Allah - An advanced look at God in Islam - 6 - Can we or will we see Allah?

Allah cannot be limited to sight and is unseen and cannot be sensed in this world. Moreover, on the impermissibility of seeing the Essence of Allah, Quran states:

لاَّ تُدْرِكُهُ الأَبْصَارُ وَهُوَ يُدْرِكُ الأَبْصَارَ وَهُوَ اللَّطِيفُ الْخَبِيرُ

[6:103] Visions can not reach Him while He reaches to all visions; and He is the Knower of subtleties, the Aware.

And also when the bani Israeel (The Children of Prophet Israeel (Jacob)) asked Moses to show them their Lord they were given a negative reply:

وَلَمَّا جَاء مُوسَى لِمِيقَاتِنَا وَكَلَّمَهُ رَبُّهُ قَالَ رَبِّ أَرِنِي أَنظُرْ إِلَيْكَ قَالَ لَن تَرَانِي وَلَـكِنِ انظُرْ إِلَى الْجَبَلِ فَإِنِ اسْتَقَرَّ مَكَانَهُ فَسَوْفَ تَرَانِي فَلَمَّا تَجَلَّى رَبُّهُ لِلْجَبَلِ جَعَلَهُ دَكًّا وَخَرَّ موسَى صَعِقًا فَلَمَّا أَفَاقَ قَالَ سُبْحَانَكَ تُبْتُ إِلَيْكَ وَأَنَاْ أَوَّلُ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ

[7.143] And when Musa came at Our appointed time and his Lord spoke to him, he said: My Lord! show me (Thyself), so that I may look upon Thee. He said: You cannot see Me but look at the mountain, if it remains firm in its place, then will you see Me; but when his Lord manifested His glory to the mountain He made it crumble and Musa fell down in a swoon; then when he recovered, he said: Glory be to Thee, I turn to Thee, and I am the first of the believers.

The word "visions" is not limited to solely seeing by eyes. It covers all types of vision and perception as it is used in a plural form in the verse. On the impossibility of seeing, visualizing, or imagining Allah, Abu Hashim al-Ja'fari narrated from Imam al-Ridha (AS):

About the verse "Visions can not reach Him and He grasps all visions (6:103)", Imam al-Ridha (AS) said: "O Aba Hashim! The thinking/imagination of the mind is more delicate than the vision of the eyes. By your imagination, you can reach to India and other places that you have not entered and your eyes have not reached. Thus, when the thinking of minds can not reach Him, then how could the visions of eyes do so?" [Al-Kafi, v1, p99, Hadith #11; Kitab al-Tawhid, p113, Hadith #12; Bihar al-Anwar, v4, p39, Hadith #17]

It is only logical to seek the views of the sahabah where the opinion of the Prophet is not related conclusively. Here is what Imam Ali (AS) states when he was was asked:

Imam Ali was asked by one of his companions, Dhi'lib al-Yamani, 'Have you seen your Lord?' The Imam replied, 'I would not worship a Lord whom I have not seen.' He was then asked, 'How did you see Him?' The Imam replied, 'The eyes cannot see Him according to outward vision; rather, it is the hearts that perceive Him, through the verities of faith.' [Nahj al-Balagha (Peak of Eloquence), Sermon 179]

However, the majority of Muslims believe that we will 'see' Allah on Judgement Day and this group of Muslims are the majority of Sunni and all Wahabi/Salafi Muslims. They use Quranic verses like below to argue their case.

وُجُوهٌ يَوْمَئِذٍ نَّاضِرَةٌ

إِلَى رَبِّهَا نَاظِرَةٌ

وَوُجُوهٌ يَوْمَئِذٍ بَاسِرَةٌ

تَظُنُّ أَن يُفْعَلَ بِهَا فَاقِرَةٌ

[75.22] (Some) faces on that day shall be bright,

[75.23] Looking to their Lord.

[75.24] And (other) faces on that day shall be gloomy

[75.25] Knowing that there will be made to befall them some great calamity.

