وُجوهٌ يَومَئِذٍ ناضِرَةٌ
إِلىٰ رَبِّها ناظِرَةٌ
Some faces will be fresh on that day,
looking at their Lord.
EXEGESIS
Wujūh is the plural of wajh, which originally means ‘the foremost part’, ‘the front’, or ‘that which is presented and faces you’. This core meaning extends far beyond the physical human face to encompass not merely physical countenance but to reflect the inner state, the heart, the soul, and ultimate destiny of a person. This is the meaning used in verses like: Set your face (wajh) on the religion as a people of pure faith (30:30), and, Set your face (wajh) [on Him] at every occasion of prayer (7:29). Regarding the verse under review, exegetes have offered two interpretations of faces: the literal, physical countenance, and the inner self or heart.
Nāḍirah (fresh) means being filled with a state of bliss, vitality, and abundance, and is used to describe things such as trees, leaves, faces, or colours. When used to describe the face it signifies the bright look visible on a face that is experiencing joy. It is the result of the specific type of happiness one feels when given blissful blessings. This is mentioned in other verses of the Quran: You will perceive in their faces the freshness (naḍrah) of bliss (83:24), and, So Allah saved them from the ills of that day, and granted them freshness (naḍrah) and joy (76:11), where freshness is that which appears on the face and joy is that which is embedded in the heart. A narration from the Prophet states: ‘May God make radiant (naḍḍara) the face of a servant who hears my words and preserves them.’
Nāẓirah (looking) is from the root naẓara, which means a perceptive and reflective form of looking. A key extension of this root is the concept of looking forward and awaiting, as used in the verses like, Do they await (yanẓurūna) anything but its fulfilment? (7:53), and, I will send them a gift, and I shall see (nāẓirah) what the envoys bring back (27:35).
EXPOSITION
This verse pair – as well as the next pair – continues from the previous verses by telling us about the results of love that is held within the heart. Those who love God and the hereafter will have that love, which was internal, manifest itself on their faces on the Day of Judgement as hope, eager anticipation, and fulfilment of longing. So too shall the love of the world reveal itself as darkness and fear on the faces of those who ignored the hereafter. This of course all ties into the surah’s main theme and how internal mechanisms within man have external manifestations.
Depending on what translation is adopted for wujūh (physical faces or hearts) and nāẓirah (looking at or awaiting) the interpretation of this verse varies. If we take wujūh to mean hearts, then nāẓirah (looking at) means vision of the heart or spiritual vision. The concept of ‘seeing God’ cannot refer to physical vision, which relies on the physical eye. It is famously claimed by the Asharites that God can actually be seen in the hereafter, and the believers will quite literally look at Him, and this verse has been taken as evidence for that. However, definitive proofs have established that such a corporeal perception is impossible in relation to His transcendent nature. Instead, the verse signifies spiritual vision – the heart’s perception facilitated for them by their Lord on that day (yawmaʾidhin). This understanding is supported by traditions handed down from the Imams, some of which will be discussed in the Insights from Hadith section.
On the other hand, if we take nāẓirah to mean ‘awaiting’, then the verse means that some faces will eagerly ‘look forward’ to the mercy and bounties of God on the Day of Reckoning. Placing the predicate (ilā rabbihā) before the subject (nāẓirah) implies exclusivity, meaning that they will not look to anyone but God, and will eagerly anticipate their reward only from Him, just as in this world they did not place their hope in anyone but Him.
Having said that, the two interpretations are not mutually exclusive but are complementary. It is conceivable that on the Day of Judgement, the believers’ experience will encompass both a direct, heart-felt perception of the divine, and the eager anticipation of His promised bounty.
Nāḍirah can also be understood as implying a physical quality apparent on the faces of the believers, like the brightness that is visible on them, whilst the wicked will have faces that are overcast and gloomy. This ‘marking’ is said to act as a sign to the angels and all beings of the station of these individuals.
