As for the Ashʿarites, when they found themselves unable to deny the proofs from the Qur’an and the Sunnah, they accepted the Beatific Vision but added, “He will be seen, yet not from any direction.” What an astonishing contradiction! Nothing that can be seen is utterly directionless, and for this reason the Muʿtazilah refuted them, saying that such a claim is impossible.

Ahl al-Sunnah say: He will indeed be seen, and He is above His creation in the highest exaltation. If by “direction” one means a created dimension, then Allah is in no direction, for He does not reside within His creation. But if what is meant is elevation—His being above all created things—then this is affirmed for Allah, for He is above the heavens. The Qur’an neither explicitly affirms nor denies the term “direction”; it must therefore be explained with the foregoing distinction.

The phrase “without encompassing Him or asking how” means that the beholders will not surround or comprehend Allah with their sight; they will behold Him without encompassing Him, for He is magnificent and beyond all encompassing. Allah the Exalted says, “yet they cannot encompass Him with their knowledge” (Taha 110), and He says, “Vision cannot encompass Him” (Al-Anʿam 103)—that is, it does not surround Him. He did not say, “Eyes cannot see Him”; He said only, “Vision cannot encompass Him.” Comprehension is one thing; seeing is another. Thus they will see Him, exalted be He, without encompassing Him fully. This refutes those who use this verse to deny the Vision and who claim that seeing Allah is impossible because Allah—