'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful' His saying, "No vision can grasp Him, while He grasps all vision. And He is the Most Subtle, the All-Aware." "Indeed, there has come to you clear proofs from your Lord. So whoever sees, it is for his own soul; and whoever is blind, it is against it. And I am not a guardian over you." "And thus We diversify the signs, and so they may say, 'You have studied,' and that We may make it clear for a people who know." The people of the Sunnah unanimously agree that Allah - blessed and exalted is He - will be seen on the Day of Resurrection; the believers will see Him. This was said by Ibn Wahb from Malik ibn Anas - may Allah be pleased with him -; and the point is to clarify the permissibility of that by reason. Then it is supported by the transmission of the texts regarding the occurrence of that permissible matter. The summary of clarifying this is based on our knowledge of Allah - the Mighty and Majestic -; so from the perspective that it is permissible for us to know Him without being in a place, nor being confined, nor facing Him; and our knowledge does not pertain to more than existence; it is permissible for us to see Him without facing, nor being confined, nor being defined, nor limited. Imam Abu Abdullah al-Nahwi used to say: The matter of knowledge has caused the beards of the Mu'tazila to be cut off; then the Shari'ah came with that; and it is His saying - glorified and exalted is He -: "Faces, that Day, will be radiant, looking at their Lord." [Al-Qiyamah: 22-23]; and the preposition 'to' in the phrase 'looking at' is in the speech of the Arabs for the meaning of seeing, not for the meaning of waiting, as the Mu'tazila have claimed. This doctrine was mentioned to Malik; he said: "Where are they from His saying - exalted is He -: 'No! Indeed, they will be veiled from their Lord that Day.'" [Al-Mutaffifin: 15]. Al-Qadi Abu Muhammad - may Allah have mercy on him - said: He supported it with the evidence of the address; which was mentioned by al-Naqqash; and among it is the saying of the Prophet - blessings and peace be upon him - in what is authentically reported from him; and it has been transmitted widely: "Indeed, you will see your Lord on the Day of Resurrection as you see the full moon at night." And similar narrations, differing in the arrangement of their words. The Mu'tazila went to the prohibition of the permissibility of seeing Allah - exalted is He - on the Day of Resurrection; and they deemed it impossible; based on abstract opinions; and they relied on His saying - exalted is He -: "No vision can grasp Him;" and the people of the Sunnah separated from their reliance on the fact that the verse is specific to this world; and the seeing in the Hereafter is established by its reports. Another separation is that a distinction is made between the meaning of grasping and the meaning of seeing; and we say: Indeed, He - the Mighty and Majestic - will be seen by the eyes; and they cannot grasp Him; and that grasping involves encompassing the thing, reaching its depths, and possessing it from all directions; and all of that is impossible in the attributes of Allah - the Mighty and Majestic -; and seeing does not require that the seer encompasses the seen, nor reaches its ultimate; and based on this interpretation, the opposite is derived from His saying: "And He grasps all vision;" and it enhances its meaning; and similar to this was narrated from Ibn Abbas, Qatadah, and Atiyyah al-Awfi; they distinguished between seeing and grasping; and as for al-Tabari - may Allah have mercy on him - he distinguished between seeing and grasping; and he argued with the saying of the Children of Israel: "Indeed, we are being overtaken;" he said: They saw them but did not grasp them.

The judge Abu Muhammad - may Allah have mercy on him - said: And all of this is wrong; because this perception is not the perception of sight; rather it is borrowed from it; or by sharing. He said: And some of them said: Indeed, the believers will see Allah, the Exalted, with a sixth sense that will be created on the Day of Resurrection; and this verse remains in preventing perception by sight in general; intact. He said: And some of them said: Indeed, this verse is specific to the disbelievers; meaning: "Indeed, their sight cannot perceive Him; because they are veiled from Him."

The judge Abu Muhammad - may Allah have mercy on him - said: And all of these statements are weak; and claims that do not rely on the Qur'an; nor on a hadith.

And "the Subtle": the One who is gentle in His creation; and in His invention; and in His perfection; and in His creation and His servants; and "the All-Aware": the One who knows the inner aspects of their affairs; and their outward aspects.

