Short answer
No one can describe how Allah looks, because nothing is like Him (Quran 42:11) and no one sees Him in this world. Sunni Muslims believe the believers will see Allah in Paradise, without saying how. Muslims never draw or picture Him.
Allah is not a body and has no shape, colour or size. The Quran and Sunnah mention attributes such as His face and hands; Maturidi and Ash'ari scholars affirm them while denying any likeness to creation. The believers' seeing of Allah in the Hereafter is true, without how and without encompassing Him.
The four schools agree on this.
Explanation
Everything you can picture is something created, and Allah is the Creator of it. That is why the Quran says "There is nothing like unto Him" and "Vision perceives Him not". Any image in the mind is not Allah. It is also why Muslims never draw, carve or paint Allah.
In this life no one sees Allah. Even Musa asked to see Him and was told "You will not see Me", and the mountain crumbled when his Lord appeared to it (7:143). The Hereafter is different. The Quran says faces that Day will be radiant, looking at their Lord, and the Prophet ﷺ told his Companions they would see their Lord as clearly as they saw the full moon. Sunni creed affirms this vision as the greatest joy of Jannah.
The Quran and hadith mention Allah's face, hands and eyes (for example 38:75). Sunni scholars agree these are not body parts like ours. Most early scholars passed them on as they came, saying "without how" (bila kayf) and leaving their exact meaning to Allah (tafwid). Many later Maturidi and Ash'ari scholars also gave a fitting meaning, such as power or favour for "hand", to protect people from imagining a body. Athari scholars affirm them as real attributes with no likeness and no how, and avoid figurative readings. All of them agree that Allah is not a body and nothing resembles Him.
So when your mind tries to picture Allah, stop and recall 42:11. Know Him through His names, His mercy and His signs in creation instead. Our page Who is Allah? goes further.
The evidence
Quran, Surah Ash-Shura 42:11
فَاطِرُ ٱلسَّمَٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ ۚ جَعَلَ لَكُم مِّنْ أَنفُسِكُمْ أَزْوَٰجًۭا وَمِنَ ٱلْأَنْعَٰمِ أَزْوَٰجًۭا ۖ يَذْرَؤُكُمْ فِيهِ ۚ لَيْسَ كَمِثْلِهِۦ شَىْءٌۭ ۖ وَهُوَ ٱلسَّمِيعُ ٱلْبَصِيرُ ﴿١١﴾
[He is] Creator of the heavens and the earth. He has made for you from yourselves, mates, and among the cattle, mates; He multiplies you thereby. There is nothing like unto Him, and He is the Hearing, the Seeing.
Rules out any likeness between Allah and creation.
Quran, Surah Al-An'aam 6:103
لَّا تُدْرِكُهُ ٱلْأَبْصَٰرُ وَهُوَ يُدْرِكُ ٱلْأَبْصَٰرَ ۖ وَهُوَ ٱللَّطِيفُ ٱلْخَبِيرُ ﴿١٠٣﴾
Vision perceives Him not, but He perceives [all] vision; and He is the Subtle, the Acquainted.
No eye can grasp Allah in this world.
Quran, Surah Al-Qiyaama 75:22-23
وُجُوهٌۭ يَوْمَئِذٍۢ نَّاضِرَةٌ ﴿٢٢﴾ إِلَىٰ رَبِّهَا نَاظِرَةٌۭ ﴿٢٣﴾
[Some] faces, that Day, will be radiant, Looking at their Lord.
The believers will look at their Lord in the Hereafter.
Sahih al-Bukhari 554
Sahih... إِنَّكُمْ سَتَرَوْنَ رَبَّكُمْ كَمَا تَرَوْنَ هَذَا الْقَمَرَ ...
"You will see your Lord just as you see this moon."
Affirms that believers will see Allah in the Hereafter; the comparison is to the clarity of seeing, not to Allah's form.
Where the ruling is recorded
- al-Fiqh al-Akbar (Imam Abu Hanifa), Section on the attributes of Allah. Affirms the face, hand and self of Allah as attributes without how, and says they must not be read as body parts.
- al-Aqida al-Tahawiyya, Section on the vision of Allah by the people of Paradise. States that the vision is true, without encompassing Him and without how.
- Lum'at al-I'tiqad (Ibn Qudama), Section on the attributes of Allah. The Athari approach: affirm the attributes as they came, without likening and without figurative reading.
This answer is pending review by the scholars on our team. Quran translation by Sahih International. Hadith Arabic from the standard editions of the six books and the Muwatta, with gradings as recorded there; the English is our own rendering. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.