Bakr ibn ‘Abd Allāh ibn Qays, the son of Abū Mūsā al-Ash‘arī, who narrated from his father that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“There are two gardens of silver, including their vessels and all they contain, and two gardens of gold, including their vessels and all they contain. Nothing stands between the people and their looking upon their Lord except the robe of majesty upon His Face in the Garden of Eden.”

Thus, he stated that nothing prevents them from looking upon Him except the robe of majesty upon His Face. For those who say that He is seen without being in any direction, however, the only impediment is that vision has not been created in the observer’s eye. In their view, it is wholly inconceivable that anything separate from the observer could obstruct his vision, whether the robe of majesty is interpreted as one of the Lord’s attributes or as a veil separate from the Lord. On either interpretation, they cannot conceive of this as an impediment to vision. According to them, nothing prevents the vision of Allah except something within the observer himself. The same applies to the words “in the Garden of Eden”: whether this specifies His location or that of the robe, in either case,