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﴿ فَاسْأَلُوا أَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ إِن كُنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ ﴾

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Seeing Allah with the naked eye

The Permanent Committee for Scholarly Research and Ifta

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The second question of Fatwa No. ( 1619 ):
Q2: Is it valid to see Allah with the naked eye in this world?
A2: This issue is based on definitive revelation, so it is not valid to affirm it for anyone except with evidence that is sound to rely upon. The Qur'an indicated
that Musa did not see his Lord, for when he requested to see Him, He responded to him with His saying:

You will not see Me.

لَنْ تَرَانِي

And the Sunnah indicated that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not see Him with his eyes. In [Sahih Muslim ], it is narrated from Masruq who said:

I was reclining with Aisha, and she said: "O Abu Aisha, three things, if you speak of one of them, you have committed a great lie against Allah." I was reclining, so I sat up and said: "O Mother of the Believers, give me time and do not rush me. Did not Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, say: 'And he saw Him in the clear horizon. And he saw Him in another descent'?" She said: "I was the first of this Ummah to ask the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) about that, and he said: 'It is only Jibril. I did not see him in the form in which he was created except on these two occasions. I saw him descending from the sky, filling the horizon between the sky and the earth.'" She said: "Did you not hear that Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, says: 'No vision can grasp Him, but He grasps all vision, and He is the Subtle, the Aware'? Did you not hear that Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, says: 'It is not for any human that Allah should speak to him except by revelation, or from behind a veil, or by sending a messenger' to His saying: 'The Most High, the Wise'?"

كنت متكئًا عند عائشة، فقالت: يا أبا عائشة، ثلاث من تكلم بواحدة منهن فقد أعظم على الله الفرية، قال: وكنت متكئًا فجلست، فقلت: يا أم المؤمنين، أنظريني ولا تعجليني، ألم يقل الله عز وجل: وَلَقَدْ رَآهُ بِالأُفُقِ الْمُبِينِوَلَقَدْ رَآهُ نَـزْلَةً أُخْرَى فقالت: أنا أول هذه الأمة سأل عن ذلك رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم، فقال: إنما هو جبريل لم أره على صورته التي خلق عليها غير هاتين المرتين، رأيته منهبطًا من السماء سادًّا عظم خلقه ما بين السماء والأرض، فقالت: أولم تسمع أن الله عز وجل يقول: لاَ تُدْرِكُهُ الأَبْصَارُ وَهُوَ يُدْرِكُ الأَبْصَارَ وَهُوَ اللَّطِيفُ الْخَبِيرُ أولم تسمع أن الله عز وجل يقول: وَمَا كَانَ لِبَشَرٍ أَنْ يُكَلِّمَهُ اللَّهُ إِلا وَحْيًا أَوْ مِنْ وَرَاءِ حِجَابٍ أَوْ يُرْسِلَ رَسُولا إلى قوله: عَلِيٌّ حَكِيمٌ

, the hadith,
and in [Sahih Muslim ], it is narrated from Abu Dharr that he asked the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him): "Did you see your Lord?" He said:

I saw a light

رأيت نورًا

, and in another wording he said:

Light, how can I see it?

نور أنى أراه

, and in it, from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him):

And know that none of you will see his Lord until he dies.

واعلموا أن أحدًا منكم لن يرى ربه حتى يموت

. The Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah said: "The Imams of the Muslims agreed that none of the believers sees Allah with his eye in this world, and they did not differ except regarding the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) specifically, although the majority of the Ummah agreed that he did not see Him with his eye in this world. The authentic, established reports from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), the Companions, and the Imams of the Muslims indicate this. It is not established from Ibn Abbas or from the Imam Ahmad and their like that they said: Muhammad saw his Lord with his eye. Rather, what is established from them is either a general mention of seeing, or restricting it to the heart. And in none of the established hadiths of the Mi'raj (Ascension) is it stated that he saw Him with his eye. And his saying:

My Lord, Blessed is He and Most High, came to me in the best of appearances

أتاني ربي في أحسن صورة

Jami` at-Tirmidhi 3234Hasan (Darussalam)

. The hadith narrated by al-Tirmidhi and others was only in Madinah in a dream, as it came explained. Likewise, the hadith of Umm al-Thufl and the hadith of Ibn Abbas and others - which contain seeing his Lord - was only in Madinah , as it came explained in the hadiths.
And the Mi'raj was in Makkah , as He, the Exalted, said:

Exalted is He who took His Servant by night from al-Masjid al-Haram to al-Masjid al-Aqsa

سُبْحَانَ الَّذِي أَسْرَى بِعَبْدِهِ لَيْلا مِنَ الْمَسْجِدِ الْحَرَامِ إِلَى الْمَسْجِدِ الأَقْصَى

[Al-Isra 17:1]

And it is established by the explicit text of the Qur'an that it was said to Musa:

You will not see Me.

لَنْ تَرَانِي

And seeing Allah is greater than descending a book from the sky, as He, the Exalted, said:

The People of the Scripture ask you to bring down to them a book from the heaven. But they had asked of Moses [even] greater than that and said, "Show us Allah outright,"

يَسْأَلُكَ أَهْلُ الْكِتَابِ أَنْ تُنَـزِّلَ عَلَيْهِمْ كِتَابًا مِنَ السَّمَاءِ فَقَدْ سَأَلُوا مُوسَى أَكْبَرَ مِنْ ذَلِكَ فَقَالُوا أَرِنَا اللَّهَ جَهْرَةً

[An-Nisa 4:153]

So whoever says that one of the people sees Him has claimed that he is greater than Musa ibn Imran , and his claim is greater than the claim of one who claimed that Allah revealed a book to him from the sky. The Companions, the Tabi'un, and the Imams of the Muslims are of the view that Allah is seen in the Hereafter with the eyes clearly, and that none sees Him in this world with his eye, but He is seen in dreams, and the hearts attain from revelations and visions what suits their state. Some people's heart vision becomes so strong that they think they saw it with their eye, and they are mistaken. The visions of the hearts occur according to the servant's faith and knowledge in an ideal form. And success is from Allah. And may Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and his Companions.

Source www.alifta.gov.sa

The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.

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