On That the Prophet Saw His Creator before the Last Day
The Prophet saw His Lord, the Sovereign, and the Omniscient, who remained hidden from the eyes of His creatures. He saw Him in the worldly life, before the Last Day will be set. We will also discuss that the Almighty specifically blessed Muhammad with an opportunity to see Him, the way He blessed Abraham from among all the Messengers by specifically choosing him for His friendship, and the way He chose each of the Messengers for special blessings corresponding to their ranks, bestowing them with His blessings. Allah has said in the Holy Qurᵓān:
Those apostles We endowed with gifts, some above others: To one of them Allah spoke; others He raised to degrees (of honour) (Q 02:253).
1. Muhammad b. Bashshār (Bundār) and Abū Mūsā Muhammad b. Muthannā, imāms of the rightly guided scholars → Muᶜādh b. Hishām → his father → Qatādah → ᶜIkramah → Ibn ᶜAbbās:
Do you find it strange that friendship [of Allah] is exclusive to Abraham, [His] direct speech to Moses, and the opportunity to see [Him] to Muhammad?
2. Muhammad b. Yaḥyā → Yazīd b. Abī Ḥakīm al-ᶜAdanī → al-Ḥakam b. Abān → ᶜIkramah:
Ibn ᶜAbbās was asked, “Did Muhammad see his Lord?” He said, “Yes.” [ᶜIkramah] said that he asked Ibn ᶜAbbās, “Does not Allāh say that no vision can grasp Him, but His grasp is over all vision (Q 06:103)?” He replied, “No, that is because of His light. When He reveals His light, nothing can see Him.”
Muhammad b. Yaḥyā said, “I was hesitant to accept this ḥadīth from Ibrāhīm b. Ḥakam. Allah Almighty abated my doubt. This man is more reliable than ‘him’.” He means to say that Yazīd b. Abī Ḥakīm is more reliable than Ibrāhīm b. al-Ḥakam.
Muhammad b. Yaḥyā said that his son (i.e. Ibrāhīm b. al-Ḥakam) said to him, “Come. I shall narrate the Prophetic ḥadīths to you.” But I did not go with him for the purpose.
3. ᶜAbd al-Raḥmān b. Bishr b. al-Ḥakam → Mūsā b. ᶜAbd al-ᶜAzīz al-Qanbarī → ᶜAbd al-Raḥmān Mūsā → al-Ḥakam b. Abān → ᶜIkramah:
Ibn ᶜAbbās was asked, “Did Muhammad see his Lord?” He said, “Yes.” I (ᶜIkramah) said to Ibn ᶜAbbās, “Does not Allāh say, ‘No vision can grasp Him, but His grasp is over all vision’ (Q 06:103)?” He said, “No.” He told me that this is His light in which He appears. When He appears in this light, nothing can view Him.
4. Muhammad b. ᶜĪsā → Salamah b. al-Faḍl → Muhammad b. Isḥāq → ᶜAbd al-Raḥmān b. al-Ḥarath b. ᶜAbd Allāh b. ᶜAyyāsh b. Abī Rabīᶜah → ᶜAbd Allāh b. Abī Salamah:
ᶜAbd Allāh b. ᶜUmar b. al-Khaṭṭāb sent a message to ᶜAbd Allāh b. ᶜAbbās asking him, “Did Muhammad see his Lord?” Abdullāh b. ᶜAbbās sent the reply in affirmation. ᶜAbd Allāh b. ᶜUmar sent his messenger again, asking the modality of the Prophet’s seeing Allah. ᶜAbd Allāh b. ᶜAbbās replied, “He saw Him in the lush green garden beneath which there was a golden floor. He was sitting in a golden chair carried by four angels. One of the angels was in human form. Another was in the form of an ox. The third one was in the form of an eagle. The last one was in the form of a lion.”
5. ᶜAbd al-Wahhāb b. ᶜAbd al-Ḥakīm al-Warrāq al-Shaykh al-Ṣāliḥ → Hāshim b. al-Qāsim → Qays b. Al-Rabīᶜ → ᶜĀṣim al-Aḥwal → ᶜIkramah → Ibn ᶜAbbās:
Allāh chose Abraham for His friendship, Moses for His speech and Muhammad for seeing Him.
