And when Musa [Prophet Moses] came at the time and place appointed by Us and his Lord spoke to him, he said, “O my Lord! Show me [Yourself] that I may look upon You.” Allah said ‘You cannot see Me but look upon the mountain. If it stands still in its place then you shall see Me.” So when his Lord appeared to the mountain He made it collapse to dust and Moses fell down unconscious. Then when he recovered his senses he said, “Glory is to You, I turn to You in repentance and I am the first of the believers.”[4]
Were God to unveil Himself, His Essence would consume the material universe as it did the mountain in the presence of Prophet Moses.
Therefore, God cannot be immanent.
God is Immaterial
Does the reference to God’s Hands mean that His Hands are like His material creation, and, by implication, that God is material?
No, because as the Qur’an says,
The Creator of the heavens and the earth. He has made for You mates from yourselves and for the cattle mates. By this means He creates you. There is nothing like Him, and He is the All-Hearer, the All-Seer.[5]
Therefore, the Hands of God, like His attributes of Hearing and Seeing, are unlike His creation.
Since all creation is material, and there is nothing like God, God must be immaterial.