the sun and the moon on the night of the full moon.’ The ignorant man acknowledged the hadith, declared it authentic, and affirmed its transmission from the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace). Then he contrived to reject and invalidate it through the most repugnant interpretation and the most grotesque explanation. Had he rejected the hadith outright, he would have been more excusable than he is for these distorted explanations of his, with which neither the scholars nor the authorities on Arabic agree.

The ignorant man claimed that the meaning of the Messenger of Allah’s words (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), ‘You will surely see your Lord; you will have no difficulty seeing Him,’ is that you know you have a Lord and have no doubt about Him, just as you have no doubt that the moon is the moon—not that the believers will plainly see Him with their own eyes on the Day of Resurrection, because He denied this of Himself in His words:

‘No vision can encompass Him.’ [al-An‘ām 103]

He said: ‘It does not mean what the anthropomorphists say. His words, “You will see your Lord,” mean that you know you have a Lord, without doubts or misgivings assailing you concerning Him. Do you not see that one may say of a blind man, “How perceptive he is!” meaning, “How knowledgeable he is!” even though he sees nothing? A man may also say, “I looked into the question,” although the question has no physical body to look at. Thus, “I looked into it” means “I formed a view on it.” The anthropomorphists mistakenly imagined an open vision, whereas this has nothing to do with seeing with one’s own eyes.’

To you, al-Marīsī, we therefore say: You have acknowledged the hadith and affirmed that it comes from the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), so this hadith has you by the throat. For the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) coupled the hadith with its explanation, making its meaning clear and precise, and both were brought together in a chain of transmission