There is some disagreement as to whether yawmaʾidhin (that day) is referring to the Day of Judgement or after people have settled in heaven. The term yawmaʾidhin is generally used to refer to the Day of Judgement, and not what comes after it (settling in paradise or hell). Furthermore, verse 25 is almost certainly referring to the Day of Judgement, so it is highly improbable that these should not be. The context of the surah also supports this, as it has been discussing the Day of Judgement repeatedly till now.
Even so, it could be argued that some ambiguity is purposeful, and it could be assumed that both meanings are intended. The righteous will eagerly await the blessing of paradise before entering it, and then when they enter, they will joyfully gaze upon it and await the ever-increasing rewards therein.
INSIGHTS FROM HADITH
- From Hishām ibn al-Ḥakam, who said: ‘I was in the presence of Imam al-Ṣādiq (a), when Muʿāwiyah ibn Wahab and ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Aʿyan entered. Muʿāwiyah said to him: “O son of the Messenger of God, what do you say about the narrated report that the Messenger of God (s) saw his Lord? In what form did he see Him? And about the report which states that the believers will see their Lord in paradise? In what form will they see Him?” Imam al-Ṣādiq (a) smiled and said: “O Muʿāwiyah, how unbecoming of a man, upon whom seventy or eighty years have passed, who lives in God’s dominion and eats from His blessings, yet does not know God as He truly ought to be known.” Then he said: “O Muʿāwiyah, Muhammad – blessings upon him and his family – did not see the Lord, blessed and exalted, with the sight of the physical eyes. Indeed, vision is of two types: the vision of the heart and the vision of the eye. Whoever intended the vision of the heart is correct, but whoever intended the vision of the physical eye has lied, and has disbelieved in God and His verses, because of the saying of the Messenger of God, blessings upon him and his family: ‘Whoever compares God to His creation has disbelieved.’ And indeed, my father narrated to me, from his father, from al-Husayn ibn Ali (a), who said that the Commander of the Faithful was asked: ‘O brother of the Messenger of God, have you seen your Lord?’ He replied: ‘I would not worship a Lord whom I have not seen.’ Then he clarified: ‘The eyes do not see Him with physical sight, but the hearts see Him through the realities of faith.’”’
- From Ibrāhīm ibn Abī Maḥmūd, that Imam al-Riḍā (a) said that these verses mean: ‘[Faces] will be shining brightly, awaiting the reward of their Lord.’
- From Imam Ali (a): ‘As for His saying, exalted and glorious, Some faces will be fresh on that day, looking at their Lord, that is in a place where the friends (awliyāʾ) of God – mighty and glorious – after the accounting is completed, come to a river called al-Ḥayawān (the spring of life). They wash in it and drink from it, then enter paradise. That is His saying – mighty and glorious – regarding the greeting of the angels to them: Peace be to you! You are welcome! Enter it to remain [forever] [39:73]. At that moment they are certain of entering paradise and of beholding what was promised to them. That is His saying: looking at their Lord. What is meant by looking at Him is looking toward His reward – blessed and exalted He be.’
Note: As was discussed in the Exposition, the two different interpretations mentioned in the above narrations are not mutually exclusive.
- From Muhammad ibn Abī ʿAbd-Allāh, that Imam al-Ṣādiq (a) said: ‘While the Commander of the Faithful – peace be upon him – was delivering a sermon on the pulpit of Kufa, a man named Dhiʿlib, who was eloquent in speech and bold of heart, stood up and said: “O Commander of the Faithful, have you seen your Lord?” He replied: “Woe to you, Dhiʿlib! I have never worshipped a Lord whom I have not seen.” He said: “O Commander of the Faithful, how did you see Him?” He replied: “Woe to you, O Dhiʿlib! Eyes do not see Him by witnessing Him visibly, but hearts see Him through the realities of faith.”’
- From Sinān ibn Ṭurayf, that he was present with Imam al-Ṣādiq (a) when a man from the Kharijites entered the presence of the Imam and said: ‘O Abū Jaʿfar, what is it that you worship?’ He replied: ‘God.’ The man said: ‘Have you seen Him?’ He said: ‘Eyes do not see Him by witnessing Him visibly, but hearts see Him through the realities of faith. He is not known by analogy, nor comprehended by the senses, nor likened to people. He is described by His signs, known by His marks, and He does not err in His judgement. That is God, there is no god but He.’
REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE
Ṭabrisī asks how it is possible that people in heaven should anticipate things, because the one who is anticipating something has not reached full bliss as he is missing something that he desires. He answers this by saying that sometimes someone can anticipate something, even though he has no need for it at that moment, and knows that he will get it when the time is right. Therefore, his anticipation does not reduce his joy or bliss in any way.
Al-Bayḍāwī understands looking at their Lord to mean that they will be completely engrossed in Him, not being distracted from Him by anything else. He adds that this is for a specific time only, so in other times they will then be able to focus on other things as well.
In a similar vein, it has been argued that the predicate (ilā rabbihā (at their Lord)) precedes the subject (nāẓirah (looking)) to indicate that the devotion of attention is complete, similar to verses such as verse 30 of this surah, 42:53, 3:28, 2:8, and others. Some have added that such complete devotion of attention to God may also be achieved by the pious saints in this life, whereby they never shift their focus away from Him to something else.
INSIGHTS FROM OTHER TRADITIONS
- ‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.’
- ‘Those who look to Him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame.’
TOPICAL ARTICLES
Seeing God
It has been claimed that looking at their Lord implies that on the Day of Judgement people will literally see God. However, physical sight requires certain preconditions. That which is seen must itself be a physical entity occupying space, so that light may reflect from it and reach the observer’s eyes. It must also exist at a measurable distance, allowing the passage of light through space. Attributes such as physicality, spatial location, and material extension, however, are beneath the majesty of God, the exalted. Consequently, the literal, sensory vision of God is ontologically impossible. Furthermore, the Quran itself explicitly states that God cannot be seen: The sights do not apprehend Him (6:103); When Moses arrived at Our tryst and his Lord spoke to him, he said: ‘My Lord, show [Yourself] to me, that I may look at You!’ He said: ‘You shall not see Me. But look at the mountain: if it abides in its place, then you will see Me.’ So when his Lord disclosed Himself to the mountain, He levelled it, and Moses fell down swooning (7:143).
It is generally claimed that seeing God in the hereafter is the unanimously accepted opinion of the Ahl al-Sunnah. This claim however is predicated on an exclusivist approach to the definition of Ahl al-Sunnah, which would exclude the Mutazilites and others. It also would not apply retroactively to some of the earliest Muslims, many of whom did not share this opinion. The meaning of intiẓār that we have discussed for this verse has been reported from Mujāhid ibn Jabr, Ibn ʿUmar, Imam Ali (a), Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, al-Ḍaḥḥāk, and others. In truth, the opinion that God can be seen was not established as a central doctrine before Abū al-Hasan al-Ashʿarī.
This verse held such central importance for Abū al‑Hasan al‑Ashʿarī that, in his magnum opus al‑Ibānah ʿan Uṣūl al‑Diyānah, the very first topic he addresses after introducing the concept of ahl al‑sunnah is al‑kalām fī ithbāt al‑ruʾyah (the discourse on proving that God can be seen). In that discussion, the first Quranic passages he cites as evidence that God may be seen on the Day of Judgement are these two verses.
Al‑Ashʿarī contends that naẓar in this verse cannot signify intiẓār (expectation), since the preceding clause makes faces the grammatical subject of the verb; thus, when naẓar is used in conjunction with faces, he argues, it must denote visual sight with the eyes. Yet this reasoning is unconvincing. The mention of faces here serves not to identify the physical organ of sight, but to evoke the visible manifestation of inner joy and peace – the radiance of felicity that anyone can recognise upon looking at a blissful countenance.
This becomes even more evident in the subsequent verses, which describe the faces of the disbelievers as contorted with anguish and knowing that they will be met with a spine‑breaking punishment (verse 25). Clearly, no one would claim that the face itself performs the act of knowing. Yet, if one were to maintain the kind of strict literalism adopted by al‑Ashʿarī, consistency would require precisely such an assertion. It is, however, self‑evident that the verse attributes knowledge to the face only metaphorically: the countenance reflects the inner awareness of impending punishment. The ‘knowing face’ thus serves as a marker of inner cognition and dread rather than a statement about the sensory capacities of the human visage.
