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Chapter 10: Meeting With Allah

The Company Of Allah In The Paradise

In spite of the foregoing, it is sad and intriguing to find that the School of the Caliphs has let its imagination run wild about meeting Allah in the markets of Jannah!

  1. Ibn Majah and Tirmidhi have quoted the following conversation in their Sunan. Abu Huraira once said to Saeed bin al-Musayyab: “I pray that we may both meet each other at the market of Paradise.”

Saeed queried:“Is there a market in Paradise?”Abu Huraira said:“Of course, there is! The Prophet (S) informed me that when the people of Paradise will enter it, they will be stationed according to the degree of excellence in their deeds. Then they will be permitted to visit Allah for a duration of time equal to a Friday on earth. So they will visit Him, and He will show them His Throne, and manifest Himself in one of the gardens of Paradise.Then He will set up for them platforms or pulpits of light, pearls, sapphires, chrysolite and gold. The lowliest among them will be seated on the mounds of musk and camphor, not at all feeling that people on the pulpits are better positioned!”Abu Huraira then continued:“Then I asked the Prophet (S): ‘O Messenger of Allah! Shall we see our Lord?’He said: ‘Do you doubt viewing the sun or the full moon?’We said: ‘No, we do not.’He said: ‘So shall you no doubt see your Lord, the Most High. Everyone will be admitted to His Presence individually, and then to one He will say: O so and so! Do you remember the day you committed such and such act?’He will say: ‘O Lord, did You not forgive me?’Allah will say: ‘Of course, I did. It is the expanse of My Mercy which has brought you to this station!’Then a cloud from above will overwhelm them, and there will be an incessant rain of perfume, the fragrance of which they will have never experienced before.Allah will say: ‘Rise to enjoy My blessings and take whatever you wish.’Then we will come to a market teeming with the angels. In it will be things the like of which we have never seen or heard or imagined. We will pick up whatever we want - no buying, no selling! The people will visit each other, the high meeting with the low, and indeed there will be no lowliness, for each will be best clad, and in the best disposition. There will be nothing to grieve about.Then we will go back to our places, where we will be met by our own spouses. They will say: ‘Welcome, you have returned more handsome and sweeter than you were when you left us!’We will say: ‘We deserve to return with these blessings because we have sat today with our Lord’.”The origin of this tale can be found in the following report from Ka‘b al-Ahbar, quoted by Darami in his book refuting the Jahmiyyah sect: Ka‘b says:“Allah will not survey the heaven except to say: ‘Be fragrant for your inmates.’ Then there will be an increase in sweet smell all around. And for a time equal in measure to ‘Id day on the earth they will hang about in the gardens of Paradise. Allah will then appear, and they will see Him. A strong wind laden with the aroma of perfume and musk will blow, and their Lord will grant them their wishes. Then they will repair to their families, where their beauty and handsomeness will have augmented seventy folds.”1Abu Huraira managed to make this narration more colourful by using his own fertile mind. Apart from such traditions, we find that the scholars from the School of the Caliphs have taken great liberties in interpreting certain verses of the Qur’an in a manner to suit their fancy.

  1. The Holy Qur’an says:

“To those who do right is a good reward and more; no darkness or shame will cover their faces! They are the people of the Paradise, in which they will abide forever.” (Surah Yunus, 10:26).In this verse, the phrase “and more” mentioned after the reward, has been taken to mean the privilege of physical encounter with Allah! Tabari quotes from four Companions of the Prophet (S), while Suyuti manages to quote from nine, that the Prophet (S) said:“‘The more’ promised by Allah in this verse means that Allah will show Himself to them.2Further Abu Musa Ash’ari narrates the following from the Prophet (S):“On the Day of Judgement, Allah will send a herald to the people of the Paradise, proclaiming in a voice loud enough to reach the ears of all inmates: ‘Allah has promised you good and more ...’ The good is the Paradise which you have occupied - and the more is to view the glorious face of the Merciful.”Tayalasi, Ahmad Hanbal, Muslim, Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah, Tabari, Suyuti and other commentators and tradition reporters have quoted the following from Shuayb:“The Prophet (S) recited the verse: ‘To those who do right is a good reward and more ....’ and then said:When the people of the Paradise will have flocked in the gardens and when others will have been consigned to the eternal Hellfire, a herald will announce: ‘O people of the Paradise, there is yet an unfulfilled promise which Allah will now fulfil!’The people of the Paradise will ask: ‘And what is the remaining promise? Has not Allah made our Balances heavy, our faces bright? Has he not distanced us from the Hell?’Upon hearing this, Allah will lift up the veil, and lo! they will see Him. By Allah! Of all the blessings given by Allah, there is nothing more blissful and joyful than the privilege of seeing His face.”3Ibn Kathir in his Tafsir of the same verse says:“Besides the good reward given to the virtuous, they will have the blessing of seeing His glorious face. And this has been supported by Abu Bakr Siddiq and others ....”Here he gives a list of fifteen, among whom some are the Companions of the Prophet (S), and others are of a latter era. Even Fakhruddin Razi tends to subscribe to the same notion when he discusses this verse. He says:“We have made it clear that the words in this verse clearly indicate that ‘the more’ refers to the sighting of Allah.”4

