Tafseer of The Cattle · Al-An'aam · 6:103
Vision perceives Him not, but He perceives [all] vision; and He is the Subtle, the Acquainted.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: لا تُدْرِكُهُ الأَبْصَارُ وَهُوَ يُدْرِكُ الأَبْصَارَ وَهُوَ اللَّطِيفُ الْخَبِيرُ (103) (The visions do not attain Him, while He attains the visions; and He is the Subtle, the All-Aware.) (6:103)
Abū Jaʿfar said: The exegetes differed concerning the explanation of His words: "The visions do not attain Him, while He attains the visions."
Some of them said: the meaning is that the visions cannot encompass Him, while He encompasses them.
* Mention of who said that:
13694 — Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, he said: my father related to me, he said: my uncle related to me, he said: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His words: "The visions do not attain Him, while He attains the visions", he says: no vision can encompass the King (al-Malik).
13695 — Bishr related to us, he said: Yazīd related to us, he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His words: "The visions do not attain Him, while He attains the visions", and He is too tremendous for the visions to be able to attain Him.
13696 — Saʿd ibn ʿAbdallāh ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥakam related to me, he said: Khālid ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, he said: Abū ʿArfaja related to us, on the authority of ʿAṭiyya al-ʿAwfī, concerning His words: وُجُوهٌ يَوْمَئِذٍ نَاضِرَةٌ * إِلَى رَبِّهَا نَاظِرَةٌ [Sūrat al-Qiyāma: 22-23] (Faces, that Day, will be radiant, looking at their Lord), he said: they look at Allah, their visions cannot encompass Him because of His tremendousness, while His vision encompasses them. That is His word: "The visions do not attain Him", the āyah.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: The proponents of this saying argued for their position by saying: Allah said: حَتَّى إِذَا أَدْرَكَهُ الْغَرَقُ قَالَ آمَنْتُ [Yūnus: 90] (Until, when the drowning attained him, he said: I believe). They said: Allah, exalted is His mention, described the drowning as that which attained Pharaoh, and there is no doubt that drowning is not described as something that sees, nor is it something of which it may be said that it sees anything. They said: so for the meaning of His word "The visions do not attain Him" to be "the visions do not see Him" is far-fetched, for one thing can attain another thing without seeing it, just as the Exalted, praised be His laud, reported concerning the saying of the companions of Mūsā (peace be upon him) to Mūsā when the followers of Pharaoh drew near to them: فَلَمَّا تَرَاءَى الْجَمْعَانِ قَالَ أَصْحَابُ مُوسَى إِنَّا لَمُدْرَكُونَ [Sūrat al-Shuʿarāʾ: 61] (And when the two hosts saw one another, the companions of Mūsā said: we are surely to be overtaken), for Allah had promised His prophet Mūsā (peace be upon him) that they would not be overtaken, as shown by His word: وَلَقَدْ أَوْحَيْنَا إِلَى مُوسَى أَنْ أَسْرِ بِعِبَادِي فَاضْرِبْ لَهُمْ طَرِيقًا فِي الْبَحْرِ يَبَسًا لا تَخَافُ دَرَكًا وَلا تَخْشَى [Ṭā Hā: 77] (And We revealed to Mūsā: travel by night with My servants and strike for them a dry path through the sea, fearing no overtaking and not being afraid).
They said: if a thing can see another thing without attaining it, and can attain it without seeing it, then it is thereby known that His word "The visions do not attain Him" is far removed from the meaning "the visions do not see Him", and that its meaning is: the visions cannot encompass Him, for encompassing Him is not possible.
They said: the believers and the inhabitants of Paradise will see their Lord with their visions, but their visions do not attain Him, in the sense that they do not encompass Him, since it is not possible that Allah be described as something that is encompassed by something.
