The Sacred Being of Allah, which is not similar to anything in this world

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).