بسم
الله الرحمن الرحيم
والصلاة
والسلام على اشرف الانبياء والمرسلين
Allah, Holy and Exalted is He, says:
وَمَا كَانَ لِبَشَرٍ أَن
يُكَلِّمَهُ اللَّـهُ إِلَّا وَحْيًا أَوْ مِن وَرَاءِ حِجَابٍ أَوْ يُرْسِلَ
رَسُولًا فَيُوحِيَ بِإِذْنِهِ مَا يَشَاءُ ۚ إِنَّهُ عَلِيٌّ حَكِيمٌ
And it is not for any mortal human that Allah should
speak to him except by revelation or from behind a curtain or that He sends a
messenger to reveal, by His permission, what He wills. Indeed, He is Most High,
Wise
(Surah 42:51)
What is the reality of Allah speaking to mortal humans من وراء حجاب “from behind a veil”? A clear example of this phenomenon
is when Allah Most High called upon Moses son of Amram and spoke to him
directly at the “burning bush”:
فَلَمَّا
أَتَاهَا نُودِيَ مِن شَاطِئِ الْوَادِ الْأَيْمَنِ فِي الْبُقْعَةِ
الْمُبَارَكَةِ مِنَ الشَّجَرَةِ أَن يَا مُوسَىٰ إِنِّي أَنَا اللَّـهُ رَبُّ
الْعَالَمِينَ
But when he came to it, he was called from the right side
of the valley in a blessed spot - from the tree, “O Moses, indeed I am Allah,
Lord of the worlds”
(Surah 28:30)
It may be said that the specific tree or the object that
was engulfed in flames but extraordinarily was not consumed by the fire was an
example of the actual veil or curtain that is spoken of in the prior verse (42:51).
That the curtain behind which Allah, Blessed and Exalted, spoke to Moses was
associated with fire is explained in the following Hadith:
حِجَابُهُ النُّورُ - وَفِي رِوَايَةِ أَبِي بَكْرٍ النَّارُ - لَوْ كَشَفَهُ
لأَحْرَقَتْ سُبُحَاتُ وَجْهِهِ مَا انْتَهَى إِلَيْهِ بَصَرُهُ مِنْ خَلْقِهِ
His Veil is Light - and in the narration of Abi Bakr (Ibn Abi Shaybah) it is
Fire - were He
to remove it, the glory of His Face would consume everything of His creation
within the extent of His vision (Sahih Muslim)
After narrating this Hadith from the Prophet صلى الله عليه
وسلم via sayyidina
Abi Musa al-Ashari رضى الله عنه, the narrator
Abi Ubaidah connected the following Ayah to the reality of this fiery veil
(Sunan Ibn Majah #196):
فَلَمَّا جَاءَهَا نُودِيَ أَن
بُورِكَ مَن فِي النَّارِ وَمَنْ حَوْلَهَا وَسُبْحَانَ اللَّـهِ رَبِّ
الْعَالَمِينَ
But when he came to it, he was called, “Blessed is
whoever is at the fire and whoever is around it. And exalted is Allah, Lord of
the worlds”
(Surah 27:8)
In other words, the fire that Prophet Moses عليه الصلاة
والسلام perceived through
which Allah spoke to him direct and audibly was itself the veil of Allah behind
which He is concealed spoken of in Surah 42:51 and in the Hadith of Sahih
Muslim when the Prophet Muhammad عليه الصلاة والسلام said “His veil is fire”. Likewise,
the Prophet صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم perceived this
fiery veil of light during his Mi’raj or spiritual ascension, as he said: “Light,
how could I see Him?” and “I saw light” (Sahih Muslim)
But there is also the possibility that the veil spoken of
in Surah 42:51 is referring to the “veil of form” in which a Prophet or Saint
of Allah beholds Him in a vision, usually in the form of a man. The so-called “orthodoxy”
of the Muslim mainstream (Asharis, Maturidis and others) deny the possibility
of beholding Allah in this world including through visions and dreams. They
reject the concept of the “veil of form”. Apart from them, the Mu’tazilah and
those sects under their influence - the Shi’ah and the Ibadis - reject the
possibility of seeing Allah even in the Afterlife, let alone in visions and
dreams. These Muslims obviously disregard the instances in the Hebrew Bible
where the prophets Ezekiel and Daniel beheld the Lord God in the likeness of a
man.
In the first part of this series, I cited two narrations,
one in Tirmidhi in which the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said his Lord came to him (in
sleep) in the best form, and placed His Palm between his shoulders making him
sense a coolness, and another narration in which sayyidina Ibn Abbas رضى الله عنهما narrates that the Prophet صلى الله عليه
وسلم beheld Allah
upon a golden throne carried by the four Angels known as the Cherubim. The
latter is quite similar to the prophet Ezekiel’s famous vision of the throne
and the four hayyot (living creatures) in the first chapter of the Book
of Ezekiel.
But thus far I haven’t cited any Islamic text in which
the “veil of form” through which the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم
beheld Allah جل جلاله
is actually described. There
are, in fact, several such Ahadith, though it must be acknowledged that they do
not reach the level of indisputable authenticity and so many if not most
Muslims reject altogether the concept of the “veil of form”. But I strongly believe
in it, and shall cite some narrations now to justify my position:
Ibn Taymiyah رحمه الله relates a Hadith which he declared sahih and marfu
from Qatadah, from Ikrimah, from Ibn Abbas رضى الله عنهما that the Prophet صلى الله عليه
وسلم said:
رأيتُ ربِّي في صورةِ شابٍّ أمرَدَ له وَفرةٌ جعدٌ قططُ في روضةٍ خضراءَ
I saw my Lord in the form of a beardless boy, who had
shoulder-length curly hair in a green garden
(Bayan Talbis al-Jahmiyyah; v.7 p.290)
Here I should mention that when Allah is beheld in a
vision in the “veil of form”, it is of course in a beautiful and glorious form
that is befitting His majesty and holiness. Therefore, I do believe that the
Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم beheld Allah Most High in a vision in the form of a handsome
youth with curly hair. Incidentally, the 2014 blockbuster Exodus: Gods and
Kings depicts Moses meeting and speaking with the Lord God in the form of a
young boy. While this is quite speculative as an interpretation of the Biblical
Exodus account, it is not necessarily contrary to the Islamic theology I subscribe
to.
To be continued إن شاء الله
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