And "the insights": the plural of "insight"; which is what is obtained from acquiring understanding of the things that are looked at with consideration; as if He said: "Indeed, there have come to you in the Qur'an and the verses ways of seeing the truth; and assistance in it."

And the insight for the heart is borrowed from the sight of the eye; and the insight is also the established belief in the saying of the poet:

They went, their insights on their shoulders ∗∗∗ and my insight runs with it a burden.

And some people said about this verse: The insight is the way of blood; and the poet is describing a group who walked with it in pursuit of blood; then they became weary; and they placed the matter behind their backs.

And His saying, the Exalted: "So whoever sees"; "and whoever is blind"; is a borrowed expression regarding those who are guided; and those who are astray; and His saying, glorified is He: "And I am not a guardian over you"; was in the beginning; and before the appearance of Islam; then after that, the Messenger of Allah - blessings and peace be upon him - was a guardian over the world; taking them with Islam; and the sword.

And His saying, the Most High: "And thus We explain the signs so that they may say, 'You have studied'"; the "kaaf" in His saying - glorified and exalted is He -: "And thus"; is in the position of a noun with "We explain"; meaning: and just as We clarified the insights; and other than that, We explain the signs; meaning: We repeat them; and We clarify them. A group read: "so that they may say, 'You have studied'"; with a silent "laam"; as a command; and it implies reprimand; and warning. The majority read: "so that they may say"; with a broken "laam"; on the basis that it is the "laam" of purpose; and this - on this - is the "laam" of becoming; as in His saying, the Most High: "So the family of Pharaoh picked him up to be an enemy and a source of grief for them" [Al-Qasas: 8]; meaning: "when their affair became that"; and Nafi', Asim, Hamzah, and Al-Kisai read: "You have studied"; meaning: "O Muhammad; you have studied in the ancient books what you answer us with"; and Ibn Kathir and Abu Amr read: "You have studied"; meaning: "You, O Muhammad, have studied with others in these matters"; meaning: "You have read it; and debated it"; and this is a reference from them to Salman; and others from the non-Arabs and the Jews. Ibn Amer and a group from outside the seven read: "They have studied"; attributing the action to the signs; as if they indicated that they were repeated in their ears until they became worn out in their souls; and faded away. Abu Ali said: and the "laam" in "so that they may say"; on this reading; means: "so that they do not say"; meaning: "The signs were explained and made firm; so that they do not say: 'These are ancient tales; they have worn out; and have been repeated in the ears'"; and the "laam" in all other readings is the "laam" of becoming. A group read: "They have studied"; as if they meant: "They have studied you, O Muhammad"; meaning the group referred to earlier; from Salman and the Jews and others. A group read: "They have faded"; with a damm of the "raa"; and it is as if it means: "They have faded"; and Qatadah read: "They have been studied"; with a damm of the "daal"; and a kasrah of the "raa"; and this is the reading of Ibn Abbas; with a difference from him; and it was narrated from Al-Hasan. Abu Al-Fath said: in "They have been studied"; the pronoun refers to "the signs"; and it is possible that it means: "They have been forgiven; and forgotten"; and Ubayy ibn Ka'b read: "They have studied"; and it is in the Mushaf of Abdullah; Al-Mahdawi said: and in some Mushafs of Abdullah, it is "They have studied"; and it was narrated from Al-Hasan. A group read: "They have taught"; with emphasis on the "raa"; as an exaggeration in "They have studied"; and these last three are contrary to the writing of the Mushaf.

And the "laam" in His saying, the Most High: "so that they may say"; and in His saying - glorified and exalted is He -: "and so that We may clarify it"; are related to a delayed action; its estimation is: "We explained it"; and Ubayy ibn Ka'b and Ibn Mas'ud read: "and so that you may clarify it"; with a "taa"; addressing the Prophet - blessings and peace be upon him -; and a group read: "and so that He may clarify it"; with a "yaa"; meaning: Allah, the Most High; and some of the Kufans went to the idea that "no" is implied after "that"; estimated in His saying, the Most High: "so that they may say"; so the estimation of the speech according to them is: "so that they do not say"; as they implied it in His saying, the Most High: "Allah clarifies to you that you may go astray" [An-Nisa: 176].

The judge Abu Muhammad - may Allah have mercy on him - said: And this is a concern; and the Basri scholars do not permit the implicit use of "no" in any of the contexts.