Al‑Ashʿarī further argues that naẓar cannot bear the sense of intiẓār (expectation) when it occurs with the preposition ilā, as it does in this verse. In his view, Arabic usage dictates that one would say intaẓartuhu (I waited for him) rather than intaẓartu ilayhi, and therefore the construction here must denote physical seeing rather than waiting. The proponents who interpret naẓar as intiẓār (expectation or anticipation) have responded, as is their custom, by citing evidence from Arabic poetry in which naẓar occurs with the preposition ilā in the sense of expectation. One oft‑quoted example is the couplet:
Wujūhun yawma badrin nāẓirāt
Ilā al‑raḥmāni taʾtī bil‑falāḥi
Faces, on the day of Badr, were gazing in anticipation
toward the All‑Merciful, hoping for triumph.
This poetic usage demonstrates that naẓar ilā can indeed express expectant looking or hopeful anticipation, rather than strictly physical sight.
Using naẓara for looking forward to something does not entail that it should then be seen, like the one who says: naẓartu ilā al-hilāli fa lam arahu (I waited to see the moon, but did not see it). Or the statement: mā ziltu anẓuru ilayhi ḥattā raʾaytuhu (I kept on waiting to see him, until I [finally] saw him).
If we insist on understanding nāzirah to literally mean seeing and not awaiting, then we should not intend any physical sight of God. It should either mean that people will look towards paradise and the mercy of their Lord which awaits them there, or alternatively that looking is used figuratively and refers to an action done with the heart, as we discussed earlier.
Al-Ashʿarī rejects understanding this verse with an implied omission such as this, insisting that the verse should be understood according to its apparent meaning, and asserts that it is not permissible to understand a verse of the Quran contrary to its apparent except with evidence. This argument is weak for two primary reasons. First, there is compelling Quranic and rational evidence that God is not a physical or limited being, making a literal interpretation of divine sight untenable. Second, the Quran itself frequently employs linguistic omissions for rhetorical effect. A clear parallel occurs just two verses later (verse 26), where the word ‘soul’ is omitted yet is undeniably implied, demonstrating this common stylistic feature.
A second weakness in al-Ashʿarī’s argument is its methodological insistence on a literal interpretation where a figurative one is clearly intended. Like all sophisticated languages, Arabic – and the Quran in particular – relies heavily on figurative expression. To demand a literal reading of every such instance is to ignore a fundamental aspect of the text’s literary and rhetorical genius. Indeed, if these two verses could be truly only understood literally, we should then claim that people will somehow ‘look’ with their faces on the Day of Judgement, since the verses literally say that faces will be … looking at their Lord and do not mention eyes; yet no one would claim that. Al-Ashʿarī is willing to concede that faces is figurative for eyes, yet unwilling to concede that anything else is figurative. If we do accept that faces is merely a figurative expression, then why should we insist on a literal understanding for looking at their Lord?
Ibn ʿAṭiyyah, despite being an Asharite and insisting that God can indeed be seen, admits that it is common in Arabic to use the phrase naẓartu ilā to mean awaiting or anticipation. He adds that this verse itself does not establish that God can be seen, but rather it is the narrations that act as the basis and proof for this position.
Let us now then examine some of the main narrations that the proponents of this view present as proof for their position:
- From Ibn ʿUmar: ‘The one of lowest rank in paradise is he who shall look upon (yanẓuru ilā) his gardens, his wives, his bliss, his servants, and his couches, from a distance of a thousand years’ journey. Whereas the most honoured of them with God is he who looks upon His face, blessed and exalted, morning and evening.’
- From ʿAmmār ibn Yāsir, that the Prophet used to supplicate: ‘Dear God, I ask You for the delight of gazing upon (al-naẓar ilā) Your face, and the longing to meet You, free from harmful adversity and misleading trial.’
- From Jābir ibn ʿAbd-Allāh, that the Prophet said: ‘Our Lord – mighty and glorious – will manifest Himself so that they behold His face, and they will fall down to Him in prostration. Then He will say: “Raise your heads, for this is not a day of worship.”’
