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Chapter 8: Allah Behind The Veil!

Darami in his refutation of the Jahmiyyah, has a chapter called Al-Ihtijab, and he quotes the following three traditions attributed to the Prophet (S).

  1. Jabir Ansari says

“The Prophet (S) said that Allah never spoke to anyone except from behind the veil.”Obviously, this tradition refers to the following verse:“And it is not for man that Allah should speak to him except by inspiration or ‘from behind a veil’ ....” (Surah Ash-Shura, 42:51).They have accepted the literal meaning of the veil - a piece of cloth, a curtain hiding away Allah from the people; and have proceeded to concoct many fascinating pieces of nonsense. Here is another tradition:

  1. Abu Musa Ashari reports from the Prophet (S)

“The veil of Allah is ‘Fire!’”

  1. Zurarah bin Awfa reports

“The Prophet (S) asked Jibra’il if he had seen his Lord. Jibra’il replied: ‘O Muhammad! Between Him and myself are seventy veils of light; and if I try to draw close to the first one, I will burn’.”Besides these three traditions, there is an additional one from Abdullah bin ‘Umar, who said:“Allah is hidden away from His slaves by the veils of Fire, Darkness and Light.”At the end Darami concludes that:“The tradition of Jibra’il clearly indicates that Allah is behind the veil, and is thus seperated from His creation. So, if it were true that He was Omnipresent, everywhere, then the existence of the veil would be meaningless!”The scholars from the School of the Caliphs have relied upon the literal meaning of the word Hijab, which appears in some verses of the Qur’an.For example, in the verse quoted above (42:51), the phrase “from behind a veil” is a metaphor implying that Allah speaks unto man in a manner that the voice is heard without the speaker being seen. There is no material veil there to separate Allah from the Prophets, for in that case, Allah will be confined to a location - an idea totally foreign to the pristine concept of God in Islam.Another verse is:“Nay on that Day, they will be veiled from their Lord.” (Surah Al-Mutaffifeen, 42:15).Imam Fakhruddin Razi in his Tafsir, says:“It is important that we interpret this verse to mean that the disbelievers will be prevented from seeing Allah, by the veil.”1And then he seeks substantiation from Maqatil who said:“The veil explains that after the Resurrection and the Reckoning, the disbelievers will not see Allah. Of course, the believers will see Him.”The Imam of Maliki school, Malik bin Anas says:“Since Allah will be behind a veil, concealed from His enemies, He will manifest His glory unto His friends so that they see Him.”And Muhammad bin Idrees, famously called Imam Shafee, explains the verse:“Since Allah will conceal Himself from His enemies to manifest His anger, it is evident that He will reveal His Person to those who are His friends as a mark of His Pleasure.”Ibn Kathir, in his Tafsir, has adopted the interpretation by Imam Shafee! Let us now turn to what Ahl ul-Bayt (‘a) have explained.

Is There A Veil?

  1. Shaikh Sadooq in his Tawhid relates an interesting anecdote from Haarith Al-Aawar. He says once when Ali bin Abi Talib (‘a) entered the market place, he heard a man who was standing with his back towards him, say the following words:

“By Him Who is behind the veil beyond the seven skies!”Ali bin Abi Talib (‘a) hit him on the back and asked:“And who is veiled beyond the seven skies?”The man said:“O Amir Al-Mu’minin, I meant ‘Allah’ was behind the veil.”Ali (‘a) said:“That indeed is a grave error. There is no veil or curtain separating Allah from His creatures. He is everywhere!”The man asked Ali bin Abi Talib (‘a) if there was any act of repentance necessary to expiate the sin he had committed.Ali (‘a) said:“The expiation is to understand clearly and unequivocally that He is with you wherever you are!”The man asked again:“Do I have to feed the poor for expiation?”Ali (‘a) said:“That is also not applicable here, because you have sworn by the name of one who is not your Lord.”

Observations

  1. In the above anecdote, we find a man has taken an oath which is heretic. Imam Ali (‘a) guides him to compensate the lapse by understanding Tawhid in its true form. He impresses him with the fact that there are no veils, no concealments - and Allah is Omnipresent.
  2. When the same man asks if he has to expiate for the oath he has taken, Imam Ali (‘a) reiterates by telling him that the subject of his oath was not Allah - and therefore the oath had no validity whatsoever.
  1. Shaikh Sadooq in his Tawhid reports that Imam Ridha (‘a) was asked to explain the following verse:

“Nay on that Day, they will be veiled from their Lord.” (Surah Al-Mutaffifeen, 42:15).He said:“No particular place can be exclusively attributed to Allah in a sense that He occupies it, and from there assumes a veil to separate Himself from His creatures. The true meaning of the verse is that: ‘.... they will be deprived of the blessings of their Lord’.”Then he was asked about the following verse:“Are they waiting until Allah comes to them in canopies of clouds with the angels ....” (Surah Al-Baqarah, 2:210).Imam (‘a) said:“This does not have to be construed literally. The thing which will come out of the dark clouds will be His Order, His Penalty. It is a metaphor in which the opposite noun has been omitted in the genitive construction.”One tends to imagine that the scholars from the opposite school, after having alienated themselves from the Ahl ul-Bayt (‘a), have fallen a willing prey to the Jewish and the Christian interpolations, with a total disregard to what the Holy Qur’an itself teaches. In the chapter al-Nisa’, Allah says:“They hide from men, but they cannot hide from Allah, Who is in their midst when they plot by night, by words which He does not approve. And Allah compasses round all that they do.”(Surah al-Nisa, 4:108).There is another verse in the chapter of Al-Mujadilah, which says:“Do you not see that Allah knows all that is in the heavens and on the earth? There is not a secret consultation between three, but He is the fourth among them, not between five but He makes the sixth. Nor between the fewer or more but He is in their midst, wherever they may be! Then He will tell them the truth of their conduct on the Day of Judgement. Surely Allah has full knowledge of all things.” (Surah Al-Mujadilah, 58:7).So where is the veil? Where is the idea of separation from the creatures? It was this notion which in the end led them to believe that Allah will be seen physically, by the believers, on the Day of Judgement!

  • 1. Fakhruddin Razi, Tafsir 31/96 Egyptian publication.