6. Abū Bakr Muhammad b. Sulaymān al-Wāsiṭī (from al-Fusṭāṭ) → Muhammad b. al-Ṣabāḥ → Ismaᶜīl (Ibn Zakariyyā) → ᶜĀṣim → ᶜIkramah → Ibn ᶜAbbās:
Allāh chose Abraham for His friendship, Moses for His speech and Muhammad for seeing Him.
7. Muhammad b. Yaḥyā → Muhammad b. al-Ṣabāḥ → Ismaᶜīl (Ibn Zakariyyā) → ᶜĀṣim → al-Shaᶜbī → ᶜIkramah → Ibn ᶜAbbās:
Muhammad saw his Lord.
8. al-Ḥasan b. Muhammad al-Zaᶜfarānī → Muhammad b. al-Ṣabāḥ → Ismaᶜīl (Ibn Zakariyyā) → ᶜĀṣim → al-Shaᶜbī → ᶜIkramah → Ibn ᶜAbbās:
Muhammad saw his Lord.
9. Ibrāhīm b. ᶜAbd al-ᶜAzīz al-Muqawwim → Abū Baḥr (ᶜAbd al-Raḥmān b. ᶜUthmān al-Bakrāwī) → Shaᶜbah → Qatādah → Anas b. Mālik:
Muhammad saw his Lord.
10. My Uncle Ismaᶜīl b. Khuzaymah → ᶜAbd al-Razzāq → al-Muᶜtamar b. Sulaymān → al-Mubārak b. Faḍālah:
Al-Ḥasan used to swear by Allah and assert that Muhammad saw his Lord.
Abū Bakr said: The statements of Ibn ᶜAbbās regarding his understanding of the verse, “For indeed he saw him at a second descent (Q 53:13),” mutually contradict. Some have reported him to have held that the Prophet saw Allah with the eyes of his heart.
11. Al-Qāsim b. Muhammad b. ᶜAbbād al-Muhallabī → ᶜAbd Allāh b. Dāwūd al-Khuraybī → al-Aᶜmash → Ziyād b. Ḥuṣayn → Abū al-ᶜĀliyyah:
Ibn ᶜAbbās glossed the verse, “For indeed he saw him at a second descent” (Q 53:13), as seeing with the eyes of the heart.
12. My uncle Ismaᶜīl → ᶜAbd al-Razzāq → Isrāᵓīl → Sammāk → ᶜIkramah:
While commenting on the Divine statement, “(The Prophet’s) heart in no way falsified that which he saw” (Q 53:11), Ibn ᶜAbbās said, “He saw Him with his heart.”
13. Aḥmad b. Sinān al-Wāsiṭī → Yazīd b. Hārūn → Muhammad b. ᶜAmr → Abū Salamah → Ibn ᶜAbbās:
Muhammad saw his Lord.
14. Abū Mūsā and Bundār → Muᶜādh b. Hishām → his father → Qatādah → ᶜIkramah:
Ibn ᶜAbbās commented on the verse, “So did He convey the inspiration to His Servant—conveyed what He meant to convey” (Q 53:10). He said, “The words ‘His servant’ in this verse refer to Muhammad.”
Qatādah said that al-Ḥasan said, “His servant is Gabriel.”
Bundār said that al-Ḥasan said that “His servant” is Gabriel. Bundār explained that both of these authorities have not specified that they meant to comment on the verse under discussion.
15. Muhammad b. Yaḥyā → Qabīṣah b. ᶜUqbah → Sufyān Ibn Jurayj → ᶜAṭāᵓ → Ibn ᶜAbbās:
He (the Prophet) saw Him twice.
