand the attributes of God
that do not require one to make any mental pictures of Him. For example, one of
God's names is al-Ghaffar, which means He forgives all sins. Everyone
can understand this easily because that is how the human mind can think of God.
Jewish and Christian teachings on God are confused partly because of incorrect
understanding of this issue. The Jewish Torah teaches God is like man,
"Then
God said, 'Let us make man in our image, after our likeness...so God made man
in His own image.'" (Genesis 1:26-27)
Moreover, certain churches contain
statues or images of an old white bearded man depicting God.