the remaining well-known question we must address in this part is that of seeing Allah. It may be thought that this question belongs, in some respect, to this part—I mean the part concerning what is absent.” He means the part on declaring Allah free of imperfections, for he discussed this after discussing the affirmative attributes. He said:

“It may be thought that this question belongs, in some respect, to this part—I mean the part concerning what is absent—because Allah Most High says:

‘Vision perceives Him not, but He perceives all vision.’
[al-An‘ām: 103]

For this reason, the Mu‘tazilah denied that Allah can be seen and rejected the reports in the revealed Law affirming this, despite their abundance and widespread familiarity. This brought severe censure upon them. The reason this misconception arose concerning the revealed Law was that the Mu‘tazilah believed that He—glorified be He—is not corporeal, and that this must be stated explicitly to everyone accountable under the revealed Law. They therefore considered it necessary that, if corporeality were excluded, direction must also be excluded; and if direction were excluded, seeing Him must be excluded, since everything seen lies in a direction relative to the viewer. This reasoning compelled them to reject the transmitted teachings of the revealed Law, and they impugned the hadiths on the grounds that they were reports that are not mass-transmitted.

Reports that are not mass-transmitted do not yield certain knowledge; moreover, the apparent meaning of the Quran contradicts them. I mean His words:

‘Vision perceives Him not.’
[al-An‘ām: 103]”