Abū Bakr said: One of our friends has adduced this report to establish that Ibn ᶜAbbās and Abū Dharr would reinterpret (taᵓwīl) this verse. He has held that they took it to mean that the Prophet saw his Sustainer with his heart and not with his eyes. They based this view on the fact that the verse (Q 53:13) follows the divine saying: “So did he convey the inspiration to His servant—conveyed what he meant to convey. Prophet's heart in no way falsified that which he saw” (Q 53:10-1). He interpreted the verses, “Then he approached and came closer” (Q 53:08) […] “So did he convey the inspiration to His Servant—conveyed what he meant to convey” (Q 53:10), as follows:
The Prophet approached his Lord. He came very near to Him. He was as near to Him as at the distance of two bows or even closer. Allāh Almighty revealed to the Prophet whatever He wanted to. The heart of the Prophet did not deny what it saw. They declare that what his heart did not falsify was the act of seeing his Lord.
Abū Bakr said: Ibn Abbās’s interpretation is not like the one offered above by our friend. The above-mentioned interpretation needs correction. For we know that in these verses Allah let us know that the Messenger saw signs of Allah. Allah has not told us that he saw the Almighty Allāh. Signs of Allah are not Allah Himself. So understand the verses properly and do not fall into error regarding the meaning of this verse.
Some other people have adduced the following narratives in support of their view that the Prophet saw Allah Almighty.
16. ᶜAbd al-Jabbār b. al-ᶜUlāᵓ → Sufyān → ᶜAmr b. Dīnār → ᶜIkramah → Ibn ᶜAbbās:
The Divine saying, “We made the vision which We showed you, but a trial for men,” refers to the incident when the Messenger saw Allah during the night of his ascension to the heavens.
17. ᶜAbd al-Jabbār and Saᶜīd b. ᶜAbd al-Raḥmān al-Makhzūmī narrated to us, through the same isnād, that Ibn ᶜAbbās commented on the verse, “We made the vision which We showed you, but a trial for men” (Q 17:60). He said, “This means the literal vision through the naked eye, which the Prophet experienced on the night of Ascension.” He also said, “The accursed tree mentioned in the Qurᵓān is the tree we call al-zaqqūm.”
18. ᶜUmar b. Ḥafṣ al-Shaybānī narrated from Sufyān a tradition similar to the second narrative transmitted by ᶜAbd al-Jabbār. Sufyān, however, added that the vision was not a dream.
19. Muhammad b. Yaḥyā → ᶜAbd al-Razzāq → Ibn ᶜUyaynah through the same isnād:
[After narrating the whole ḥadīth] to the saying on the night of Ascension, he said:
The report does not clearly say that Ibn ᶜAbbās meant to say that the Prophet literally saw his Lord with his eyes.
I do not consider it allowable to adduce distortions in support of our view. Nor do I consider it appropriate to distort the statements and quotes ascribed to the scholars. As far as the narrative of Qatādah and al-Ḥakam b. Abān from ᶜIkramah from Ibn ᶜAbbās and also the narrative ascribed by ᶜAbd Allāh b. Abī Salamah to Ibn ᶜAbbās are concerned, they clearly tell us that Ibn ᶜAbbās affirmed that the Prophet saw his Lord.
20. Hārūn b. Isḥāq al-Hamadānī → ᶜAbdah (Ibn Sulaymān) → Muhammad b. ᶜAmr → Abū Salamah:
Ibn ᶜAbbās commented on the verse, “For indeed he saw him at a second descent” (Q 53:13), and said that he (the Messenger) saw his Lord.
21. Hārūn b. Isḥāq → ᶜAbdah b. Ismaᶜīl b. Abī Khālid → al-Shaᶜbī → ᶜAbd Allāh b. al-Ḥārith b. Nawfil → Kaᶜb:
Allāh has divided [the blessings] of seeing Him and speaking to Him between Moses and Muhammad. So, Muhammad saw Him twice and He spoke to Moses twice.
Abū Bakr said: The arguments that strengthen my claim that the signs of our Lord cannot be validly interpreted to mean the Lord Himself follow.
The above passage is translated from Kitāb al-Tawḥīd by Imām Abū Bakr Ibn Khuzaymah (d. 311 AH). English translation by Dr Tariq Mahmood Hashmi.
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