What is the meaning of seeing God? and what are the conditions of seeing God? Is a hard-to-answer question. Analysing such a subject, of course, is not an easy job, too. This subject is well analysed in the book ” the land of lovers” by profesor Hossein Ansaryan.
First Be Clean And Then Cast Your Eyes On Allah
The writer of Asol Osul, who is among the well – known Gnostics and great philosophers of Islam, says at the end of his precious book:
“It is compulsory for every believer to research for the knowledge of the nunknown.
This kind of knowledge is used to equip the inner life with virtues and purify it against evils. The requirements for this movement, of course are being familiar with the fundamentals and the practical laws of Islam and the cleanliness of all limbs against the Islamic forbidden affairs”.
The basis of this knowledge is to obtain ethics, virtues and features from the news and narrations and the life patterns of the Infallible ones (s). Although wisdom is an important factor in obtaining Islamic knowledge, it can not be the only factor. In order to succeed, we should enlighten our wisdom with the light of the Infallible ones, since in their methods no errors may enter. For this purpose, you may refer to the chapter on Faith and blasphemy of the precious book called kafi since there we might find all that is good and all that is bad.
The other bases for this knowledge are the legitimate self – discipline (ascetism), and the worshipping God at the dawn and dusk.
Only through these conditions does the Gnostic attain the lofty positions and avoids the degenerating ones. Under such circumstances does he come near to the Great love. He loses his interest in the worldly possessions, concentrating on the kingdom of Heaven, and employing his wisdom for the preparation for the other world, rather than wasting it here.
Such a man loses his interest in the debased and mean matters of this world.
With his endeavors he will get rid of the wishes and whim, paying attention to the kingdom of Heaven.
He humbly asks the Almighty Allah to open up to him all His doors of blessings and abundance and to light his heart with special light of guidance so that he could observe the signs of Allah’s magnanimity.
After these requirements, the Gnostic will arrive at this blessed discovery and under Allah’s guidance he will discover wisdom, then he discovers his heart and later he discovers his spirit and soul. At this position, he is then ready to grasp the content of Allah’s Names and Attributes and to watch the Great Beauty. At this Juncture, he will understand the Quran, narrations and the Islamic knowledge and will get to the Great truth which is the desired goal for every lover and gnostic.
الّذي قَصُرَت عَنْ رُؤيَتِهِ اَبصْارُ النّاظِرين، وَ عَجَزَتْ عَنْ نَعْتِهِ اَوْهامُ الوَاصِفِينَ.
“The sacred Being whom our ordinary eyes can not see and the describer’s thoughts and ideas are unable to describe”.
The Faulty Eyes And The Lnefficient Wisdom
By “Sight” we mean encountering objects under specific conditions.
What are visible are the things and elements which are delimited by time, place and other physical properties. When conditions are absent, vision will become non-existent.
It is clear to every body that our limbs and body organs are limited in their functions. Our bodily and spiritual strength is limited, so is our power range of hearing, sight and wisdom.
Our sighet is so limited that we may not see many material beings.
Our spirits, Jinns, angels, air pain, neutron, electron, some microbes and viruses are not visible to us, at all.
The Sacred Being of Allah, which is not similar to anything in this world, is beyond our power to see or observe.
Thus, our eyes are limited and finite, and the Being of Allah is infinite; therefore, we may not observe Him directly.
Abdollah Senan narrates from Imam Sadiq (s):
Allah is Great and High – ranking. Allah’s servants are incapable to describe Him and may not observe Him. He is Delicate and Knowing. You may not describe him through quality, place and time. How could I quantitatively describe Him since He made the quantity what it is. I recognized quality through His giving quality to what possesses quality. How could I describe Him with place terms when He created the concept of place; and I recognized place because He gave me the concept. He is both in and out of things. Eyes may never see Him, but He sees our eyes. There is no god except Him; He is the Mighty, the Wise, the Knowing.[1]
Some of the Sunni scholars have misunderstood some of the verses of the Holy Quran and have presented some narrations dealing with the watching of God in the other world. But these narrations are fake.
