This hadith and others like it indicate that all those who rise from their graves will see their Lord at the outset. Each will see Him in private, and He will question and address each one, as mentioned earlier. Then a caller will call out, and the Muslims, together with the hypocrites among them, will see Him. After that, the believers will be set apart: they are the ones who will behold Him with delight, while the disbelievers will thereafter be veiled from Him. For seeing Him on the plains of the Resurrection is not part of the bliss and reward.

Ibn Khuzayma and a group of scholars held that only the believers and the hypocrites will see Him. Another group held that the disbelievers will not see Him under any circumstances. We have discussed this matter elsewhere.

Our purpose here is to explain the statement found in the well-known hadiths, in which the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “Then they will see Him in a form other than the form in which they first saw Him,” and to clarify that their first sight of Him was on this occasion, when He manifested Himself to pass judgment between His servants. He addressed them and called them to account, then recompensed them, commanding each people to follow what they had worshipped.

Ibn Khuzayma also related in al-Tawhīd (Divine Oneness), through the narration of al-Darāwardī: