And according to al-Rāzī’s interpretation, the agent of burning is everything within reach of the servant’s sight among His creation, whereas according to Ibn Fūrak’s interpretation, the agent of burning is fire. The hadith explicitly refutes both interpretations.

Seventh, everything within reach of the servant’s sight cannot burn the splendours of his face, for he continually perceives things, yet they do not burn him. If what was intended were the burning of his heart and his loss of awareness of what he beholds, his face would not have been mentioned. Rather, he would have said, “It would burn his heart,” or something similar.

They said: “Allah cannot be veiled or concealed by a veil, because whatever is concealed by a veil must be smaller than that veil, and must therefore be finite, spatially aligned with it, and susceptible to contact.”

The Qādī said: “Know that one cannot affirm a veil of light before Allah in a sense implying enclosure, limitation, or spatial alignment, just as we have affirmed the possibility of seeing Him without enclosure or direction