Sharhu Sunnah : Lesson 16 : Point 14
Shaykh Fawzan | Dawud Burbank [Audio|English]
The author Imam Barbahaaree rahimahullaah said,
And to have Eemaan in seeing Allaah on the Day of Resurrection. They will see Allaah, the Mighty and Majestic, with the eyes of their heads. And He will bring them to account without any mediator [01] or any interpreter.
Transcribed Audio:
From the tremendous and important matters of `aqeedah is: Affirmation of the fact that the true believers will see their Lord on the Day of Resurrection openly with their eyes, just as they see the Moon on the night of the full Moon and just as they see the Sun clearly, not obscured by any clouds, as occurs in the authentic ahaadith which are mutawaatir (reported by huge numbers of people at every level of transmission, so many that it is impossible to could have got together upon lie) affirming the believers seeing their Lord.
And Imaam Ibnul-Qayyim brought in Haadiyul-Arwah (ilaa Bilaadil-Afraah) the hadeeth occurring about this. And he did so at great length, quoting their chains of narration; and they are mutawaatir (reported by huge numbers of people at every level of transmission) affirming that the believers will indeed see their Lord openly with their eyes.
And the people of misguidance from the deviant sects, such as the Mu`tazilah and those who took their position, they opposed this and they denied ar-ru’yah (the Seeing, that the believers will indeed see Allaah on the Day of Resurrection). And it is something mentioned in the Qur’aan. He, the Most High, said:
For those who did well in the world, will be al-husnaa (the finest reward of Paradise) and ziyaadah (an increase) [02] (Soorah Yoonus (10), aayah 26)
There occurs in Saheeh Muslim that the ziyaadah, the increase, is looking at the Face of Allaah the Perfect and Most High. [03]
And He the Most High said:
They shall have whatever they (the believers in Paradise) wish therein and with Us there is something extra.(Soorah Qaaf (50), aayah 35)
And al-mazeed, that which is extra, is looking at the Face of Allaah, the Perfect and Most High. And there occurs in Sooratul-Qiyaamah:
Some faces on that day (Day of Resurrection) will be radiant, looking at their Lord (Sooratul-Qiyamah(75), aayahs 22-23)
Naadirah with a daad from an-nudrah, radiance, which means that which is shining and beautiful.
You will recognise upon their faces nadrah (the radiance) of bliss (Sooratul-Mutaffifeen (83), aayah 24)
…looking at their Lord
With a zaa· (naazirah) meaning with their eyes. They will be looking at Allaah, the Majestic and Most High, feeling more joy at that than the joy which they experience on account of the bliss in Paradise. This occurs in the Honourable Qur’aan. In Sooratul-Mutaffifeen He said with regard to the disbelievers:
But no, on that Day, the disbelievers will be screened away and prevented from seeing their Lord (Sooratul-Mutaffifeen (83), aayah 15)
Meaning screened and blocked from seeing Allaah. So if the disbelievers are blocked from seeing Allaah, then this is a proof that the believers will see their Lord the Mighty and Majestic. [04] And that is because the believers believed in Him in this world, yet they did not see Him. Rather they relied upon the evidences and therefore believed in Him. And they believed in His Messengers. So they believed in Him even though they did not see Him in this world. So therefore Allaah will honour them in Paradise that He will show Himself to them, so that they will see Him openly because they believed in Him in this world and did not see Him. But as for the disbelievers, because of the fact that they disbelieved in Him in this world, therefore Allaah will block them from seeing Him on the Day of Resurrection as a recompense (punishment) for them.
as a fully appropriate recompense. (Sooratun-Naba· (78), aayah 26)
And from the false doubts which the Mu`tazilah rely upon, and those who held their saying, is that Allaah said to Moosaa: You shall not see Me.