They said: and comparable to the possibility of describing Him as being seen without being attained, is the possibility of describing Him as being known without His knowledge being encompassed, as the Exalted, praised be His laud, said: وَلا يُحِيطُونَ بِشَيْءٍ مِنْ عِلْمِهِ إِلا بِمَا شَاءَ [Sūrat al-Baqara: 255] (And they do not encompass anything of His knowledge except what He wills). They said: the Exalted, praised be His laud, thus denied of His creatures that they would encompass anything of His knowledge, except what He wills. They said: the meaning of "knowledge" (al-ʿilm) in this place is "the known" (al-maʿlūm). They said: in His denial of His creatures that they encompass anything of His knowledge except what He wills, there is no denial that they know it. They said: since in the denial of encompassing a thing in terms of knowledge there is no denial of knowing it, likewise in the denial of the vision attaining Allah there is no denial of seeing Him. They said: and just as it is possible that the creatures know certain matters without encompassing them in terms of knowledge, likewise it is possible that they see their Lord with their visions without attaining Him with their visions, since the meaning of "seeing" (al-ruʾya) differs from the meaning of "attaining" (al-idrāk), and the meaning of "attaining" differs from the meaning of "seeing", and that the meaning of "attaining" is nothing other than encompassing, as Ibn ʿAbbās said in the report we mentioned earlier.
They said: if someone were to say to us: and why do you reject that the meaning of His word "The visions do not attain Him" would be "the visions do not see Him"?
Then we say to him: we reject that, because Allah, praised be His laud, has reported in His Book that some faces on the Day of Resurrection look at Him, and that the Messenger of Allah (Allah's blessing and peace be upon him) reported to his community that they will see their Lord on the Day of Resurrection, as one sees the moon on the night of the full moon, and as you see the sun when there is no cloud before it. They said: since Allah has reported in His Book what He has reported, and the reports of the Messenger of Allah (Allah's blessing and peace be upon him) confirmed what we have mentioned from him of his saying (Allah's blessing and peace be upon him) — namely that the explanation of His word وُجُوهٌ يَوْمَئِذٍ نَاضِرَةٌ * إِلَى رَبِّهَا نَاظِرَةٌ [Sūrat al-Qiyāma: 22-23] is that it concerns the looking of the visions of the eyes at Allah, majestic is His majesty — and since the Book of Allah confirms one part by another part, and moreover it is not possible that one of these two reports abrogates (nāsikh) the other, since abrogation is not possible with reports — for the reasons we have set out in our book "Kitāb laṭīf al-bayān ʿan uṣūl al-aḥkām" and elsewhere — therefore it is known that the meaning of His word "The visions do not attain Him" differs from the meaning of His word وُجُوهٌ يَوْمَئِذٍ نَاضِرَةٌ * إِلَى رَبِّهَا نَاظِرَةٌ , for the inhabitants of Paradise on the Day of Resurrection look with their visions at Allah, but do not attain Him thereby, in confirmation of Allah in both reports, and in submission to what His revelation has brought according to what has come concerning that in the two sūras.
* * *
Others said: the meaning of that is: the visions do not see Him, while He does see the visions.
* Mention of who said that:
13697 — Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to us, he said: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, he said: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: "The visions do not attain Him", nothing sees Him, while He does see the creatures.
13698 — Hannād related to us, he said: Wakīʿ related to us, on the authority of Ismāʿīl ibn Abī Khālid, on the authority of ʿĀmir, on the authority of Masrūq, on the authority of ʿĀʾisha, she said: whoever tells you that the Messenger of Allah (Allah's blessing and peace be upon him) saw his Lord has lied! "The visions do not attain Him, while He attains the visions", وَمَا كَانَ لِبَشَرٍ أَنْ يُكَلِّمَهُ اللَّهُ إِلا وَحْيًا أَوْ مِنْ وَرَاءِ حِجَابٍ [Sūrat al-Shūrā: 51] (And it is not granted to any human being that Allah should speak to him except by revelation or from behind a veil). But he did see Jibrīl twice in his form.
