Tashbih تشبيه
declaration of similarity (default in Akbarian dialectic; the kataphatic moment that names the Real as somehow like the created realities through which it discloses. Paired contrastively with tanzih)
Tashbih (تشبيه) — The Akbarian rehabilitation of tashbih against the kalam-polemical register is what makes the Fass Nuh provocative. In classical kalam tashbih names a heresy (likening God to creatures); Ibn Arabi reads Quran 42:11 (“laysa ka-mithlihi shay” — “nothing is like Him”) as itself BOTH tanzih (nothing like Him) AND tashbih (the ka- particle asserts likeness even in its denial). “Anthropomorphism” is forbidden as a default rendering because it collapses to the kalam-heretical register the Akbarian usage deliberately complicates; reserve for passages explicitly engaging the kalam polemic. The pair tanzih / tashbih is the Akbarian via media; rendering both terms consistently is what makes Ibn Arabi’s “Bring together what tanzih separates” move visible in English.
Etymology
[STUB: editor to author etymology, root, and morphological notes.]
Cross-tradition resonance
Related terms across traditions (each relation is a stub the editor expands):
- Kataphasis (christian-mysticism) — [STUB: editor to expand — parallel-affirmation-discipline]
- Zelem (jewish-mysticism) — [STUB: editor to expand — shared-image-likeness-frame-proposed]
Primary sources
[STUB: editor to list locus classicus and other canonical attestations.]
Scholarly literature
[STUB: editor to list standard secondary scholarship.]
Stable URLs are part of the editorial commitment. This address will not change.
Hekhal Editorial. "Tashbih." Hekhal: An Open Reference for Esoteric Tradition. Last modified May 2, 2026. https://hekhal.org/lexicon/tashbih.
Hekhal Editorial. 2026. "Tashbih." Hekhal: An Open Reference for Esoteric Tradition. https://hekhal.org/lexicon/tashbih.
Hekhal Editorial. "Tashbih." Hekhal: An Open Reference for Esoteric Tradition, May 2, 2026, hekhal.org/lexicon/tashbih.
Hekhal Editorial. (2026). Tashbih. Hekhal: An Open Reference for Esoteric Tradition. https://hekhal.org/lexicon/tashbih
@misc{hekhal-lexicon-tashbih-2026,
author = {{Hekhal Editorial}},
title = {{Tashbih}},
year = {2026},
publisher = {{Hekhal: An Open Reference for Esoteric Tradition}},
url = {https://hekhal.org/lexicon/tashbih},
urldate = {[date accessed]}
}