In His saying:
And when Moosaa came to Our appointed place and His Lord spoke to Him, he (Moosaa) said O My Lord show Yourself to Me, so that I may look upon You. So He (Allaah the Most High) said You will not see Me. However look at the mountain. So if it remains settled in its place, then You will see Me (Sooratul-A`raaf (7), aayah 143)
They said, “And this is a proof that Allaah cannot be seen.” We say: Yes this is with regard to this world, because the event occurred in this world. We agree that Allaah cannot be seen in this world. So Moosaa asked to see Him in this world, so Allaah, the Majestic and Most High, said: He said You will not see Me – Meaning in this life.
And an-nafee, negation, with Lan (in Arabic it is negation of something that is occurring in the future) does not necessitate ta’beed (its being something forever). Rather it is a negation for a certain time. So (His saying) : He said You will not see Me – Meaning, ‘You will not see Me in this world.’ And there occurs in the Arabic language that negating something with Lan does not necessitate its being forever (a negation forever). And therefore Ibnu Maalik [05] said in al-Kaafiyatush-Shaafiyah in nahw (Arabic grammar):
Whoever holds the opinion that negating something with Lan means forever, Then reject his saying and support other than it.
Meaning that Lan does not necessitate a negation that is forever. And the proof is also that Allaah said with regard to the Jews:
Then wish for death if you are truthful. But they will never wish for it (Sooratul-Baqarah (2), aayahs 94-95)
Yet it occurs that in the Hereafter they will indeed wish for death in order to be relieved from the torment. He, the Most High, said:
They will call out ‘O Maalik! Let Your Lord put an end to us’ (Sooratuz-Zukhruf (43), aayah 77)
So they will request death. So this proves that Lan does not mean negation without end. This is what is necessitated by the Arabic language and it is what is necessitated by what is indicated in the Qur’aan.
They say also that what proves that Allaah cannot be seen is His saying:
Sight cannot encompass Him (Allaah) but He encompasses Sight (Sooratul- An`aam (6), aayah 103)
We say to them: this does not contain a negation of Seeing (ru·yah), rather it only negates totally encompassing (idraak). He did not say, “Sight will not see Him.” He said, “it will not encompass Him.”
And denying encompassing is something different to denying seeing. So sight will see Him, however it will not encompass Him. So idraak means encompassing Allaah, the Majestic and Most High. So Even though they will see Him in Paradise, they will not fully encompass Him, He the Perfect and Most High. So what is negated here is encompassing him. [06] So they will see Him but they will not fully encompass Him. They will see Him as is proven by the evidences. And harmonizing the texts is what is obligatory. If there are differences between texts, then as far as it is possible to harmonize between them, this must be done. And this is clear; and all Praise is for Allaah. And the Speech of Allaah can never contradict itself. Rather some parts of it explain other parts. As for the person who takes one aayah and abandons a different ayaah, then this is from the people of deviation. He the Most High said:
So as for those people in whose hearts is deviation, then they follow that which is unclear, seeking discord and seeking to falsely interpret it (Soorah Aali `Imraan (3), aayah 7)
So evidence is taken from the Qur’aan in totality.
All of it is from our Lord (Soorah Aali `Imraan (3), aayah 7)
Just as the raasikhoon (those firmly grounded in knowledge) say. So the Qur’aan, some parts of it explain the rest. And there can never be any contradiction in it because Allaah has negated from it any contradiction. He, the Most High, said:
Will they not ponder/reflect upon the Qur’aan. If it had been from other than Allaah, they would certainly would have found in it many contradictions (Sooratun-Nisaa· (4), aayah 82)
So if you have a problem in understanding an aayah, then you look into the Qur’aan for that which will explain it. And if you do not find that, then you go to the Sunnah to find that which will explain it in the Sunnah. And if you do not find its explanation in the Sunnah, then you go to the sayings of the Companions, those who narrated from the Messenger sallAllaahu ` alayhi wa sallam, to find in their sayings that which will explain the aayah which you have a problem in understanding. The Qur’aan, and all Praise is for Allaah, is preserved in its wording and in its meaning. It neither opposes nor contradicts itself, rather contradictions only occur in the understandings of mankind.