They contend that it is possible for us at the Doomsday to see Allah directly. But the Infallible Ones (s), who are our salvage ship left from the time of the Prophet (s), contend that this would be impossible. In order to stand firm, they used the verses from the Quran and negated those narrations.
هُوَ الَّذِي أَنْزَلَ عَلَيْكَ الْكِتَابَ مِنْهُ آيَاتٌ مُحْكَمَاتٌ هُنَّ أُمُّ الْكِتَابِ وَأُخَرُ مُتَشَابِهَاتٌ فَأَمَّا الَّذِينَ فِي قُلُوبِهِمْ زَيْغٌ فَيَتَّبِعُونَ مَا تَشَابَهَ مِنْهُ ابْتِغَاءَ الْفِتْنَةِ وَابْتِغَاءَ تَأْوِيلِهِ وَمَا يَعْلَمُ تَأْوِيلَهُ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَالرَّاسِخُونَ فِي الْعِلْمِ يَقُولُونَ آمَنَّا بِهِ كُلٌّ مِنْ عِنْدِ رَبِّنَا وَمَا يَذَّكَّرُ إِلَّا أُوْلُوا الْأَلْبَابِ.
“He it is who has revealed the Book to you; some of its verses are decisive, they are the basis of the Book, and others are allegorical; then as for those in whose hearts there is perversity, they follow the part of it which is allegorical, seeking to mislead, and seeking to give it (their own) interpretation, but none knows its interpretation except Allah, and those who are firmly rooted in knowledge say: we believe in it, it is all from our Lord; and none do mind except those having understanding.( 3:7)
The following verses are referred to as the decisive ones:
يَدُ اللَّهِ فَوْقَ أَيْدِيهِمْ.
“The Hand of Allah is above their hands. 48:10”
الرَّحْمَانُ عَلَى الْعَرْشِ اسْتَوَى.
The Beneficent God is firm in power. 20:5”
إِلَى رَبِّهَا نَاظِرَةٌ.
“Looking to their Lord. 75:23”
وَجَاءَ رَبُّكَ.
“And your Lord comes.89:22”
إِنَّهُمْ مُلَاقُو رَبِّهِمْ.
“Surely they shall meet their Lord.11:29”
The above verses and other similar ones in the Holy Quran have some interpretations which are in harmony with the decisive concepts. This kind of interpretation may only be carried out by the genuine scholars. And these scholars are in reality the prophet (s) and the Infallible Ones(s).
The magnificent Nurol Thaqalein, in volume one, pages 260-265 deals with twenty five narrations, all of which contend that by genuine scholars is meant the Prophet (s) and the Infallible Ones(s). Borhan in its first volume, and Alamizan in its third volume, page 69 deal with this delicate issue:
Imam Ali (s) has said in Nahjolbalaqa:
أيْنَ الّذينَ زَعَمُوا أنَّهُمُ الرّاسِخُونَ في العِلمِ دُونَنا كِذْباً عَلَيْنا، أنْ رَفَعَنَا اللهُ وَ وَضَعَهُم، وَ أعْطانا وَ حَرَمَهُم، وَ أدْخَلَنا وَ أخْرَجَهُمْ ...
“Where are those who deceptively consider themselves like us the decisive ones in science and knowledge. These are the wretched ones who have transgressed over our rights. It is God who made our scientific positions lofty and their positions mean and low. It was Allah Who gave us from His knowledge reserves and deprived them of such blessings. It was He who let us enter His secrets, but rejected them”.[2]
Thus, those scholars from sunni sect who rely on the surface of some verses of the Holy Quran and on some narrations and claim that they will see God either here or in the Here after, are in error and their claims are in contradiction with the decisive verses of the Holy Quran which are the source for the interpretation of the allegorical ones, and with the interpretations of the Prophet (s) and the Infallible Ones (s).
You Will See Him Through The Eyes Of Your Heart:
If our appearance is equipped with Shariah and our inner self is lighted with the light of cognizance, and good mannerism and with complete faith, the eyes of our hearts are ready to see the truth and every heart, proportional with its capacity, may observe Allah’s Glamour, Glory, Beauty, and Magnanimity.