13699 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, he said: my father related to us, on the authority of Ismāʿīl ibn Abī Khālid, on the authority of ʿĀmir, on the authority of Masrūq, he said: I said to ʿĀʾisha: O Mother of the Believers, did Muḥammad see his Lord? She said: Subḥān Allāh (glory be to Allah), my hair stood on end at what you said! Then she recited: "The visions do not attain Him, while He attains the visions, and He is the Subtle, the All-Aware."
13700 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Aʿlā and Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Dāwūd, on the authority of al-Shaʿbī, on the authority of Masrūq, on the authority of ʿĀʾisha, in a similar manner.
13701 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Mughīra, on the authority of al-Shaʿbī, he said: ʿĀʾisha said: whoever says that anyone has seen his Lord has invented a tremendous lie against Allah! Allah has said: "The visions do not attain Him, while He attains the visions."
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The proponents of this saying said: the meaning of "attaining" (al-idrāk) in this place is seeing — and they denied that Allah is seen with the visions, in this life and in the Hereafter — and they explained His word وُجُوهٌ يَوْمَئِذٍ نَاضِرَةٌ * إِلَى رَبِّهَا نَاظِرَةٌ in the sense of awaiting Allah's mercy and His reward.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: Some of them explained the reports transmitted from the Messenger of Allah (Allah's blessing and peace be upon him) in confirmation of the saying concerning the inhabitants of Paradise seeing their Lord on the Day of Resurrection in various ways, and some of them denied its transmission, and rejected that this would be a saying of the Messenger of Allah (Allah's blessing and peace be upon him), and reduced the matter to their own reason. They claimed that their reason held the possibility of seeing Allah, mighty and exalted is He, with the visions to be impossible, and they came in that with all sorts of sophistries, and expanded their argumentation about that along the path of speculative deductions.
And one of the most exalted arguments by which they claimed that they knew the correctness of their saying, was that they saw their visions perceiving nothing except that which was separated from them, not that which was attached to it, for they do not see what borders it. They said: what is separated from the visions, of that which they have perceived, between it and the visions there is space and a gap. They said: if the visions were to see their Lord on the Day of Resurrection in the manner in which they today see persons, then the Maker would necessarily be bounded. They said: and whoever describes Him thus has described Him with the attributes of bodies, upon which increase and decrease are possible.
They said: and another argument: it is proper to the visions to perceive colors, just as it is proper to hearing to perceive sounds, and proper to smell to perceive odors. They said: from the same ground from which it is invalid that anything be assigned to hearing other than the perception of sounds, and to smell other than the perception of odors, it is invalid that anything be assigned to vision other than the perception of colors. They said: and since it is not possible that Allah, exalted is His mention, be described as something that has a color, it is correct that it is not possible that He be described as being seen.
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Others said: the meaning of that is: the visions of the creatures do not attain Him in this life, but in the Hereafter they do attain Him. And the proponents of this saying said: "attaining" (al-idrāk) in this place is seeing.
The proponents of this saying argued for their position by saying: "attaining", even though in some cases it may have a meaning other than seeing, yet seeing belongs to one of its meanings. That is because it is not possible that his vision attains a thing and sees it, while he has not attained that which he has seen and perceived, even though he has not encompassed all its parts through his eyesight. They said: the seeing of what the seer has perceived is an attaining of it, in contrast to what he has not seen. They said: and Allah has reported that some faces on the Day of Resurrection look at Him. They said: it is impossible that they look at Him while they do not attain Him through seeing. They said: if that is so, and it is not possible that there be in the reports of Allah contradiction and conflict, then it is necessary and correct that His word "The visions do not attain Him" be specific (ʿalā al-khuṣūṣ), not general (ʿalā al-ʿumūm), and that its meaning be: the visions do not attain Him in this life, while He attains the visions in this life and in the Hereafter, since Allah has excepted that which He has excepted of it with His word وُجُوهٌ يَوْمَئِذٍ نَاضِرَةٌ * إِلَى رَبِّهَا نَاظِرَةٌ .