Adding to the strength of the interpretation of these verses by the Sunni, Salafi and Wahabi Muslims are Hadiths like this:

Narrated Abu Huraira: The people said, "O Allah's Apostle! Shall we see our Lord on the Day of Resurrection?" He replied, "Do you have any doubt in seeing the full moon on a clear (not cloudy) night?" They replied, "No, O Allah's Apostle!" He said, "Do you have any doubt in seeing the sun when there are no clouds?" They replied in the negative. He said, "You will see Allah (your Lord) in the same way. On the Day of Resurrection, people will be gathered and He will order the people to follow what they used to worship. So some of them will follow the sun, some will follow the moon, and some will follow other deities; and only this nation (Muslims) will be left with its hypocrites. Allah will come to them and say, 'I am Your Lord.' They will say, 'We shall stay in this place till our Lord comes to us and when our Lord will come, we will recognize Him. Then Allah will come to them again and say, 'I am your Lord.' They will say, 'You are our Lord.' Allah will call them, and As-Sirat (a bridge) will be laid across Hell and I (Muhammad) shall be the first amongst the Apostles to cross it with my followers. Nobody except the Apostles will then be able to speak and they will be saying then, 'O Allah! Save us. O Allah Save us.' ... [A trimmed version of Hadith 1.770 from Sahih Bukhari]

and another hadith is:

Narrated 'Adi bin Hatim: Allah's Apostle said, "There will be none among you but his Lord will speak to him, and there will be no interpreter between them nor a screen to screen Him." [Sahih Bukhari Vol9, Book 93, No.535]

The verses and the hadiths together form a strong argument in their case, however the interpretation of the verses and the actual hadiths associated with this verse are rejected by the majority of Shia Muslims primarily due to the hadiths being viewed as unreliable. Also, they argue that the word "nadhirah" in the Arabic language is said to mean 'looking towards' and does not mean "seeing". Often it is said: "nadhartu ilal-hilal falam arahu" which means "I looked towards the new moon (crescent) but I did not see it." Therefore, the verse does not imply that they will see God. According to the Shia interpretation, the verse means that they will be looking forward to the blessings of Allah. They believe it to be metaphorical and the reasons to this viewpoint is that there is no reason that Allah would become visible to His creation on Judgment day and also Allah would
become limited to the sight of man while we acknowledge Allah is not and cannot become limited, even in heaven. Another reason why the Shia believe it is metophrical is that the verses show a contrast between the believers and unbelievers on that day - that the unbelievers have (1) gloomy faces, (2) expect calamity while the believers have (1) bright faces, (2) (Are looking to their Lord) expecting blessings. Another point the Shia make is that when man is resurrected he will be resurrected in body and will have the same eyes and other body parts as he was with before he died even to the detail of the finger prints. Those same eyes cannot see their Lord! What about the people who are blind from birth or at their death? The Shia Muslims say it is possible that Allah 'appears' to them behind a 'veil' just like He did to Moses behind the burning bush but God Himself cannot be seen!

Another verse that adds strength to the argument of Sunnis, Salafis and Wahabis is this one:

وَيْلٌ يَوْمَئِذٍ لِّلْمُكَذِّبِينَ

الَّذِينَ يُكَذِّبُونَ بِيَوْمِ الدِّينِ

وَمَا يُكَذِّبُ بِهِ إِلَّا كُلُّ مُعْتَدٍ أَثِيمٍ

إِذَا تُتْلَى عَلَيْهِ آيَاتُنَا قَالَ أَسَاطِيرُ الْأَوَّلِينَ

كَلَّا بَلْ رَانَ عَلَى قُلُوبِهِم مَّا كَانُوا يَكْسِبُونَ

كَلَّا إِنَّهُمْ عَن رَّبِّهِمْ يَوْمَئِذٍ لَّمَحْجُوبُونَ

[83.10] Woe on that day to the rejecters,

[83.11] Who give the lie to the day of judgment.

[83.12] And none gives the lie to it but every exceeder of limits, sinful one

[83.13] When Our communications are recited to him, he says: Stories of those of yore.

[83.14] Nay! rather, what they used to do has become like rust upon their hearts.

[83.15 (Yusuf Ali Translation)] Nay! most surely they shall on that day be debarred from their Lord.

[83.15 (X Translation)] Nay! verily that day they shall be shut out away from the mercy of their Lord

The Arabic uses the word (لَّمَحْجُوبُونَ) which states that the rejecting people will 'be veiled' from their Lord
and not that Allah will be veiled from the rejecting people! These verse are meant to go in line with the Sunni beliefs as it means that the true believers shall be visible to their Lord but it contradicts the hadith mentioned above that states all people will be spoken to by Allah. It implies God will be seen without the need for a veil.

