and he reported that the followers of ʿAbd al-Wāhid ibn Zayd used to say that Allah—glorified be He—is seen according to one’s deeds: the better a person’s deeds, the more beautiful He appears to him.

Some said, “We see Allah in this world in dreams, but not while awake.” It was narrated from Raqaya ibn Masqala that he said, “I saw the Lord of Might in a dream, and He said, ‘I shall surely honor his abode’”—meaning Sulaymān al-Taymī, who for forty years prayed the dawn prayer with the ablution he had performed for the late evening prayer.

Many refrained from saying that He is seen in this world and from making the other unqualified assertions those people made. They said that He is seen in the Hereafter. Thus, he reported this position, with its unqualified denial of seeing Him in this world, in opposition to those