Another interpretation for meeting and seeing Allah is conviction. This means man could reach such a lofty place as the doors of doubt are closed to him and his heart attains such a degree of perfection as to make it possible for man’s eyes to see the secrets beyond the things.
Regarding this, let us read two narrations which Saduq narrates in his great book called Touhid.
عَنْ عَبْدِاللهِ بنِ سِنان، عَنْ أبيه، قالَ: حَضَرتُ آبا جَعْفَرٍ عليه السلام فَدَخَلَ عَلَيهِ رَجُلٌ مِنَ الخَوارجِ فَقَالَ لَهُ: يَا أبا جَعْفَر أيَّ شيئٍ تَعْبُدُ؟ قالَ: الله، قاَلَ: رَأيْتَهُ؟ قَالَ: لَمْ تَرَهْ العُيُونُ بِمُشاهَدَةِ العَيانِ، وَ لكِن رَأتْهُ القُلُوبُ بِِحَقائِقِ الإيمانِ، لا يُعْرَفُ بِالقِياسِ، وَلا يُدْرَكُ بِالحَواسِّ، وَلا يُشَبَّهُ بِالنَّاسِ، مَوْصُوفٌ بِالآياتِ، مَعْرُوفٌ بَالعَلاماتِ، لا يَجُورُ في حُكْمِهِ، ذلِكَ اللهُ لا إلهَ إلا هُوَ. قالَ: فَخَرَجَ الرَّجُلُ وَ هوَ يَقُولُ: اللهُ أعلَمُ حَيْثًُ يَجْعَلُ رِسالَتَهُ.
Abdollah Ibn Senan narrates from his father: I went to see Imam Baqir (s). A man from Khavarej came to that Imam and asked him: what are you worshipping? Imam Baqir (s) replied: Allah. He asked Imam “have you seen Him?” Imam answered: the head’s eyes may not see Him. Seeing Him is only possible through one’s heart, the heart which is equipped with religion facts. You may not recognize Him through a comparison with other creatures. He is to be recognized only through His signs. The signs which are spread everywhere and are observable in what is called collectively as creation. He is not hejemonistic in His domination. He is unique.( Touhid, P 109, Hadith 6.). When the Khareji was leaving Imam’s home, he was reciting the following verse:
اللهُ أعلَمُ حَيثُ يَجْعَلُ رِسَالَتَهُ.
“Allah best knows where He places His message. 16:124”
عَن أبي عَبْدِالله عَلَيهِ السَّلام قَالَ: جاءَ حِبْرُ إلى أميرِ المُؤمِنينَ عليه السّلامُ فَقالَ: يا أميرَ المُؤمِنينَ هَلْ رَأيتَ رَبَّكَ حِينَ عَبَدْتَهُ؟ فَقالَ: وَيْلَكَ مَا كُنْتُ أعْبُدُ رَبّاً لَمْ أرَهُ. قالَ: وَكَيفَ رَأيْتَهُ؟ قالَ: وَيلَكَ لا تُدْرِكُهُ العُيُونُ في مُشاهَدَةِ الابْصَارِ، وَلكِنْ رَاتْهُ الْقُلُوبْ بِحَقايقِ الإيمانِ.
Imam Sadiq (s) has said, one of the Jewish scholars asked Imam Ali (s) whether he had seen his God at his prayers. Imam Ali (s) replied: Woe to you. I did not worship a God whom I could not see. He asked Imam Ali (s): How did you see Him? Imam Ali (s) answered: what do you think? God may not be seen through the head’s eyes. It is the clean heart which, with the power of his faith, could observe that Sacred Being.
There is a delicate point we should consider here: Every heart has a special capacity to appreciate religious facts. When the worshipper asks Allah for more, his request will not be answered. If it were answered, it would destroy the suppliant. This fact is shown in the verse 143 of the sacred Surah Araf [The Elevated Places]. Regarding this, there is an interpretation supplied by the interpreter of Almizan:
source : The land of lovers
