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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1 Darqutni, Darimi
2 Saheeh Al-Bukhari, Saheeh Muslim
3 Saheeh Al-Bukhari
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