Shias argue that using this verse as an argument is not strong or fully valid. The verse only implies that the believers will see Allah but never says it outright to confirm that they will literally see Him. In fact, the meaning of the verse is taken literally by most Sunnis because they ignore other verses that explain what this 'veil' before the rejecters is. Notice that I used two translations for the verse and neither implies a 'veil' will be there, and here is why they were translated that way:

يَوْمَ يَقُولُ الْمُنَافِقُونَ وَالْمُنَافِقَاتُ لِلَّذِينَ آمَنُوا انظُرُونَا نَقْتَبِسْ مِن نُّورِكُمْ قِيلَ ارْجِعُوا وَرَاءكُمْ فَالْتَمِسُوا نُورًا فَضُرِبَ بَيْنَهُم بِسُورٍ لَّهُ بَابٌ بَاطِنُهُ فِيهِ الرَّحْمَةُ وَظَاهِرُهُ مِن قِبَلِهِ الْعَذَابُ

يُنَادُونَهُمْ أَلَمْ نَكُن مَّعَكُمْ قَالُوا بَلَى وَلَكِنَّكُمْ فَتَنتُمْ أَنفُسَكُمْ وَتَرَبَّصْتُمْ وَارْتَبْتُمْ وَغَرَّتْكُمُ الْأَمَانِيُّ حَتَّى جَاء أَمْرُ اللَّهِ وَغَرَّكُم بِاللَّهِ الْغَرُورُ

[57.13] On the day when the hypocritical men and the hypocritical women will say to those who believe: "Wait for us, that we may have light from your light"; it shall be said: Turn back and seek a light. Then separation [the veil] would be brought about between them, with a wall having a door in it; (as for) the inside of it, there shall be mercy in it, and (as for) the outside of it, before it there shall be punishment.

[57.14] They will cry out to them: Were we not with you? They shall say: Yea! but you caused yourselves to fall into temptation, and you waited and doubted, and vain desires deceived you till the threatened punishment of Allah came, while the arch-deceiver deceived you about Allah.

The veil has nothing to do with the sight of Allah but it is merely a separating wall between the believers and unbelievers. Also, on the commentary of the [75.22-23] verses, Imam Ali (AS) said:

"... The verse means looking forward to what Allah, the Mighty and the Majestic, has promised them. And the word 'Nadhira' sometimes means 'expecting/waiting/looking forward to' ('al-Muntadhira'). Haven't you heard the saying of Allah: '(But I am going to send him a present) and I am looking forward (Nadhira) to what (answer) the ambassadors will return (27:35).' This
means I am waiting (al-Muntadhira) for what the ambassadors will return. As for the verse: 'For indeed he saw him at a second descent. Near the Lote-tree of the uttermost boundary (53:13-14)', it means when Muhammad (PBUH&HF) was near the Lote-tree of the uttermost boundary which none of His creations has passed it (saw Gabriel). It is His saying in the followed verses:

'(His) sight never swerved, nor did it go wrong! For truly did he see one of the great signs of his Lord! (53:17-18)', he saw Gabriel in his shape twice. Verily Gabriel is a great creature and is from amongst the spiritual entities whose creation and shapes are not fully understood except by the Lord of the Universe." [Al-Ihtijaj, v1, p243; Bihar al-Anwar, v90/93, p101, Hadith #1]

In another Hadith on the commentary of this verse, Imam Ali Ibn Musa al-Ridha (AS) said:

"It means (their faces) are radiant and they are looking forward to the reward of their Lord." [Al-Ihtijaj, v2, p409; Kitab al-Tawhid, p116, Hadith #19; Al-Amali, Shaikh Saduq, p409, Hadith #1; Al-Bihar, v4, p28, Hadith #3]

It is evident that there is evidence from hadith for both views. Sunni hadith shows that seeing Allah will occur, while Shia hadith shows that it is impossible to see Allah. Both the sects interpret verses from the Quran differently to suit their views, and in the end people will choose to believe what they feel comfortable with and that is usually what their respective sect preaches.