* * *
Yet others among the proponents of this saying said: the āyah is specific, but it is possible that the meaning of the āyah is: the visions of the wrongdoers do not attain Him, neither in this life nor in the Hereafter, while the visions of the believers and the friends of Allah do attain Him. They said: and it is possible that its meaning is: the visions do not attain Him through bounding and encompassing, but through seeing — yes indeed. They said: and it is possible that its meaning is: the visions do not attain Him in this life, while they do attain Him in the Hereafter. And it is possible that its meaning is: the visions of whoever sees Him do not attain Him in the sense in which the Eternal (al-Qadīm) attains the visions of His creatures — so that what He denies of His creatures, namely that their visions attain Him, is what He affirms for Himself, since their visions are weak and only penetrate to that which the Exalted, praised be His laud, has made them strong enough to penetrate, while they are all manifest to His vision, without anything of them being hidden from Him. They said: there is no doubt about the specificity of His word "The visions do not attain Him", and that the friends of Allah will see Him on the Day of Resurrection with their visions, but we do not know which of these four meanings of specificity is intended by the āyah. And in confirmation of the saying that Allah is seen in the Hereafter, they adduced arguments similar to those of those whom we mentioned earlier.
* * *
Others said: the āyah is general, and no one's vision will attain Allah, neither in this life nor in the Hereafter; but Allah will create for His friends on the Day of Resurrection a sixth sense, in addition to their five senses, by which they see Him.
They argued for this saying that Allah, exalted is His mention, denied of the visions that they attain Him, without indicating in it, or in another āyah, its specificity. They said: and likewise He reported in another āyah that some faces on the Day of Resurrection look at Him. They said: the reports of Allah are not in conflict with one another and do not contradict one another, and both reports are correct in meaning according to what the revelation has brought. And they also argued from reason, saying: if it were possible that we see Him in the Hereafter with these visions of ours, even though their strength is increased, then it would be necessary that we see Him in this life, even though they are weak, for every sense that is created to perceive a certain meaning, that perceives — even if it is extremely weak — yet despite its weakness that for which it is created to perceive, even if its perception of it is weak, as long as it is not destroyed. They said: if it belonged to the essence of the vision that it attains and sees its Maker in any state or at any moment, then it would be necessary that it attain Him in this life and see Him therein, even if its perception of Him is weak. They said: since that is not present in our visions in this life, it is not possible that they be in the Hereafter other than in their condition in this life, namely that they perceive only that which it belongs to their essence in this life to perceive. They said: since that is so, and Allah, exalted is His mention, has reported that some faces in the Hereafter see Him, it is known that they see Him with a sense other than eyesight, since it is not possible that His report be anything other than true.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: The correct position concerning this is, according to us, what has been transmitted abundantly in the reports of the Messenger of Allah (Allah's blessing and peace be upon him), that he said: "Verily, you will see your Lord on the Day of Resurrection as you see the moon on the night of the full moon" — "and as you see the sun when there is no cloud before it." The believers thus see Him, while the disbelievers (al-kāfirūn) on that Day are screened off from Him, as the Exalted, praised be His laud, said: كَلا إِنَّهُمْ عَنْ رَبِّهِمْ يَوْمَئِذٍ لَمَحْجُوبُونَ [Sūrat al-Muṭaffifīn: 15] (Nay, verily, they on that Day will be screened off from their Lord).
As for the argument with which the deniers of the seeing of Allah on the Day of Resurrection with the visions came — namely that the vision sees only what is separated from it, and that between it and the seen there is space and a gap, and that according to them therefore it is not possible that the seeing of Allah with the visions be thus, because in that lies the assigning of a limit and an end to Him, so that the possibility of seeing Him according to them is thereby nullified — to that it is said to them: do you know anything that is described with governing (al-tadbīr) apart from your Maker, except that it either touches you or is separated from you?
