Chapter 3: The “Eyes” Of Allah
1. The “Eyes” Of Allah As Understood By The School Of The Caliphs
In the books of Tafsir and the traditions, scholars of the above school have reported from Abu Huraira, who said, when the Prophet (S) recited the following verse:“Allah commands you to render back the trusts to those to whom they are due, and when you judge among people, that you judge with justice; surely, He gives you an excellent reaching. No doubt, Allah is He Who hears and sees all things.” (Surah Al-Nisa, 4:58).“I saw that the Prophet (S) used to demonstrate the hearing and the seeing of Allah by placing his thumb on his ear and his finger on his eye.”When Abu Huraira narrated the above story, he repeated the demonstration by placing his own fingers on his ears and eyes. He did this to emphasize that Allah hears with the aid of ears and sees with the help of eyes.Jahmiyyah used to be a sect which denounced and rejected such notions. In refutation to the Jahmiyyah school, Abu Dawood records in his famous Sunan as under:“This tradition by Abu Huraira refutes the beliefs of Jahmiyyah (who believe that Allah has no limbs, no body!).”Abu Huraira’s concoction led the scholars of the school of the Caliphs into believing that whenever the word Ayn appears in the Qur’an in relation to Allah, it should be understood as an actual eye - a part of the body which sees. Therefore, we find Ibn Khuzaimah, the Imam of the Imams as acclaimed by their school, establishing a separate chapter in his book of Tawhid, to prove that Allah, the Most High, has eyes. He writes:“We reiterate what Allah Himself has said in His Book and what His venerable Prophet (S) has confirmed regarding Allah having eyes.”Thereafter he proceeds to quote the following verses:
- God said to Prophet Nuh (‘a):
“And construct an Ark under Our eyes ....” (Surah Hud, 11:37).
- Referring to Nuh’s Ark:
“She floats under Our eyes ....” (Surah al-Qamar, 54:14).
- Addressed to Prophet Musa (‘a):
“And I lavished My love upon you and in order that you are reared under My eye.” (Surah Taha, 20: 39).
- Addressed to our Prophet (S):
“And wait in patience for the command of your Lord, for surely you are in Our eyes” (Surah Tur, 52:48).Ibn Khuzaimah says:“In view of these verses from the Qur’an, it is incumbent upon every believer to confirm the belief that Allah has eyes, and so has He established for Himself. And whoever disbelieves what Allah has revealed in His Book, and what He has ascribed unto Himself, indeed is not a Muslim. The meaning of the Qur’an has been amply demonstrated by the Prophet (S) himself, for Allah has commanded him in the Qur’an:‘We have sent down to you the message, that you may explain to men what is sent for them.’ (Surah Al-Nahl, 16:44).“The Prophet (S) in his interpretation has clearly stated that Allah has two eyes! His interpretation is in agreement with the text of the Qur’an, the same Qur’an which is in the shape of a book between two covers, and is being read in the mosques and the schools.”Not satisfied with the argument, he resorts to the traditions, among them the one from Abu Huraira. Finally, he gives the following narration from Abdullah bin ‘Umar:“The Prophet (S) said: Allah is not blind in one eye, like Dajjal who does not have vision in his right eye. It floats like a grape seed.”
2. The “Eye” As Explained By Ahl Ul-Bayt (‘A)
The Imams of Ahl ul-Bayt (‘a) have given the true meaning of the verses. However, we must deal with the subject in some detail on those lines.Ibn Khuzaimah has taken the words Ayn or A’yunina literally, to prove his claim that they denote Allah’s eyes. The fact is that the word Ayn and its derivatives have several meanings in Arabic. For details, one may refer to the famous lexicon, Lisanul Arab. In Mu’jamul Udaba (2/11) we find a eulogy by Ibn Faris Ahmed bin Zakariyya (died 369 Hijra) in which every couplet ends with the word Ayn, each with a different meaning. Syed Muhsin al-Ameen has a similar eulogy of sixty couplets.The Holy Qur’an has used the word in both, actual as well as metaphorical sense. In twenty-one places, the Qur’an uses Ayn to mean a stream of water or a river.But the important thing is that the verses quoted by Ibn Khuzaimah to substantiate his belief have all got the words used in a figurative sense. In English we say: to keep an eye on, meaning to supervise carefully; in the eyes of the law, meaning in the opinion or the judgement of the law; the eye of a dome, meaning its central part and so on. Obviously, such usages are not literal. Similarly, these words have been used to denote their metaphorical meanings.In the famous Majma Al-Lughat al-Arabiyyah published in Egypt, we find:“In the Qur’an the word Ayn has been used in both actual and metaphorical senses. For examples, in the verses:
- “The wife of the Pharaoh said: (He is) a joy of the eye, for me and for you ....” (Surah al-Qasas, 28:9).
- (To Maryam) “So eat and drink, and cool your eyes ....” (Surah Maryam, 19:26).
It is evident that here the phrases used with Aynan and Aynin both convey joy and satisfaction.”History tells us that Allah commanded the mother of Prophet Musa (‘a) to cast him into the river. Musa (‘a) as an infant reached the palace of the Pharaoh on the waves of the river, to be reared up by him as a son. The full text of the verse is:“The wife of the Pharaoh said: ‘(Here is) a joy of the eye, for me and for you; do not kill him, may be he will be of use to us, and we may adopt him as our son ....’” (Surah al-Qasas, 28:9).In the second instance, the verse relates to Maryam, the mother of Prophet Isa (‘a). As she gave birth to Isa (‘a) she was grieved because she knew people would not believe that she was chaste, and that Isa (‘a) was born without a father, by divine command. So Allah said:“Grieve not! For your Lord has provided a stream of water beneath you - and shake toward you the trunk of the palm-tree, it will let the ripe dates fall upon you. So eat and drink and cool your eyes.” (Surah Maryam, 19:26).Now the verse quoted by Ibn Khuzaimah need some analysis also. The first verse, addressed to Prophet Nuh (‘a). The true meaning of it is: “Construct an Ark under our care and protection.”The second verse also means that Nuh’s Ark floats under Allah’s care and protection.In the third verse, Allah reveals to Musa (‘a), the correct understanding of the verse is: “And I lavished My love upon you in order that you are reared under My protection and care ....”Finally, the fourth verse addressed to our Prophet (S) means that: “(O Prophet) - And wait in patience for the command of your Lord, for you are Our beloved and so protected.”Lastly, the tradition reported from Abdullah bin ‘Umar stresses the point that Allah is not blind as Dajjal (anti-Christ). Well, this gives us a hint that he wants us to believe Allah has both His eyes, healthy and unharmed! In the light of our discussion above, we can imagine how credible this report could be! We have already pointed out how unreliable Abu Huraira and his legion were, and how they remained under the influence of the Jewish and Christian propagation. The pure Islamic creed was thus polluted by the corrupt reports based on interpolated Torah and other non-Islamic texts.