What is the validity of al-Asfahani's statement that the Messenger saw his Lord with his heart?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
May Allah reward you, Your Eminence, father. The questioner says: al-Raghib al-Asfahani (may Allah have mercy on him) said in his book al-Mufradat, regarding the word "saw" (ra'a), that vision is the perception of a person, and that it is of four types according to the powers of the soul. He mentioned that the fourth type is that vision occurs through the intellect. He said, "And upon this is based the saying of Allah the Exalted:[An-Najm 53:11] And upon this is also based the interpretation of the saying of Allah the Exalted: [An-Najm 53:13] Is this correct?
Answer:
Yes, this is the position of the majority of the people of the Sunnah. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not see his Lord with his eye, but rather he saw Him with his heart. He saw Him with his heart and did not see Him with his eye, because Allah is not seen in this world, but only in the Hereafter. Yes.
May Allah reward you, Your Eminence, father. The questioner says: al-Raghib al-Asfahani (may Allah have mercy on him) said in his book al-Mufradat, regarding the word "saw" (ra'a), that vision is the perception of a person, and that it is of four types according to the powers of the soul. He mentioned that the fourth type is that vision occurs through the intellect. He said, "And upon this is based the saying of Allah the Exalted:
The heart did not lie [about] what it saw.
مَا كَذَبَ الْفُؤَادُ مَا رَأَىٰAnd he certainly saw him in another descent
وَلَقَدْ رَآهُ نَزْلَةً أُخْرَىٰAnswer:
Yes, this is the position of the majority of the people of the Sunnah. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not see his Lord with his eye, but rather he saw Him with his heart. He saw Him with his heart and did not see Him with his eye, because Allah is not seen in this world, but only in the Hereafter. Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، [1246- 4717] ما صحة كلام الأصفهاني أن رؤية الرسول لربه كانت بقلبه؟ - الشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.