If they claim that they know such a thing, they are charged with pointing it out, and to that there is no way.
And if they say: we do not know such a thing —
then it is said to them: have you not then known Him as something that does not touch you and is not separated from you, while He is described with governing and acting? And it was not, according to you, necessary — since you have not known anything described with governing and acting except that which touches you or is separated from you — that the knowing of Him be impossible, while He is described with governing and acting, and does not touch you and is not separated from you?
If they say: that is so —
then it is said to them: why then do you deny that the visions would be thus, that they see only what is separated from them and between which and them there is a gap, while they nonetheless see Him without His being separated from them, and without there being between them and Him a gap or space — just as the hearts know nothing described with governing except as something that touches them or is separated from them, while they nonetheless, according to you, have not known Him thus? And is there between you and the one who denies that anything can be described with governing and acting as a known thing that the one who knows it does not touch and is not separated from him — and who permits that He be described with being seen by the visions without their touching Him and without His being separated from them — any difference?
Then they are asked about the difference between the two, and they will be able to say nothing concerning either one without being compelled to say the same about the other.
And likewise they are asked about the argument with which they came in this: that it is proper to the visions to perceive colors, just as it is proper to hearing to perceive sounds, and proper to smell to perceive odors; and that from the same ground from which it is invalid that anything be assigned to hearing other than the perception of sounds, it is invalid that anything be assigned to the visions other than the perception of colors.
Then it is said to them: have you not, in that which you have observed and perceived, known nothing described with governing and acting except as something that has a color, while you nonetheless have known Him as described with governing, without His having a color?
If they say "yes" — and they cannot but concede that, unless they lie and claim that they have seen and perceived something described with governing and acting without its having a color, whereupon they are charged with pointing it out, and to that there is no way —
then it is said to them: since that is so, why then do you deny that the visions, in that which you have observed and perceived, prove to perceive nothing except colors, just as you have not been able to know for yourselves anything described with governing except as something that has a color, while you nonetheless have known Him as described with governing without His having a color? Then they are asked about the difference between the two, and they will be able to say nothing concerning one without being compelled to say the same about the other.
The proponents of this saying have matters in which there is obfuscation (talbīs), the mention of which, and the lengthening of the book with it and with the answer to it, we deemed inappropriate, since our aim in this book of ours was not the unmasking of their sophistries, but rather the exposition of the explanation of the verses of the Furqān (the Qurʾān). But we have mentioned the amount that we have mentioned, so that whoever reads in this book of ours may know that in their saying they only fall back upon that which Satan has obfuscated for them, which for the people of truth is easy to unmask as to its invalidity, and that in their saying they do not fall back upon an unambiguous āyah of the revelation, nor upon a report of the Messenger of Allah (Allah's blessing and peace be upon him), sound nor weak. They thus grope about in the darknesses, and wander to and fro in the blindness. We seek refuge with Allah from bewilderment and error.
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As for His word "and He is the Subtle, the All-Aware" (al-Laṭīf al-Khabīr): He says: Allah, exalted is His mention, for Whom it is easy to attain the visions and for Whom it is possible to encompass them — the seeing of that which makes it difficult and impossible for the visions to attain Him and encompass Him — "the All-Aware" (al-Khabīr), He says: the All-Aware concerning His creatures and their visions, and concerning the reason why it is impossible for them to attain Him; He is thus subtle (laṭīf) through His power, so that He has fashioned the visions of His creatures such that they do not attain Him, and He is all-aware (khabīr) through His knowledge of how their governance and their affairs are, and what is more beneficial for His creatures, as in what follows:
13702 — Hannād related to us, he said: Wakīʿ related to us — and Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, he said: my father related to us — on the authority of Abū Jaʿfar al-Rāzī, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas, on the authority of Abū al-ʿĀliya, concerning His word "the Subtle, the All-Aware", he said: "the Subtle" (al-Laṭīf) through extracting it, "the All-Aware" (al-Khabīr) concerning their place.
