What is the interpretation of the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), as in the hadith of the wali (close friend of Allah): “When I love him, I become the hearing with which he hears, and the sight with which he sees…”?

The questioner : What is the interpretation of the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), in which he reports from his Lord in the hadith of the wali (close friend of Allah) ? What is its meaning? The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said it, and some people interpret it to mean that “His sight” implies that if it is the sight with which he sees, then he is provided with sight from Allah, meaning that Allah provides him with sight.

The Shaykh : From the sight of Allah?

The questioner : Yes, and He provides him with strength in his hand, and He provides him with…

The Shaykh : No, the meaning is as understood, as it came in some narrations mentioned by Ibn Taymiyyah, although I have not yet come across them myself: “With it he sees, with it he sees, with it he hears.” That is, by the guidance of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) for him. So the meaning is very clear that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) is a helper to him in all these limbs; he sees by the guidance of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) for him toward His obedience and worship in all these limbs that He created for him.
Another questioner: Is this similar to the saying of Allah the Exalted: ?

The Shaykh : Yes, without a doubt. This has a strong connection, because a person throws, but hitting the target is by the guidance of Allah (Mighty and Majestic).
Another questioner: Regarding some people who say that in this hadith, Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He)… becomes seeing farther than ordinary people see, meaning…

The Shaykh : My brother, interpretations multiply in tafsir, and also in later times, that this has a connection to those who speak of the unity of existence. What do we have to do with them? Allah (Mighty and Majestic), as is the creed of the Salaf (the earliest generations), does not dwell in His servants, nor does He mix with them, nor does He blend with them, and He is the Self-Sufficient of all the worlds, as is explicit in the Noble Qur'an. So these are Sufi interpretations known since ancient times. Allah (Mighty and Majestic), as Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak (may Allah have mercy on him), one of the great shaykhs of Imam Ahmad, said: “Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) is above His Throne, distinct from His creation, and He is with them by His knowledge”. That Allah (Mighty and Majestic) is a part of His servants is disbelief itself, and it is the creed known as the creed of the unity of existence, in which one of them expresses it by saying that there is no difference for him between the Creator and the created, and that the dog and the pig are nothing but our God, and that Allah is nothing but a monk in a church! And another says, “Everything you see with your eye is Allah!” Those who say these false statements are the ones who promote this hadith and try to take from it what they use to invalidate Islam from its root and origin. So no attention should be paid to such statements; rather, the texts should be interpreted in light of other texts so that there is no contradiction between them. I give you a close example: if a Muslim stopped at a saying of his (peace and blessings be upon him) like , what could he understand from this hadith except that the one described as having no covenant and no trust is a disbeliever, because he denied religion and faith from him? But if we look at the other texts that inform us that faith, however weak it may be, as we mentioned in our first statement from his saying (peace and blessings be upon him) , we cannot declare a disbeliever the one who says, “He does not fulfill the trust,” but rather we interpret the hadith at that time in light of the other texts: , meaning not complete faith. So where do we get this addition or this attribute? From the other proofs that stand between us and declaring a disbeliever the one who has committed a sin. This famous hadith qudsi must also be interpreted in light of the creed: What did it bring? So that the eye of the created human being is in them, and it is inside and mixed with these created beings, until one of them said, as you just heard, “Everything you see with your eye is Allah!” Exalted is Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) above what the wrongdoers say, by a great exaltation.