And likewise those false claimants to knowledge, those who did not truly study knowledge and did not take the principles of deriving evidence and of how to reach conclusions, they derive proof without understanding (fiqh). And they affirm things which no-one before them affirmed from the people of knowledge because of jahl, ignorance, and because of ta`aalum, pseudo-knowledge/false knowledge. So these are tremendous matters which require learning and require precision and require careful consideration and require verification, because the `aqeedah (creed and belief) is the foundation. And if there are deficiencies in it, this will be a deficiency in the foundation (of your religion). So in summary, this is the disagreement of the people with regard to seeing Allaah the Mighty and Majestic on the Day of Resurrection. So Allaah cannot be seen in this world. He will only be seen by the believers in the Hereafter. And He will be screened away from the disbelievers.
His saying, “And having Eemaan in ar-ru’yah (seeing Him) on the Day of Resurrection.” Why did he say on the Day of Resurrection? Because He, the Majestic and Most High, cannot be seen in this world.
And his saying, “They will see Allaah, the Mighty and Majestic, with the eyes of their heads.” He said with the eyes of their heads to negate ta’weel, false interpretation/ misinterpretation, of those who say the meaning of ‘they will see their Lord’ means: with their hearts, not with their sight.
His saying, “And He will bring them to account without any mediator and without any interpreter.” Meaning, on the Day of Resurrection at the hisaab, Reckoning, the servant will be in private with his Lord. And Allaah will call him to account for his deeds in his language which the servant will understand. There will be no interpreter between him and Him. The interpreter is one who conveys the meaning from one language to another language, like the one who conveys the meaning from the English language to the Arabic language or vice versa because the languages are many.
Footnotes:
[01] Translator’s side point: ‘without any screen’ in some editions
[02] Translator’s side point: Muhammad ibn Jareer At-Tabaree, the famous mufassir of the Qur’aan, explained this part of the aayah by saying, “For those from His creation who performed the worship of Allaah well in this world, such that they obeyed Him with regard to what He commanded them and forbade them.”
[03] Reported by Muslim in his Saheeh (no. 181) (in the Book of Eemaan) (Hadeeth of) Suhayb radiAllaahu `anh, from the Prophet sallAllaahu ` alayhi wa sallam that he said,
“When the people of Paradise enter Paradise, Allaah, the Exalted and Most High, will say, ‘Do you wish for Me to give you any increase?’ So they will say, ‘Have You not made our faces white? Have You not entered us into Paradise and saved us from the Fire.’ He said: So then He will uncover the screen and they will not have been given anything which is more beloved to them than looking at their Lord the Mighty and Majestic.
And then he recited this aayah:
For those who did well in the world, there will be the best reward (of Paradise) and an increase (looking upon their Lord). (Soorah Yoonus (10), aayah 26)
[04] Translator’s side point: As Imaam ash-Shaafi`ee also said, that this is mentioned as being a punishment for the disbelievers that they will blocked, not able to see their Lord. So therefore the believers who will not be punished, this is affirmation that they will indeed see their Lord.
[06] Translator’s side point: Some of the people of knowledge mention a point that a person for example from a distance may see the walls of a town, but not see what is beyond the walls, he may see the town but he doesn’t see what is beyond the town, what is inside the town and all the details, all around the town from every aspect. He does not encompass the town he can just see the town. So there is a clear difference between idraak, totally encompassing something, and between seeing it.
[05] Translator’s note: the great scholar of the language
Transcribed by Fawad Abu Zaid Al Afghaani.
Download PDF of Lesson 16
Ithaaful-Qaaree bit-Ta`leeqaat `alaa Sharhis-Sunnah
by Shaykh Saalih ibn Fowzaan al-Fowzaan hafizahullaah
Translated by Aboo Talhah Daawood Burbank, rahimahullaah
Posted with kind permission from Dawud Burbank rahimahullaah
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