Explanation of the Hadith: Allah Created Adam in His Image

Question:
(peace and blessings be upon him) in the hadith his self in a narration that they measure an arm’s length? Is there a consensus among the scholars regarding Allah the Exalted? And is there agreement on this issue?

Answer:
Yes, the pronoun refers to Allah. "In His image" means the image of Allah (Exalted and Majestic is He), because in some narrations it is "in the image of the Most Merciful." This refutes figurative interpretation (ta'wil). The meaning of "in the image of the Most Merciful" is that Allah gave him hearing, sight, and speech. Even though the created does not resemble the Creator, they share names in which the Creator and the created participate, such as "Hearer" and "Seer," and other absolute shared names called "shared." This is a sharing in meaning called "shared," and it differs in reality and modality. The external reality is shared in meaning and shared in the mind, but in the external reality and the truth, it does not differ. This is even among created things; created things share in names and differ in realities. How much more so the Creator and the created? The hadith is to be taken at its apparent meaning, and there is no need for difficulty. The scholars explained it, and the scholars' debates explained it and clarified the meaning, so there is no need to raise this difficulty every time. Among the last to write on this well is Shaykh Mahmud al-Tuwayji (may Allah have mercy on him), who wrote well and mentioned quotations from the Imams of the Salaf regarding this meaning, so there is no need to raise this difficulty.