Note: Thaʿlabī reports these but then notes that they should all be understood in the sense of awaiting the mercy of God.
- From Ṣuhayb ibn Sinān, that the Prophet said: ‘When the people of paradise enter paradise, they will be called: “O people of paradise, you have been given a promise from God which He wishes to fulfil for you.” They will say: “What is it? Has He not already brightened our faces, delivered us from the fire, and admitted us into paradise?” He will then remove the veil, and they will look upon Him. By God, He will not give them anything more beloved to them than that.’ Then the Messenger of God – peace and blessings be upon him – recited: Those who are virtuous shall receive the best reward and an enhancement (10:26).
- From Jarīr ibn ʿAbd-Allāh: ‘We were sitting with the Messenger of God – peace and blessings be upon him – when he looked at the moon on the night of the full moon and said: “Indeed, you will see your Lord, just as you see this moon, and you will not need to bustle over one another in trying to see Him. So if you are able not to be overcome [by sleep] regarding a prayer before sunrise and before sunset, then do so [i.e. perform those prayers].”’
- From ʿUbādah ibn al-Ṣāmit, that the Prophet said: ‘I have told you regarding the Dajjāl that he is blind in one eye (aʿwar), and your Lord is not blind in one eye, and you shall not see your Lord until you die.’
If we wish to accept these reports as authentic, they must all be understood figuratively. Accordingly, seeing God like the moon would mean that His majesty and splendour will be undeniably manifest to all, like in the verse, and they shall know that Allah is the manifest reality (24:25). Alternatively, they could be understood to mean ‘seeing’ God with the vision of the heart.
As for the Quranic verses that explicitly deny the possibility of seeing God, the Asharites have provided various reinterpretations of those. Regarding the verse, The sights do not apprehend Him (6:103), al-Ashʿarī claims this is only referring to this world, and that the Day of Judgement is exempt from this. Yet there is no good reason to accept such an assertion. Furthermore, if the verse The sights do not apprehend Him (6:103) is open to taʾwīl and should, as per al-Ashʿarī’s argument, be understood as meaning ‘the sights do not apprehend him in this world’, then why should looking at their Lord not be similarly open to taʾwīl?
Al-Ashʿarī contends that Prophet Moses’ (a) request in 7:143 – My Lord, show [Yourself] to me – would be nonsensical if seeing God were impossible. For a prophet to ask for something that contradicts God’s very nature is a logical impossibility. Thus, the request itself serves as proof that the beatific vision is a possible category. This argument too is weak, as immediately afterwards God Himself denies the possibility of being seen: You shall not see Me. But look at the mountain: if it abides in its place, then you will see Me. The Asharite position asserts that God cannot be seen in this world, so they would have to contradict their own argument regarding the request of Prophet Moses (a).
In the end though, al-Ashʿarī himself was not one of the mujassimah, those who claimed that God had a physical body. In order to attempt to solve this apparent contradiction, he claimed that seeing God was bi-lā kayfin wa lā ḥaddin maḥdūd wa lā ṣifatin maʿlūmah – God can be seen but in a way different to how anything else can be seen: ‘Without explaining how, or imposing any limitations or understandable attributes.’ Ṭanṭāwī adds other qualifications, emphasising that God does not have direction nor can He be at any set distance.
That actual meaning of the statement bi-lā kayf is perhaps purposefully undecipherable, but the result of it is that in conclusion al-Ashʿarī accepts that it is not possible to see God in any way that we currently understand the word ‘seeing’ to mean. What can it mean to ‘see’ something that has no physical form, no place, and no set distance?
A more coherent interpretation, supported by a deep reading of the Islamic tradition, is that any reference to ‘seeing’ or ‘vision’ of God pertains not to physical, ocular sight, but to a spiritual and intellectual perception – a ‘vision of the heart’. This metaphysical faculty transcends the limitations of the physical eyes, allowing for a direct, certain awareness of the divine presence that is beyond form, place, or direction. It is a state of profound spiritual apprehension and enlightenment, not a physical encounter.