  1. There are some traditions ascribed to the Prophet (S) in relation to the following verses:

“Some faces, that day, will beam” (Surah al-Qiyamah, 55:22).“looking towards their Lord.” (Surah al-Qiyamah, 55:23).Anas bin Malik reports from the Prophet (S):“On the Resurrection, the male believers shall see Allah every Friday, and the female believers shall see Him on the ‘Id days of Fitr and Adha.”In another tradition reported by Anas bin Malik we find him say:“The Prophet (S) recited the verse and then explained: ‘By Allah! This verse has not been abrogated. They will indeed see Allah. They will be given enough provision to eat and drink, and an ample supply of perfume and adornment. And the veil between them and their Lord will be raised so that they see their Lord and the Lord sees them. This is what Allah meant when He said:‘And they will have their sustenance therein, morning and evening’’.” (Surah Maryam, 19:62).Suyuti has recorded the following from Jabir who says:“The Prophet (S) said: ‘Allah will grant public viewing to all men, but for Abu Bakr Siddiq there will be a special manifestation’.”5Abdullah bin ‘Umar ascribes the following to the Prophet (S):“The lowest station in the Paradise will enable the believer to receive the blessings of Allah from the distance of one thousand years. And the highest station will be where they will see the face of Allah at every dawn and dusk.”Tabari has reiterated the same belief in his Tafsir and Fakhruddin Razi in his Tafsir Kabeer says:“There can be no other meaning of this verse except the physical sighting.”Even the recent commentator and scholar from the School of the Caliphs, Sayyid Qutub (died 1386 A.H.), insists in his Fi Zilal al-Qur’an that there will be a physical encounter with Allah on the Day of Judgement, and then proceeds to exalt the experience with all the grandiose. He writes:“This verse makes a brief mention of an experience which words cannot explain, and minds fail to comprehend. That will be when the virtuous will enter an unprecedented state of spiritual elevation, and the Paradise itself with all its bounties and joys will seem immaterial and small. The beaming faces will be looking straight into the glorious face of Allah! What an elevation? What a level of Majesty!When a man views the wonders of creation, around himself and also within; a moonlit night or pitch darkness, or a breaking dawn, he is overwhelmed with joy and inspiration! What will be his state, then, when he will see, not the wonders of Allah, but the splendour and beauty of Allah Himself? Why should his face not beam with brightness when he sees Him?Man cannot reach that state unless he has purified himself from all the impediments, a state so sublime that it has to be devoid of all doubt and blemish - with no desire but to see Allah, the Most High.Why do some people deny themselves this overwhelming light, this inexplicable pleasure? Why do they entangle themselves in scholastic exercises and rational debates to decide on a subject which is beyond human reason?Let us then rise to receive this overwhelming ecstasy and pure delight and allow our imagination to compass the true state as much as possible. This aspiration itself is a great bounty, to be supersede by nothing but the actual sighting of the Glorious Face.”6We will now present the teachings of Ahl ul-Bayt (‘a) in respect of the subject discussed above.

The School Of Ahl Ul-Bayt (‘A)

  1. Abd us Salaam bin Swaleh reports through Abu al-Swalt al-Hirawi from Imam Ridha (‘a). He says: I asked Ali bin Musa al-Ridha (‘a):

