is all the more aptly described as nothing when compared with the perfection of Allah Most High. There is no doubt that the human spirit alone cannot bear to receive that perfection, nor can it behold it. Rather, human spirits vanish at even the lowest degree of those perfections. This, then, is what is meant by his saying: “Were He to remove them, the splendours of His Face would burn everything in His creation that His sight reaches.”

In response to this, it may be said: references to the veil in the Book and the Sunnah are many times more numerous than those he mentions. The only Quranic passage he cites is His saying:

“No indeed! On that Day they will be veiled from their Lord.” (15) [al-Mutaffifīn 15]

Yet Allah Most High also says:

“It is not for any human being that Allah should speak to him except by revelation, or from behind a veil, or by sending a messenger to reveal, by His permission, whatever He wills.” [al-Shūrā 51]

Moreover, His mention of manifesting Himself to the mountain indicates that He was veiled and then manifested Himself. As for the hadiths, among them is the hadith of Abū Mūsā which he mentioned.