This understanding finds its most eloquent expression in the supplications of the Ahl al-Bayt. Imam Ali (a) articulates this very concept in his renowned prayer, asking God: ‘O My God! Grant me perfect devotion to You, and illuminate the eyes of our hearts with the light of their gazing upon You, until the eyes of the hearts tear through the veils of light and reach the source of grandeur.’
This passage masterfully distinguishes between physical and spiritual sight. The eyes of the heart are illuminated by a divine light, enabling them to ‘gaze’ upon God. This spiritual journey culminates not in a physical image, but in transcending even the veils of light to reach the ‘source of grandeur’.
[1] Lisan, 5/212, n-ḍ-r.
[2] Tahqiq, 12/173, n-ḍ-r.
[3] Nemuneh, 25/302.
[4] Bahrayn, 3/496, n-ḍ-r.
[5] Thalabi, 10/87; Kafi, 1/403; Amali.S, p. 432; Khisal, p. 149; Ahmad, 4/80; Darimi, 1/75-76, 84-85; Ibn Majah, 1/84-85, h. 230-232, 2/1015, h. 3056. See also Ahmad, 1/437, 3/225; Abu Dawud, 2/179, h. 3660; Tirmidhi, 4/142-143, h. 2794-2795.
[6] Tahqiq, 12/185, n-ẓ-r.
[7] Tibyan, 10/197; Tabrisi. 10/601; Thalabi, 10/88; Zamakhshari, 4/662. Related in Tabari, 29/120.
[8] See also 2:210, 43:66, and 36:49.
[9] Literally meaning ‘I am the one who is (waiting) to see what the envoys bring back’.
[10] Mizan, 20/112
[11] Qummi, 2/397.
[12] See Zamakhshari, 4/662. See also Nemuneh, 25/302-303.
[13] Tibyan, 10/197.
[14] See also the discussion in Tabrisi, 10/603.
[15] Ali ibn Muhammad al-Khazzāz al-Qummī, Kifāyat al-Athar (Qum: Intishārāt-e Bīdār, 1401 AH), pp. 261-264 Bihar, 4/54-56, 36/406; Mizan, 8/255. The hadith is originally from Kifāyah, even though Tabatabai accidentally quotes it as being in Maʿānī al-Akhbār. Majlisī relates the hadith twice, both times from Kifāyah. The hadith is much longer and has only been quoted partially here.
[16] Tawhid, p. 116; Nur, 5/464.
[17] Tawhid, pp 254-269. Nur, 5/464. The hadith is extremely lengthy and is quoted only partially here.
[18] Kafi, 1/138. See also Tawhid, p. 308.
[19] Kafi, 1/97; Amali.S, p. 352; Tawhid, p. 108. Parts of this hadith are also found in Nahj, sermon 179.
[20] Tabrisi, 10/603. Qurṭubī denies that the people of paradise should feel anticipation for anything (Qurtubi, 19/110). However, we know that paradise consist of various levels and certainly the people on lower levels will anticipate the rewards of the higher levels, but without such anticipation instilling them with any sense of being unfulfilled.
[21] Baydawi, 5/267. A similar conclusion is reached by Zamakhshari, 4/662.
[22] Zamakhshari, 4/662. Related in Razi, 30/731.
[23] Alusi, 15/160.
[24] Matthew 5:8.
[25] Psalms 34:5.
[26] Tabari, 29/119-120; Baghawi, 5/185; Razi, 30/730; Qurtubi, 19/107; Ibn Kathir, 8/287-288.
[27] See Razi, 30/730; Ibn Kathir, 8/288; Tantawi, 15/205.
[28] See for example Tabari, 23/508-510.
[29] Tabari, 23/508.
[30] Tabari, 23/508-510; Qurtubi, 19/107.
[31] See Tabrisi, 10/602.
[32] Abū al-Hasan al-Ashʿarī, al-Ibānah ʿan Uṣūl al-Diyānah (Beirut: Dār ibn Zaytūn, n.d.), p. 13.
[33] Abū al-Hasan al-Ashʿarī, al-Ibānah ʿan Uṣūl al-Diyānah (Beirut: Dār ibn Zaytūn, n.d.), p. 13.
