[al-Furqān 21]

So you claimed that Allah Most High condemned them for this and reproached them for asking to see Him. To this Marīsī we say: You read the Book of Allah Most High, yet your heart is heedless of what is recited to you in it. Do you not see that Moses’ companions insistently demanded of Moses that they see Allah in this world? They said, “We will never believe you until we see Allah openly” [al-Baqarah 55]. They did not say, “Until we see Allah in the Hereafter”; rather, they meant in this world. Yet Allah had already declared, “No vision can perceive Him” [al-An‘ām 103]—meaning the vision of people in this world.

The thunderbolt therefore seized them because of their wrongdoing and their asking for what He had withheld from people in this world. Had they asked about seeing Him in the Hereafter, as Muhammad’s Companions asked Muhammad (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), that thunderbolt would not have struck them. Moses would have told them nothing other than what Muhammad (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) told his Companions when they asked him, “Will we see our Lord on the Day of Resurrection?” He replied, “Yes; you will experience no difficulty in seeing Him.”

Neither Allah Most High nor His Messenger reproached them for asking about this. Rather, the Messenger spoke favorably of it and gave them joyful tidings, as you yourself, Marīsī, have narrated from him. Allah Most High had already given them these glad tidings in His Book before the Messenger did, saying—exalted is He who speaks: