their looking upon Him except the removal of that absence through the creation of vision in their eyes. Yet it is well known that the non-creation of vision in them is not the cloak of majesty, nor is it upon the Face of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, nor is it in the Garden of Eden. Indeed, it is not anything at all that could be described by any attribute of an existing thing.

Ninth: Calling the mere absence of vision a veil, when the faculty of sight is sound and no impediment remains, is unknown in the language, whether literally or figuratively. Thus, a person is not said to be veiled from seeing what lies beyond his visual capacity—such as distant objects—when his faculty of sight is sound and no impediment remains. A blind person, however, is described as having his sight veiled, because there is something in his eye that prevents light from appearing within it.

Yet these people agreed with the believers that seeing Allah, Mighty and Majestic, is possible, while also agreeing with the unbelieving enemies of the messengers—the polytheists and Sabians—on premises that entail that Allah, Mighty and Majestic, cannot be seen, just as the Jahmiyyah, such as the Muʿtazilah and others, agreed with them. They then affirmed a vision whose falsity is self-evident to reason and denied the reality conveyed by revelation. They thus became hypocrites, wavering between the two, belonging neither to these nor to those. Indeed, they became deniers of plain reason, by the agreement of all groups, and deniers of what the Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, brought, in the judgment of the people of knowledge and faith.