This contribution explores the conceptual intersections between transhumanist and Islamic thought on self-transcendence and perfection. Both transhumanism and religion—here, Islam—advance ideals of continual self-improvement and self-transcendence, though on different planes: the former materialist, the latter spiritual. In this encounter, it remains unclear from the transhumanist perspective why religious attitudes tend to reject their visions of bodily enhancement, despite the apparently shared ideal of transcending the material body to attain perfection, however defined. The responses to this tension, however, do not move beyond certain intuitive objections and lack a theologically substantial perspective. An inquiry into the theological role and significance of bodiliness and materiality in attaining perfection requires an examination of the metaphysical assumptions that underlie religious teleological thought on human purpose and perfection. A closer look at some of the early kalām discussions on maʿrifatullāh (God-cognition) and their epistemological correlates reveals, perhaps counterintuitively, certain alignments with the transhumanist attitude of control over the body, albeit for different reasons. Classical Islamic metaphysics—its views on ontology, the intelligibility of God and creation, and the human journey toward God—often privileges a spiritualized and intellectualist trajectory toward perfection, the far-reaching implications of which for the idea of the body and its theological relevance remain largely unarticulated. Theological metaphysical premises therefore need to be examined and critically re-examined from within, in order to draw upon the trajectory of Islamic thought and develop it further in a theologically meaningful and productive way.