Discussion of the Mu'tazilah and their figurative interpretation of the verse: ((For those who do good is the best reward and more)).

The Shaykh : I will give you an example from those old examples, and then we will stop speaking considering that the time is nearly over. The Mu'tazilah, for example, are one of the old Islamic sects. Anyone who has read something of the books of the Islamic sects, or even something of Islamic literature and the biographies of the scholars of the Muslims, knows that there is a sect called the Mu'tazilah. These people believe in the Book and believe in the Sunnah, but in many of the texts of the Book and the Sunnah, they followed this course in interpreting them, which I have illustrated for you with some examples of the Qadiyyah's figurative interpretation of the texts of the Book and the Sunnah. Take, for example, a belief of the Muslims, past and present, until today. This belief states that the believers will see their Lord on the Day of Resurrection, as came in many, many hadiths, his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): . Also, for example, his saying (peace be upon him) as an interpretation of a verse in the Qur'an, and this serves for two topics: first, the refutation of the Quranists, and second, the refutation of the Mu'tazilah.
Allah (Mighty and Majestic) says in the noble Qur'an: . What is the best reward? How do we interpret the best reward? If we rely on our minds, any interpretation that comes from us for the best reward will be acceptable in our minds, but it will not be acceptable in our Shari'ah. Why? Because the Lawgiver has interpreted this text on the tongue of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) as a confirmation of the previously mentioned verse: . So the Messenger clarified the meaning of this verse: . What is the best reward and what is the increase? Any person can come up with any meaning that has a connection, even a partial connection, to the best reward and the increase. But the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) interpreted this verse with a clear and distinct interpretation, saying: لِلَّذِينَ أَحْسَنُوا الْحُسْنَى : الجنة ، و زِيَادَةٌ : رؤية الله في الآخرة For those who do good is the best reward: Paradise, and an increase: seeing Allah in the Hereafter.. So Allah (Mighty and Majestic), in this noble verse, as in many verses, gives glad tidings to the believers who did good in their worldly life and followed the path of Allah and the path of the believers, giving them glad tidings that they will have the best reward, meaning: Paradise, and an increase, meaning: seeing Allah in the Hereafter.
The Mu'tazilah rejected such hadiths, either by outright denial, and they do not care in the way of supporting their deviation, but they cannot deny the Qur'an. Rather, they work with the pickaxe of figurative interpretation. There is the verse we often read in prayer and outside of prayer, namely His saying (Blessed and Exalted is He): . It is an explicit text in the noble Qur'an: . What did they do with this verse? If they could not interpret the hadith, they denied it. As for the Qur'anic text, if they denied it, they would have exited the fold of the Muslims and their affair would be finished. But none of them denied a verse of the Qur'an, nor even a letter of the Qur'an, otherwise they would be disbelievers.
But they did with this verse what their tails, the Qadiyyah, for example, did in interpreting some of the texts, of which we mentioned some examples earlier. They said in interpreting the previous verse: The problem is solved. Allah says: So they removed the Lord (Glorified and Exalted is He), considering that He will be seen by the believers, and this is from the favor of the Lord of the Worlds. It has come in some hadiths that when the believers see their Lord on the Day of Resurrection, they forget all the pleasure they enjoyed in Paradise, because there is nothing sweeter for the believers than their seeing the Lord of the Worlds (Blessed and Exalted is He). So the Mu'tazilah came and denied this blessing, despite the explicit statement of the Qur'an and the Sunnah regarding it. Why? Because they used their minds. They ask: How can the weak servant look at the Great, Majestic Lord? This is making the mind the judge in the Shari'ah, and this is part of the misguidance of the Mu'tazilah, whose doctrine includes the assertion of good and evil by the mind. They judge over Allah and attribute to Allah with their minds; they say: this is ugly, so it must be ugly with Allah, and this is beautiful and good, so it must be so with Allah. Exalted is Allah above what the wrongdoers say, by a great exaltation.
So from this category, and in the context of making the mind the judge, they denied the seeing of the believers of their Lord on the Day of Resurrection, because their minds were too narrow to accommodate the possibility that the believer sees his Lord on the Day of Resurrection. As if they are saying—and this is certainly what they are charged with—that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) is incapable of granting His believing servants a power of vision whereby they are able to look at their Lord on the Day of Resurrection. This is the meaning of their words. Otherwise, if they believe that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) is truly able to do everything, then Allah (Mighty and Majestic) is able to grant the believing human being on the Day of Resurrection a power of sight whereby he is able to look at his Lord (Blessed and Exalted is He).
The point is: such a Qur'anic text, also, the Mu'tazilah went astray in understanding it and interpreted it with an interpretation that negates this blessing and denies it; whereas the people of the Sunnah say:
"The believers see Him without how, *** and without likening or any example."
This is the belief of the people of the Sunnah with their Lord on the Day of Resurrection.
"The believers see Him without how, *** and without likening or any example."
Why? Because the verses and hadiths were mass-transmitted in affirming this blessing by which our Lord will bestow upon His believing servants. So the Mu'tazilah denied it, not by denying the text, but by interpreting the text. This interpretation was not followed by the Muslims, so they exited the community of the Muslims. From here the secret appears to you in his saying (peace and blessings be upon him) in explaining the saved sect, who are they? He said: .