Can We See God? |
  Description: The question of whether God may be seen in this life by Prophets, saints, and the average laymen, and whether He may be seen in the Hereafter. By IslamReligion.comPublished on 01 May 2006 - Last modified on 15 Oct 2006 Viewed: 25999 (daily average: 12) - Rating: - Rated by: 34 Printed: 817 - Emailed: 62 - Commented on: 2 Category: Articles > Beliefs of Islam > About God |
 The human
mind is a true marvel, but in certain areas it is limited. God is different
from anything the human mind can think of or imagine, so the mind will become
confused if it tries to picture God. Nevertheless, it is possible to understand
the attributes of God that do not require one to make any mental pictures of
Him. For example, one of God’s names is al-Ghaffar, which means He
forgives all sins. Everyone can understand this easily because that is how the
human mind can think of God. Jewish and Christian teachings on God are confused
partly because of incorrect understanding of this issue. The Jewish Torah
teaches God is like man,
“Then God said, ‘Let us make
man in our image, after our likeness…so God made man in His own image.’”
(Genesis 1:26-27)
Moreover, certain churches
contain statues or images of an old white bearded man depicting God. Some of
these were produced by the likes of Michelangelo who depicted the Face and Hand
of a god – a tough looking old man - in paintings.
Rendering images of God in Islam
is an impossibility, and amounts to disbelief, as God tells us in the Quran that
nothing resembles Him:
“There is nothing like Him, but He is
All-Hearing, All-Seeing.” (Quran 42:11)
“There is nothing comparable to Him.”
(Quran 112:4)
The Request of Moses to See God
Eyes can not bear the vision of
God. He tells us in the Quran:
“Vision cannot grasp Him, but His Grasp
is over all vision.” (Quran 6:103)
Moses, to whom God spoke and gave
great miracles, was chosen by God to be His Prophet. It is said that he thought
that, since God used to speak to him, he might be able to actually see God. The
story is in the Quran, where God tells us what happened:
“And when Moses arrived at Our
appointed time and his Lord spoke to him, he said, ‘My Lord, show me (Yourself)
that I may look at You.’ (God) said, ‘You will not see Me, but look at the
mountain; if it should remain in place, then you will see Me.’ But when his
Lord appeared to the mountain, He rendered it level, and Moses fell
unconscious. And when he awoke, he said, ‘Exalted are You! I have repented to
You, and I am the first of the believers.’” (Quran 7:143)
God made it clear that no-one,
including the great prophet Moses, can bear the sight of the divine, for God is
too great to be grasped by human eyes in this life. According to the Quran,
Moses realized his request was in error; therefore, he sought forgiveness from
God for having asked.
Did Prophet Muhammad See God In This Life?
Prophet Muhammad traveled in a
miraculous journey through the heavens and met God. People thought that since
Prophet Muhammad spoke to God in that journey, he probably saw God too. One of
the companions, Abu Dahrr, asked him about it. The Prophet replied:
“There was only light, how
could I see Him?” (Saheeh Muslim)
What was the light he saw? The
Prophet explained:
“Surely, God does not sleep
nor is it befitting for Him to sleep. He is the one who lowers the scales and
raises them. The deeds of the night go up to Him before the deeds of the day
and those of the day before those of the night, and His veil is light.”
(Saheeh Muslim)
Visions of God in Spiritual Experiences
Some people, including some who
claim to be Muslims, report spiritual experiences where they claim to have seen
God. Common reported experiences also include seeing light, or a magnificent
being seated on a throne. In the case of Muslims, such an experience is usually
accompanied by dropping basic Islamic practices like salah and fasting,
under the mistaken opinion that such practices are only for common people who
had not had their type of experience.
So what does Islam teach about
this? Islam teaches us that it is Satan who pretends to be God to deceive
ignorant people who believe in such experiences and go astray. One of the
fundamental foundations of Islam is that the law revealed to Prophet Muhammad
cannot be changed or canceled. God neither makes lawful for some what He has
made unlawful for others, nor does He communicate His Law through such
experiences to people. Rather, divine law is revealed through the proper
channel of revelation to the prophets, a channel that was closed after the
advent of the prophet Muhammad, the last of God’s prophets.
Seeing God in Afterlife
In Islamic doctrine, God cannot
be seen in this life, but the believers will see God in the next life; even
then, God will not be grasped in totality. This is stated clearly in the Quran
and the Sunnah. The Prophet said,
“The Day Of Resurrection is the first day any eye will
look at God, the Mighty and Exalted.”[1]
Describing the events of
Resurrection Day, God states in the Quran:
“On that day some faces will be bright,
looking at their Lord.” (Quran 75:22-23)
The Prophet was asked if we will
see God on the Day of resurrection. He replied, “Are you harmed by looking
at the moon when it is full?”[2] ‘No,’ they replied. Then he
said, “Surely, you will see Him likewise.” In another hadith the Prophet
said, “Surely, each of you will see God on the day when you shall meet Him,
and there will be no veil or translator between Him and you.”[3] Seeing God will be a favor that
is additional to Paradise on the people who will dwell therein. As a matter of
fact, the joy of seeing God for a believer will be greater than the all the joys
of Paradise combined together. The unbelievers, on the other hand, will be
deprived of seeing God, and this will be greater punishment for them than all
the pain and suffering of Hell combined together.
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