the source of the confusion and inconsistency surrounding statements such as these. Many people versed in jurisprudence, Sufism, speculative theology, and other fields have supposed that Paradise consists solely of enjoying created things: food, drink, clothing, marital relations, pleasant sounds, and delightful fragrances. They have not included any other bliss within the meaning of Paradise. They then divided into two groups. One group denied that Allah’s servants could experience any bliss beyond their enjoyment of these created things and others like them. Among these were those who denied that the believers would see their Lord, as held by the Jahmiyyah among the Muʿtazilah and others.

Others affirmed the vision of Allah—either the vision described by the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, as affirmed by Ahl al-Sunnah wa-l-Jamāʿah, or a vision they interpreted as greater disclosure or knowledge, or attributed to a sixth sense, and similar