They said mockingly: The Prophet of Islam said about his Lord that He is a beardless young man, and this is considered an insult to Allah — and they provided evidence for that with several narrations.

The narrations that they provide as evidence are false and fabricated narrations attributed to the Prophet (peace and blessings of God be upon him); the Prophet (peace and blessings of God be upon him) never said that God is a beardless young man. A beardless young man is a handsome young man who has no beard. The narrations related to this matter were ruled as fabricated by eminent scholars as follows:

• Al-Qari said: It is fabricated and has no basis in evidence.
• Al-Subki said: The hadith “I saw my Lord in the form of a beardless young man” is circulated on the tongues of some Sufis, and it is fabricated and attributed to the Messenger of God.
• Mulla Ali Al-Qari Al-Harawi said: It is fabricated and has no basis — also mentioned in his book The Secrets of the Elevated in the Fabricated News.
• Ibn al-Jawzi weakened it in The Infinite Ills in Weak Hadiths (Vol. 1/p. 36)
• Al-Dhahabi denounced it in The Biographies of the Nobles (Vol. 10/p. 113) and Mizan al-I’tidal (Vol. 1/p. 594)
• Ibn ‘Adi weakened it in Al-Kamil fi al-Du’afa (Vol. 2/p. 262)

2. Imam al-Suyuti — Al-Jami’ al-Kabir, No. 12739:
On the authority of Umm al-Tufayl, wife of Abi bin Ka’b: “I saw my Lord in a dream in the form of a respected young man in green, wearing two sandals of gold, and on his face was a bed of gold.” — Narrated by al-Tabarani (25/143, No. 346).

• Al-Haythami said in Majma’ al-Zawa’id (7/179): Ibn Hibban said it is denied because Ammarah bin Amir bin Hazm Al-Ansari did not hear from Umm al-Tufayl.

Conclusion: Since the hadith is a lie and fabricated against the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, we Muslims do not believe it, and it does not serve the interests of the objectors.

I said to Abu Dharr, “If I had met the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), I would have asked him.” He said, “What would you have asked him about?” I said, “I would have asked him if Muhammad saw his Lord.” He said, “I did ask him, and he said, ‘Light. How could I see Him?’”

Narrator: Abu Dharr al-Ghifari
Source: Al-Albani, Sahih al-Tirmidhi (3282)
Ruling: Sahih — Narrated by al-Tirmidhi (3282) and Muslim (178)

Narrator: Umm al-Tufayl, wife of Ubayy ibn Ka’b
Source: Al-Albani, Takhrij Kitab al-Sunnah (471)
Ruling: Sahih li-ghayrihi — Narrated by Ibn Abi ‘Asim in al-Sunnah (471), al-Tabarani (25/143) (346), and al-Daraqutni in Ru’yat Allah (287)

{There is nothing like Him, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing} (Ash-Shura: 11)

Nothing resembles Him, nor does anything of His creation resemble Him — neither in His essence, nor in His names, nor in His attributes, nor in His actions. We affirm for Allah what He affirmed for Himself or His Messenger ﷺ. And there are attributes that we neither affirm nor deny that Allah did not tell us about Himself or His Messenger ﷺ.

We are not among those who embody the Lord of the Worlds, nor do we deny His attributes, nor are we misguiders. And based on that, since the hadith is fabricated and contains an insult to the Lord of the Worlds — the answer is: Allah is not a beardless young man.

Weakening all the ways of the narration “I saw my Lord in the best form” — weakening the narration “I saw my Lord in my dream in the best form as a dignified young man on a chair surrounded by a bed of gold”

Narrations about a beardless youth are weak and unacceptable; most of them contain weak and unknown narrators in their chains of transmission.

Note: A scholar’s correction is only accepted if it meets the conditions of Ahlus Sunnah (Sunni Muslims).

Ruling/Clarification: This is a false accusation against Imam Ahmad (may God have mercy on him).

• On the authority of the Prophet ﷺ, when the Companions asked him: “Did you see your Lord?” He said: “Light, how could I see Him?”
• And he ﷺ said: “None of you will see his Lord, the Almighty and Majestic, until he dies.”

Book: Abu Saeed Uthman ibn Saeed’s Refutation of the Stubborn Jahmite al-Marisi

Book: Clarification of the Jahmites’ Deception in Establishing Their Theological Innovations

Response: Explained in the preceding pages, it clearly demonstrates that what is attributed to him regarding seeing God as a beardless youth is false.

Ibn Taymiyyah (may God have mercy on him) said:“Whoever says that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) saw his Lord as a beardless young man has lied.”

The chain of transmission also includes an ‘an’anah from Qatadah, and Qatadah is known for tadlis (concealing defects in the chain of transmission).
Ruling: The hadith of a mudallis is not acceptable if he uses ‘an’anah.

Ruling: Imam al-Dhahabi said: “This is a rejected report.”

Regarding the chains of transmission, most of these narrations either contain weak narrators or unknown individuals.

It was stated that all the narrations about the beardless youth are fabricated and falsely attributed to the Messenger of God, peace and blessings be upon him.

• Chain includes Hammad — weak narrator
• Chain includes Qutaybah — practiced tadlis

Ruling: The chain of narration is weak.

• Chain includes ‘Ammarah ibn ‘Amir narrating on the authority of Umm al-Tufayl
• Ibn Hibban said in al-Thiqat: “He did not hear from Umm al-Tufayl.”

Ruling: The chain has a break, is very weak, and contains unknown narrators.

Narration of Umm al-Tufayl: She was asked: “Did you hear it from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)?” She said: “I don’t know.”

Further chain problems:

• Contains Marwan ibn Uthman — unknown
• The narrator from Marwan — nothing is known about him

Ruling: It is a fabricated story falsely attributed to the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him).

I wonder: Wasn’t their Lord Jesus once an infant, then a child, then a beardless young man?

The answer: Yes — then why the mockery, and the point of suspicion for the objectors, not the Muslims?

We do not recognize the hadith as we have mentioned, but the objectors are the ones who believe that their Lord Jesus was once a beardless young man.

What is more amazing than that is that they do not mock or object to the fact that their Lord is described in the Holy Book as wailing, howling, walking barefoot and naked, wailing like jackals, and moaning like ostriches — that is, putting his head in the sand.

I wonder: When their Lord walked barefoot (without shoes) and naked (without clothes) — was he in the form of a beardless young man or in another form?