Explanation of the Book of Tawhid-03b

The reciter: And Muhammad ibn Yusuf narrated to us, he said: Sufyan narrated to us from Isma'il from al-Sha'bi from Masruq from Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) who said: من حدثك أن محمدا صلى الله عليه وسلم رأى ربه فقد كذب وهو يقول لا تدركه الأبصار ومن حدثك أن محمدا يعلم الغيب فقد كذب وهو يقول لا يعلم الغيب إلا الله Whoever tells you that Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) saw his Lord has lied, and He says: "Sight cannot comprehend Him." And whoever tells you that Muhammad knows the unseen has lied, and He says: "No one knows the unseen except Allah.".

The Shaykh : The point of this is his statement: "And He says: ." As for the hadith, Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) said to Masruq: "Whoever tells you that Muhammad saw his Lord has lied, and He says," meaning Allah (Mighty and Majestic) says . There is no doubt that Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) did not hit the mark in this argumentation, because Allah the Exalted said: and did not say "Sight does not see Him." For this reason, the scholars of the people of the Sunnah made this verse one of the proofs for the establishment of seeing Allah, and the point is that the negation of the specific implies the existence of the general. So when He said "Sight cannot comprehend Him," we know that they see Him, but they do not comprehend Him. If He had intended to negate the seeing, He would have said "Sight does not see Him." However, had she (may Allah be pleased with her) argued using the saying of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him): as it came in the hadiths of the Dajjal, where the Dajjal claims to be the Lord, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: , this would have been more correct than her argumentation with the verse. The scholars differed on this issue: did the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) see his Lord, meaning in this world, or did he not see Him? It was said that he saw Him, and among those who said that was Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him and him), in the well-known view from him: . As for Aisha, she denied that, as you have seen. This is regarding wakefulness. As for in a dream, he saw his Lord, as in the hadith of the dispute of the highest assembly, which is a famous hadith explained by Zayn al-Din Abd al-Rahman ibn Rajab (may Allah have mercy on him). And the correct view is that he did not see his Lord, because the Prophet himself was asked: "Did you see your Lord?" and he said: . And in a narration: , meaning there was light between me and Him, so how could I see Him? And this is the speech of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him).
But if someone asks how we reconcile this hadith which the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) narrated about himself with the statement of Ibn Abbas? The answer from Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah is: "Ibn Abbas did not explicitly state that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) saw his Lord with his own eyes, but he said he saw his Lord, but he did not say with his eyes. So the seeing mentioned by Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him and him) is to be understood as the seeing of certainty." Even if this is contrary to the apparent meaning, but so that it is not thought that Ibn Abbas contradicts what the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) narrated about himself, that he did not see Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He). It is known that seeing Allah in this world is not denied, because a person cannot do that and cannot stand for this seeing ever. The proof of this is that Musa (peace be upon him) said: meaning it is not possible for you to see Me , so He conditioned his seeing with something impossible. Allah manifested Himself to the mountain and made it crumble. As soon as Allah manifested Himself to it, the mountain crumbled and did not remain in its place. So Musa saw a sight that terrified him. Musa (peace be upon him) did not ask Allah to see Him out of doubt in the matter, but out of delight in seeing Allah (Mighty and Majestic) due to the strength of his love for Allah, he asked Allah to show Him Himself. When the seeing became impossible to this extent, and he fainted and came to, he said: "Glory be to You," meaning exalting You that sight can comprehend You, or that sight can see You in this world. "I turn to You in repentance," from what? From the request to see, because he asked for what is not possible in this world. "Glory be to You, I turn to You in repentance, and I am the first of the believers," meaning that I did not ask out of doubt, but I am a believer, but he asked his Lord to see Him out of delight in seeing Him. Meaning the greatest bliss for a person is to see Allah (Mighty and Majestic). The greatest bliss for the people of Paradise is seeing Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He); it is the greatest bliss and the greatest victory. And by the way, they say that al-Zamakhshari, the author of the famous, good tafsir which was a burden on those after him, was from the Mu'tazilah. And al-Balqini says: "I extracted Mu'tazilite views from this tafsir by the handfuls." Do you know what "by the handfuls" means? The thing that is taken by the handfuls, hidden and not prominent? Very hidden. Of that is his statement on this verse: He said: "What victory is greater than this, that one is moved away from the Fire and entered into Paradise?" If a person reads this statement with a correct understanding, what victory is greater than a person being moved away from the Fire and entered into Paradise? But he intends by that the negation of seeing Allah (Mighty and Majestic) in Paradise, because seeing Allah (Mighty and Majestic) in Paradise is a greater victory than being moved away from the Fire and entered into Paradise. So reflect on how these intelligent people speak with such words that one who knows their madhhab and creed does not understand. If I read this statement in Ibn Kathir, for example, in the tafsir of Ibn Kathir, I would not think this of him, but I would say if he enters Paradise, then from the bliss of Paradise is that he sees Allah. But because this man knew that he denies the seeing, he denies seeing Allah in the Hereafter, this statement became an indication that there is no seeing. So the result is that we say that Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) argued for the absence or the negation of the seeing of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in the verse, and this argumentation is correct or not correct? Not correct, because the Salaf used this verse as a proof that Allah is seen in the Hereafter. The second one says: Is this correct? Because Allah says: This is the verse, no, the verse is , so it is not on this wording, but I mentioned it by meaning. So the result is that whoever tells you that he knows the unseen, he is a liar. And it is not enough for us to say that he is a liar, but we say that he is a disbeliever. For this reason, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: .

The questioner : You mentioned that Aisha mentioned the verse by meaning. Is it permissible to quote verses by meaning?

The Shaykh : It is not permissible, but she mentioned a part of the verse to indicate some of it.

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : Yes, that Muhammad saw his Lord, he has lied, and He says, meaning Allah says: . And whoever tells you that he knows the unseen, he has lied, and He says: "No one knows the unseen except Allah." It is possible that the intended meaning is Allah or the Messenger, but in any case, she mentioned this by meaning.