[34] Subḥānī muses that if God had intended seeing with the eyes, why did He mention faces and not the eyes? (Munyah, 29/145-146).
[35] Abū al-Hasan al-Ashʿarī, al-Ibānah ʿan Uṣūl al-Diyānah (Beirut: Dār ibn Zaytūn, n.d.), pp. 13-14; see also Baghawi, 5/268; Razi, 30/732; Qurtubi, 1/109.
[36] Tibyan, 10/198.
[37] Tabrisi, 10/601. Related in Razi, 30/731.
[38] See Tabrisi, 10/601.
[39] Abū al-Hasan al-Ashʿarī, al-Ibānah ʿan Uṣūl al-Diyānah (Beirut: Dār ibn Zaytūn, n.d.), p. 14.
[40] Despite this, some have entertained the idea that God will recreate people on the day with the ability to see with their faces (see for example Qurtubi, 19/110).
[41] See Andulusi, 5/405.
[42] Thalabi, 10/88; Baghawi, 5/186; Qurtubi, 19/107; Tirmidhi, 4/93, h. 2677, 5/103, h. 3386. This hadith has been reported both from Ibn ʿUmar reaching the Prophet, but also without reaching him. Interestingly, the opinion that naẓar in this verse means intiẓār has been reported from Ibn ʿUmar himself as well (Qurtubi, 19/107), which if true (and if the hadith is authentically traced to him) means that he himself did not understand the report as meaning seeing God, but rather to await His mercy. This is the apparent conclusion reached by Ṭabarī, who quotes this report from Ibn ʿUmar under the opinions of those who understood naẓar as intiẓār (Tabari, 23/508-510).
[43] Thalabi, 10/88; Suyuti, 6/294; Nasai.K, 1/388, h. 1228; Muhammad ibn Ḥibbān, Ṣaḥīḥ (Np.: Muʾassasat al-Risālah, 1993), 5/305.
[44] Thalabi, 10/88; Qurtubi, 19/109; Suyuti, 6/292.
[45] Thalabi, 10/88.
[46] Ahmad, 4/332; Muslim, 1/112; Thalabi, 5/129. Ṭabarī reports this from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī under verse 10:26 (Tabari, 11/140).
[47] Qurtubi, 19/108; Bukhari, 1/139, h. 554, 6/48, h. 4851, 8/179, h. 7434-7436; Muslim, 2/114, h. 633a; Ibn Majah, 1/63-64, h. 177-180; Abu Dawud, 2/419, h. 4729; Bayhaqi, 1/359. Reports with similar themes (some of which are quite lengthy and where the moon is replaced with the sun in one of them) have also been reported from Abū Hurayrah and attributed to the Prophet (Suyuti, 6/290-291; Tirmidhi, 4/93, h. 2679), and Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī (Ahmad, 3/16).
[48] Andulusi, 5/405; Nasai.K, 4/419, h. 7764.
[49] Qurtubi, 19/109-110; Abū al-Hasan al-Ashʿarī, al-Ibānah ʿan Uṣūl al-Diyānah (Beirut: Dār ibn Zaytūn, n.d.), pp. 15-16. Al-Ashʿarī also adds that it is possible that the verse means ‘the sights of the faithless do not apprehend Him’. Which again is an example of him applying taʾwīl selectively when it suits his argument, but vehemently opposing it when it does not.
[50] Abū al-Hasan al-Ashʿarī, al-Ibānah ʿan Uṣūl al-Diyānah (Beirut: Dār ibn Zaytūn, n.d.), p. 14; Razi, 30/732. see also Qurtubi, 7/55, under the commentary of 6:103.
[51] See also Andulusi, 5/405. This Asharite axiom of bi-lā kayf wa … has even been attributed to the Prophet, as is usual in such hotly debated theological matters (see Suyuti, 6/290). Makārim Shīrāzī seemingly accepts this hadith, arguing that it is in fact proof that seeing on that day will happen with the heart (Nemuneh, 25/305).
[52] Tantawi, 15/204.
[53] Mafātīḥ al-Jinān, Munājāt Shaʿbāniyyah.