Al-A'raaf 7:143

Musa asks to see Allah

Allah said that when Musa came for His appointment and spoke to Him directly, he asked to see Him,

رَبِّ أَرِنِى أَنظُرْ إِلَيْكَ قَالَ لَن تَرَانِى

("O my Lord! Show me (Yourself), that I may look upon You." Allah said: "You cannot see Me,") `You cannot' (Lan) by no means indicates that seeing Allah will never occur, as (the misguided sect of) Al-Mu`tazilah claimed. The Hadiths of Mutawatir grade narrated from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, affirm that the believers will see Allah in the Hereafter. We will mention these Hadiths under the explanation of Allah's statement,

وُجُوهٌ يَوْمَئِذٍ نَّاضِرَةٌ - إِلَى رَبِّهَا نَاظِرَةٌ

(Some faces that Day shall be radiant. Looking at their Lord.) 75:22-23 In earlier Scriptures, it was reported that Allah said to Musa, "O Musa! No living soul sees Me, but will perish, and no solid but will be demolished." Allah said here,

فَلَمَّا تَجَلَّى رَبُّهُ لِلْجَبَلِ جَعَلَهُ دَكًّا وَخَرَّ موسَى صَعِقًا

(So when his Lord appeared to the mountain, He made it collapse to dust, and Musa fell down unconscious.) In his Musnad Imam Ahmad recorded from Anas bin Malik that the Prophet said about Allah's saying;

فَلَمَّا تَجَلَّى رَبُّهُ لِلْجَبَلِ

(And when his Lord appeared to the mountain, )

«هكذا»

(Like this) then he held out the tip of his little finger. At-Tirmidhi recorded this in the chapter of Tafsir for this Ayah, then he said; "This Hadith is Hasan Sahih Gharib." This was also recorded by Al-Hakim in his Mustadrak through the route of Hamad bin Salamah, and he said; "This Hadith is Sahih according to the criteria of Muslim and they did not record it." And As-Suddi reported that `Ikrimah reported from Ibn `Abbas about Allah's saying,

فَلَمَّا تَجَلَّى رَبُّهُ لِلْجَبَلِ

(And when his Lord appeared to the mountain,) Only the extent of the little finger appeared from Him,

جَعَلَهُ دَكًّا

(He made it collapse) as dust;

وَخَرَّ موسَى صَعِقًا

(And Musa fell down unconscious) fainting from it. Ibn Jarir recorded these because of the relation to the word Al-Ghashi.

فَلَمَّآ أَفَاقَ

(Then when he (Musa) recovered his senses) after he lost consciousness,

قَالَ سُبْحَـنَكَ

(he said: "Glory be to You,") thus, praising, glorifying and honoring Allah since no living soul could see Him in this life and remain alive. Musa' statement,

تُبْتُ إِلَيْكَ

("I turn to You in repentance") means, according to Mujahid, that from asking you to look at you,

وَأَنَاْ أَوَّلُ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ

("and I am the first of the believers."), among the Children of Israel, according to Ibn `Abbas, Mujahid, and Ibn Jarir preferred this view. Or, according to another narration from Ibn `Abbas, the meaning of,

وَأَنَاْ أَوَّلُ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ

("and I am the first of the believers."), is that `none shall see You (in this life).' Allah said,

وَخَرَّ موسَى صَعِقًا

(And Musa fell down unconscious.) Abu Sa`id Al-Khudri and Abu Hurayrah narrated a Hadith from the Prophet that is suitable to mention here. As for the Hadith from Abu Sa`id, Al-Bukhari recorded in his Sahih that he said: A Jew came to the Prophet after his face was smacked, and said, "O Muhammad! One of your companions from Al-Ansar smacked me on the face." The Prophet said,

«ادْعُوه»

(Summon him) and he was summoned. The Prophet asked him,

«لِمَ لَطَمْتَ وَجْهَهُ؟»

(Why did you smack his face) He said, "O Allah's Messenger! I passed by that Jew and heard him swearing, `No, by He Who has chosen Musa over mankind!' I said, `Over Muhammad too', and I became angry and struck his face." The Prophet said,

«لَا تُخَيِّرُونِي مِنْ بَيْنِ الْأَنْبِيَاءِ فَإِنَّ النَّاسَ يَصْعَقُونَ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ فَأَكُونُ أَوَّلَ مَنْ يُفِيقُ، فَإِذَا أَنَا بِمُوسَى آخِذٌ بِقَائِمَةٍ مِنْ قَوَائِمِ الْعَرْشِ، فَلَا أَدْرِي أَفَاقَ قَبْلِي أَمْ جُوزِيَ بِصَعْقَةِ الطُّور»

(Do not prefer me above the Prophets. Verily, on the Day of Resurrection, people will be struck unconscious, and I (feel that I) am the first to wake up. Thereupon I will find that Musa is holding onto a pillar of the Throne (`Arsh of Allah). I will not know if he woke up before me or he received his due (because of his) unconsciousness on (Mount) At-Tur.) Al-Bukhari recorded this Hadith in many locations of his Sahih, as did Muslim and Abu Dawud. As for the Hadith from Abu Hurayrah, Imam Ahmad and the Two Shaykhs (Al-Bukhari and Muslim) collected his narration.

The verse 143 carries the phrase لن ترانی “ you shall never see me”. The phrase has an indication that sighting of Allah is not impossible, but that he (Musa علیہ السلام) cannot endure it with his present physical disposition. Had it been impossible, the phrase would have been لن اری : “ I cannot be seen” (Mazhari). This allows that sighting of Allah is a logical possibility even in this world but at the same time this verse has precluded the possibility of its occurrence in this world. This is also the unanimous view of the majority of scholars. The following hadith has been included in Sahih Muslim:

لن یری احد منکم رَبِّہِ حتی یموت

“ None among you can see his Lord unless he dies.”

The second phrase, وَلَـٰكِنِ انظُرْ‌ إِلَى الْجَبَلِ “ But look at the mount” is a physical emonstration of the fact that in his present state the addressee is not capable of enduring the impact of such experience.

Thereafter, Allah actually demonstrated this fact by a flash of His appearance on the Mount of Sinai which could not stand it and was smashed into pieces.

The next phrase is فَلَمَّا تَجَلَّىٰ رَ‌بُّهُ لِلْجَبَلِ "So when his Lord appeared to the Mount." The Arabic word, تَجَلَّىٰ "Tajalli" signifies exposure or disclosure. According to the Spiritual masters (Sufis) the word signifies seeing something indirectly through some other means, like seeing certain thing reflected in the mirror. The word, therefore, cannot signify 'seeing'. It is also inferred by this very verse because this verse has negated the possibility of seeing while it has mentioned the occurrence of تَجَلَّىٰ 'Tajalli' or appearance on the mount of Sinai.

Imam Ahmad, Tirmidhi and Hakim have reported on the authority of the Companion Anas ؓ that the Holy Prophet ﷺ recited this verse and placing his thumb on the tip of his little finger said that only this much of Allah's light was exposed to the mount of Sinai which made it burst into pieces. This does not necessarily mean that the whole of the mount was not shattered, but the part of the mountain directly exposed to light might have been affected.