An Exegetical Critique of Gerhard Bowering's Viewpoints on the Face of God through Reliance on Al-Mizan fi Tafsir al-Qur'an.

The verses dealing with the face of Allah (swt) are metaphorical ones which are decisively determined through reference to the definite verses. To clarify theses verses, one should regard the orderly system of the Islamic Divine teachings as a whole. Not having had access to all the documents, sources, instructions and instruments, the orientalists looked at the system from a limited and sometimes distorted perspective. Observing the Arabic linguistic rules and the sensible dialogue principles reveals the meaning of these verses clearly. As an interpreter of the metaphorical verses on the face of God, Gerhard Bowering lacked a comprehensive intellectual approach and avoidance of subjective interpretation. The face of God is His noble and generous attributes towards which the believers turn their faces. The present research weighs Gerhard Bowering's viewpoints on the face of God through a heavy reliance on Al-Mizan fi Tafsir al-Qur'an.