“What do you say about the idea propagated by certain people of Hadith that the believers will visit their Lord in their heavenly abode?”Imam (‘a) said:“O Aba al-Swalt, Allah blessed His Prophet (S) with excellence over all His creation, including the prophets and angels; and has put the obedience of the Prophet (S) on the same footing as His Own obedience, and the sighting of the Prophet (S) here and in the hereafter as His Own sighting.”Allah says in the Qur’an:“He who obeys the Prophet (S), obeys Allah.” (Surah al-Nisa, 4:80).And again He says:“Surely, those who pledge allegiance to you actually pledge allegiance to Allah - the hand of Allah is over their hands ....” (Surah al-Fath, 48:10).And the Prophet himself said:“Whosoever visits me during my lifetime or after my death, has the reward of visiting Allah.”“The status of the Prophet (S) in the heavens will be the highest, and this is why seeing him or visiting him will be tantamount to visiting Allah, the Most High.”Abu al-Swalt says:“O son of the Prophet (S). how shall we interpret the tradition which says: ‘Whosoever professes that there is no God but Allah, shall see the face of Allah?’”Imam (‘a) said:“O Aba al-Swalt, whoever ascribes a physical face to Allah, commits blasphemy. The face denotes His Prophets and Apostles, peace be upon them - because they lead us to the direction of Allah, His faith, His way and His cognition. This is the meaning when Allah says in the Qur’an:“All that is on the earth shall perish” (Surah al-Rahman, 55:26).“but the face of your Lord will abide ....’ (Surah al-Rahman, 55:27).‘Everything shall perish, except His face.’ (Surah al-Qasas, 28:88).The greatest and most gratifying reward for the believers will be to meet with the Prophets and Apostles of Allah on the Day of Judgement. Then the Prophet (S) said:“Those who hate my Ahl ul-Bayt (the inmates of my house) and my descendants, shall not meet me, nor shall I meet them on the Day of Judgement.”He also said addressing his Companions:“There are some among you who will never see me after they have parted from me on the earth.”“O Aba al-Swalt! Allah, the Most High is not described in terms of place or space. Nor can He be grasped by vision or imagination!”7

  1. Ibrahim bin Abu Mahmood reports that Imam Ridha (‘a) was asked about the following verse:

“Some faces, that day, will beam” (Surah al-Qiyamah, 55:22).“looking towards their Lord.” (Surah al-Qiyamah, 55:23).Imam (‘a) said:“The meaning is that their faces will beam with brightness, in expectation of divine reward.”8

  1. As for the following verse:

“To those who do right is a good reward and more ...” (Surah Yunus, 10:26).We have three traditions from the Imams of Ahl ul-Bayt (‘a), each giving the same explanation as the other.

  1. Amir ul-Mu’minin, Imam Ali (‘a) said:

“The good reward in this verse refers to the Paradise, and ‘the more’ refers to the extra return on the earth.”

  1. Imam al-Al-Baqir (‘a) said:

“The verse talks of an additional measure, meaning that which Allah will give during the lifetime on earth; not accounted for on the Day of Judgement.”

  1. Imam Ja‘far al-Al-Sadiq (‘a) said:

“‘The more’ will be from this world, that with which Allah blesses the believers during their lifetime and is not deducted from the eternal reward hereinafter. So, Allah conjoins for them both rewards, because of their good deeds.”It is surprising that the scholars from the School of Caliphs have always chosen to interpret the verses of Qur’an according to the Jewish or the Christian notion of God. Let us take an example of the word Nadhirah that has been translated by them as ‘looking.’Raghib in his Mufradat al-Qur’an says that Nadhirah has two meanings:

  1. The onlooker;
  2. The expectant; the one who waits.

And the Holy Qur’an itself has used the word to denote “expectation.” In the Chapter of al-Naml, verse 35, we read:“And I am going to send him a gift and wait to find with what the ambassadors return.” (Surah An-Naml, 27:35).The Ahl ul-Bayt (‘a) have made it clear that the verse does not speak of physical sighting of Allah. It is giving a graphic description of how the believers will beam with expectation for their rewards.Similarly, when they have elucidated the word Ziyada, “the more” used by Allah, they have based their interpretation on the Qur’an itself. Allah says:“For those who do good, there is good in this world; and the House of the hereafter is even better. And excellent indeed is the House of the righteous.” (Surah al-Nahl, 16:30).To interpret ‘the more’ as sighting of Allah was a far-fetched thing. In the next chapter, which is a concluding one, we will present a brief comparison of the two schools, and prove that purest Islamic teaching, unsullied and untainted, comes from Ahl ul-Bayt (‘a).

  • 1. Darami’s al-Radd ala al-Jahmiyyah - p. 53.
  • 2. Tabari’s Tafsir - 11/73, 76; Suyuti’s Tafsir - 3/305, 306.
  • 3. Sahih Muslim - p. 163; Sunan of Ibn Majah - 1/67; Musnad of Ahmad - 4/332, 333;
    Tafsir of Tabari - 11/75; Tafsir of Suyuti - 3/305.
  • 4. Tafsir Kabir - 17/78, 79.
  • 5. al-Durr al-Manthoor - 6/292.
  • 6. Fi Zilal al-Qur’an by Sayyid Qutub - 1st Edition from Cairo - 29/208-210.
  • 7. Tawhid by Sadooq - p. 117-118.
  • 8. Tawhid by Sadooq - p. 116.