The Meaning of Ihsan and His Saying: "As If You See Him"
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The questioner:
Perhaps you are among those who are Muslims in your Lord, and He is Merciful to you. And a third thing is His saying (peace and blessings be upon him): "Worship Allah as if you see Him." Can our hair be changed? No, it cannot.
The Shaykh:
Linguistically, "as if you see Him" means that a person reaches a state of certainty and knowledge of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) such that it is as if he sees Allah due to the intensity of his certainty and the firmness of his faith. It does not mean that he sees Him with his eyes, for Allah is not seen in this world; He is only seen in the Hereafter, in Paradise. In this world, no one sees Him. Therefore, when it is said "as if you see Him," it means that your certainty and faith in Allah (Mighty and Majestic) reach a level where you would be ashamed not to see Allah face-to-face. For when you see something with your eyes, you never doubt it. You do not doubt that this is so. If you saw a person, for example, with your eyes, you would not doubt that this is so-and-so. But when it is told to you that so-and-so is now in the house or in the mosque, and you have not seen him, this depends on the truthfulness of the reporter. If the reporter is truthful in your estimation, then you believe in it based on the truthfulness of the one who informed you.
Likewise, Allah (Exalted and Majestic is He) is not seen, but based on the truthfulness of the Messengers (peace and blessings be upon them) and the truthfulness of the Qur'an, and the faith in that, it is as if you see Allah (Mighty and Majestic). It does not mean that you see Him with your eyes in this world. This is a metaphor for the strength of certainty and the strength of faith, such that it is as if you are helping Allah (Mighty and Majestic) before you.
Perhaps you are among those who are Muslims in your Lord, and He is Merciful to you. And a third thing is His saying (peace and blessings be upon him): "Worship Allah as if you see Him." Can our hair be changed? No, it cannot.
The Shaykh:
Linguistically, "as if you see Him" means that a person reaches a state of certainty and knowledge of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) such that it is as if he sees Allah due to the intensity of his certainty and the firmness of his faith. It does not mean that he sees Him with his eyes, for Allah is not seen in this world; He is only seen in the Hereafter, in Paradise. In this world, no one sees Him. Therefore, when it is said "as if you see Him," it means that your certainty and faith in Allah (Mighty and Majestic) reach a level where you would be ashamed not to see Allah face-to-face. For when you see something with your eyes, you never doubt it. You do not doubt that this is so. If you saw a person, for example, with your eyes, you would not doubt that this is so-and-so. But when it is told to you that so-and-so is now in the house or in the mosque, and you have not seen him, this depends on the truthfulness of the reporter. If the reporter is truthful in your estimation, then you believe in it based on the truthfulness of the one who informed you.
Likewise, Allah (Exalted and Majestic is He) is not seen, but based on the truthfulness of the Messengers (peace and blessings be upon them) and the truthfulness of the Qur'an, and the faith in that, it is as if you see Allah (Mighty and Majestic). It does not mean that you see Him with your eyes in this world. This is a metaphor for the strength of certainty and the strength of faith, such that it is as if you are helping Allah (Mighty and Majestic) before you.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، 9 من 10/شرح الأصول الثلاثة/رجل شديد بياض الثياب شديد سواد الشعر/صالح الفوزان/العقيدة / كبار العلماء — youtube.com (59:22)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.