# What does Allah look like? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 5, 2001, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-allah-look-like/91687 "2001-11-05T23:41:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Chubbs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/47e85d/32.png) [@Chubbs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chubbs)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2001, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-allah-look-like/91687/1 "2001-11-05T23:41:08Z")
Never seen a pic or painting. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2001, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-allah-look-like/91687/2 "2001-11-05T23:48:56Z")
Okay, I’ll bite. How exactly would you expect to see a **“pic”** of Allah? ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2001, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-allah-look-like/91687/3 "2001-11-05T23:55:07Z")
I think [this](http://www.jesuschristsuperstore.net/lfigurespages/lfallah.html) is a pretty accurate representation. (It’s a steal at any price.) ---
**Author:** ![Chubbs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/47e85d/32.png) [@Chubbs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chubbs)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2001, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-allah-look-like/91687/4 "2001-11-05T23:58:42Z")
Picture what was I thinking. ---
**Author:** ![Gaspode](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/aeb1de/32.png) [@Gaspode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gaspode)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2001, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-allah-look-like/91687/5 "2001-11-06T00:05:06Z")
There’s a strong injunction in the Koran against making graven images. For this reason Moslems don’t make pictures of Allah just as Jews don’t make pictures of Jehovah. It’s fairly unlikely that a non-Moslem could claim to have seen the Moslem God there’s no way that anyone could ever come up with an image of Allah. (I don’t know, but I suspect that like Jehovah the face of Allah can never be seen by humans anyway.) If you’re actually looking for a picture of Mohommed then again you’re going to be disappointed because graven images are verboten and I suspect even if their were any images from his lifetime they would have been destroyed. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2001, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-allah-look-like/91687/6 "2001-11-06T00:27:46Z")
“There is no God but Allah…” Muslims believe Allah is perfect, is the one God, and that any representation of Him by a human will be less than perfect, therefore it is forbidden. Depending on the way Islam is interpreted, this ban on graven images can extend further. Images of the prophet Mohammed (PBUH, for any Muslim Dopers) are generally forbidden, and very devout Muslims will carry this as far as banning images of any living thing, or simply anything at all, because they are God’s creations. Hence the Islamic love of little abstract squiggly lines. 🙂 (Smileys are out too). This is why expensive Persian carpets will often have one stitch deliberately put out of place, because the person who made it doesn’t want to be seen as trying to insult God by being impudent enough to make a perfect work. ---
**Author:** ![Pacifix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/0ea827/32.png) [@Pacifix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pacifix)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2001, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-allah-look-like/91687/7 "2001-11-06T00:40:40Z")
I had read this a while back as well, about images of animals, people, places being forbidden. This is the reason Arabic art utilizes so many line patterns and extremely stylized calligraphy - hey, artists gotta draw, no matter who they’re praying to. But then I began wondering about all the pictures/drawings of not only bin Laden but also - seemingly on every flat surface except the ground in Iraq - of Hussein. How are these allowed? Tchau, Pacifix ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2001, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-allah-look-like/91687/8 "2001-11-06T01:36:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Pacifix \* > \*\*… but also - seemingly on every flat surface except the ground in Iraq - of Hussein. How are these allowed? > \*\* Even _on_ the ground. In the memoirs of an Australian freelance journalist who spent years in the Middle East (I’ve forgotten his name), he relates a story of going to a private house in Iraq. It was the home of somebody who didn’t exactly like Saddam, so there weren’t the usual pictures of him everywhere. This guy did the bare minimum - a carpet with Saddam’s potrait on it was kept rolled up in a corner. If there was a knock at he door, he would quickly roll the carpet out before answering the knock. But to answer your question, I guess it’s a rule open to interpretation. It depends on the individual (or more likely the regime) on how far it is taken. ---
**Author:** ![sford](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/edb3f5/32.png) [@sford](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sford)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2001, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-allah-look-like/91687/9 "2001-11-06T01:46:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Pacifix \* > **But then I began wondering about all the pictures/drawings of … bin Laden … [and also] Hussein. How are these allowed?** The same way that most Jews allow their hair and beards to be cut, but some don’t. The bin Laden and Hussein picture wavers obviously don’t think the prohibition of all pictures to be a reasonable interpretation of scripture. ---
**Author:** ![sford](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/edb3f5/32.png) [@sford](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sford)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2001, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-allah-look-like/91687/10 "2001-11-06T01:47:25Z")
Heh. Great minds think alike.