This report may mean that he was only reporting disagreement over seeing Him with the eyes, since this is what the Jahmiyyah openly deny, and this is the apparent meaning of the hadith of Āishah and Abū Dharr traced back to the Prophet. It may also mean that he was reporting disagreement over seeing Him with the heart, since the hadith of Ibn Abbās, which the questioner countered with Āishah’s statement, mentions only seeing Him with the heart. Or he may have been reporting the disagreement in general terms, because the reports affirming and denying the vision stand opposed to one another.

This is supported by al-Khallāl’s treating the answer here as equivalent to the answer in the question reported by Hubaysh ibn Sindī. Al-Khallāl narrated from Hubaysh ibn Sindī that Abū Abd Allāh was asked about the hadith of Ibn Abbās stating that Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) saw his Lord. He replied, “Some say that it was with his heart.” He was asked, “Which is better established in your view?” He replied, “They differed over seeing Him in this world, but none disputed seeing Him in the Hereafter except these Jahmiyyah.” He was asked, “Do you find fault with those who declare them disbelievers?” He replied, “No.” He was asked, “Then are they to be declared disbelievers?” He replied, “Yes.”

This answer shows that they asked him about the reports from Ibn Abbās affirming the vision without qualification, and he replied that some transmitters qualify it as being with the heart. When asked, “Which is better established in your view?” he did not decisively endorse either position. Rather, he mentioned that the early generations disagreed about this, but did not disagree about seeing Him in the Hereafter. It is therefore possible